Lynda Thomas

Lynda Thomas is a private investor and philanthropist living in Laguna Beach, California and New York City. She is on the Boards of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Washington, DC; the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California, where she is Vice-Chair; the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz; Backhausdance, a Southern California contemporary dance company; and TorchStone Global, a private company specializing in security for high net worth individuals and companies. Thomas has traveled extensively with the Pacific Council on International Policy and with NDI for promotion of international dialogue over the past several years to countries including North Korea, South Sudan, Myanmar, Cuba, Argentina, Poland, Germany and the Balkans. She also served as an international election and presidential election monitor in Tunisia. Born and raised in New Orleans, Thomas received her BA from Washington University in St. Louis and her MBA from Tulane University. She worked at LSU Medical School doing research on the Cajun population of Louisiana and was a Senior Manager/CPA/consultant at Deloitte Haskins and Sells in London, where she lived for almost a decade with her three children.