Thomas will assume her role April 13. She takes over from Michael Fullan, who recently retired after nearly three decades in the role.
Describing herself as a bridge builder, Thomas is humbled and grateful to serve her neighbour in a fresh capacity with the 110-year-old organization. With experience working various groups, including young people, women, immigrants,and migrants, she’s also served in both hands-on, frontlines capacities and as a mentor contributing to the development of staff, long range planning and community education.
In joining the team at Catholic Charities, Thomas is moving on from her most recent position as executive director at one of its member agencies, Catholic Crosscultural Services, where she has served for the past five years.
“I am called to be here,” said Thomas of her new role. “My strong suit is to be a servant, helping others to succeed. I think of leadership as creating impact and influence, bringing people together in a spirit of synergy and collaboration and helping them to reach their potential. If your people are good, your community will be great. I am appreciative that we are not working for people but with people.”
Thomas began her career in 1993 at L’Arche International, the global organization devoted to building communities for people with developmental and physical disabilities, where she worked for more than a dozen years in India, the United States and Canada.
After moving to Toronto, she joined local charity Yonge Street Mission, where her duties included developing initiatives and self-help groups for immigrant women and families and serving as an executive council member of Toronto South Local Immigration Partnership. Prior to joining Catholic Crosscultural Services, she was director of community development and programs at the Jane/Finch Centre, fostering and promoting innovative programs and services.
Thomas notes that Catholic Charities is at a “crossroads,” as the world begins to move forward from COVID-19 and the agency welcomes Archbishop Francis Leo as its new chair. The core values underpinning the organization, however, remain timeless and values-driven. Catholic Charities, she says, is built upon Catholic Social Teaching and lead with a constant awareness of “what we needed to do to welcome and create spaces that are safe for some of society’s most vulnerable people.”
Catholic Charities board of directors and 21 member agencies are excited to begin working with the new executive director, says president Maureen Leon.
“Dr. Thomas has consistently demonstrated her commitment to serving those most in need,” says Leon. “We are excited to welcome her to the Catholic Charities family where, under her leadership, we know that the legacy of serving the most marginalized and vulnerable in our communities is in good hands.”
Thomas earned her PhD at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), and her doctoral dissertation was entitled Immigrant Women and Their Work in the Informal Economy in Toronto. Her PhD followed a Master of Arts degree from York University, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, India, a diploma in social development from the Coady International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, and ongoing professional development.
Thomas currently lives in Scarborough with her husband, Santhosh, and their three children. In her free time, she is a busy volunteer, serving as a student mentor for OISE and sits on a variety of boards and committees in the Toronto area. Thomas has continued in her role as educator, teaching university courses on community transformation and religion and migration.