Ralph Albert Thomas began his service as CEO and Executive Director of the New Jersey Society of CPAs in 1999. He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and was appointed in October 2012 to the inaugural AICPA National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion. He has recently been appointed to the AICPA Foundation Board. Mr. Thomas also has served on the AICPA Pre-Certification Education Executive Committee, the AICPA’s Group of 100, Business and Industry Executive Committee, CPA Vision Project Team, Peer Review Executive Committee Board, Strategic Planning Committee and AICPA Council. Thomas is a former member of the CPA/SEA Board and serves on the State Society Network Inc. (SSNI) and Shared Services LLC, a joint venture of the AICPA and SSNI.
Mr. Thomas is a lifetime member and former national and chapter president of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA). He currently serves on NABA’s President’s Advisory Council and Finance Committee and has been appointed to NABA’s Corporate Advisory Board. He was honored by NABA as the recipient of the 2010 National Achievement in NonProfit Award and the 2010 Presidential Service Award and was honored as a “NABA Legend” at the 2009 Annual Convention.
Thomas is a member of Lehigh University’s Audit Committee and the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion and is a member of Lehigh University’s College of Busienss Board of Advisors. He is a past Trustee and Chair of the Lehigh University Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee and a former member of Lehigh’s Board of Trustees and Finance, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Campus Planning & Operations and Trustee Audit Committees. He is a member of the Accounting Advisory Boards of Rutgers, Seton Hall and Montclair State Universities and Thomas Edison State College. He is also a member of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Cornerstone Initiative and was recently appointed to the inaugural National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) State Society Relations Committee.
Thomas was selected in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 by Accounting Today as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting.” In October 2014, Lehigh’s Board of Trustees approved his appointment as an Emeritus trustee. Thomas earned a B.S. in business and economics and an M.B.A. from Lehigh University and resides in South Brunswick with his family.