Ron Thomas

Managing Director at Strategy Focused Group

He is a visiting executive faculty member at the Global Human Resources Leadership Institute at Howard University School of Business in Washington, DC. Certified @Leadership Architect by Korn Ferry.

He is also a senior faculty member of the Human Capital Institute, covering the MENA/Asia Pacific & Africa Region.

Ron is the former CEO of Great Place to Work-Gulf and CHRO of Al Raha Group, based in Riyadh. He holds certifications from HCI as Global Human Capital Strategist (GHCS), Master Human Capital Strategist (MHCS), and Strategic Workforce Planner (SWP) as well as New York University

He has been identified as one of the top 5 HR/Leadership thinkers in the Middle East by CIPD.  He received the Outstanding Leadership Award for Global HR Excellence at the World Human Resources Development Congress in Mumbai and was named as one of the 50 Most Talented Global HR Leaders in Asia

His work has been featured in the Wall St. Journal, Inc. Magazine, Workforce Management, and numerous international HR magazines covering Africa, India, and the Middle East.  He is a columnist/blogger for magazines such as Insight magazine, HR People of Africa, SHRM, and CEO.com. etc.

He has been contributing author to numerous books. 

• It's Time for High-Performance Government: Winning Strategies to Engage and Energize the Public Sector Workforce-Howard Risher

• Learning to Lead: Lessons in Leadership for People of Faith_Rev. Willard Ashley

• Effective Onboarding programs-Doris Sims 

As a consultant and management educator, he has worked with companies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, Iran MTNCell, King Faisal Hospital-Jeddah Saudi Electric Company, BASHRM, JLT [Saudi Arabia], Dubai Tourism, American Hospital of Dubai, Dar Al Riyadh, Gulf Bank-Kuwait, Boybyan, Kuwait, CIMB Bank and Singapore Government Civil Service and numerous other multi-nationals

Prior to consulting, he worked in senior-level roles for IBM, Martha Stewart Living, and Xerox HR Services [HR Consulting] in the US.

Board memberships include the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, McKinsey Quarterly Executive Online Panel, and HCI's Expert Advisory Council on Talent Management Strategy.

He is a sought-after speaker throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific Region, and USA.