Pamela Thomas-Graham (born June 24, 1963) is an American businesswoman, corporate leader, and author.Lawrence Otis Graham Bio. Retrieved from . In August 2016, Thomas-Graham was elected by the Clorox Company board of directors as the lead independent director. Previously, she was a senior executive at

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

, and served on the bank's 10-member executive board, until October 2015; was a partner at McKinsey and Company; president and CEO of

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

; and Group President of Liz Claiborne.

Biography

Early life and education

Thomas-Graham was raised in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, with her older brother, Vincent, where her mother, Marian, was a social worker, and her father, Albert, a Detroit city government employee, "worked in real estate", as the deputy director of the Buildings and Safety Engineering Department. Thomas-Graham graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

with a B.A. in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

, magna cum laude, in 1985. She graduated from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

with an MBA in 1988, and from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

with a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1989. She was an editor of ''Harvard Law Review''.

Career

Thomas-Graham began her career at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where she was a summer associate in the investment banking division while she was student at Harvard Business School. In 1995, she was the first African American woman to become partner at the international

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

firm McKinsey & Company. In 1999, Thomas-Graham joined NBC as president of CNBC.com and in 2001, she became chief executive of the cable TV network

. Her successful launch of the network's business website became a Harvard Business School Case study authored by Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. In September 2005, she left CNBC and was hired as president of Liz Claiborne, Inc. In January 2010, Thomas-Graham joined the executive board of

as Chief Talent, Branding and Communications Officer. In August 2016, she was elected by Clorox to serve as the Lead independent director of its board.. Thomas-Graham serves on the board of the New York Philharmonic and Parsons School of Design. She is a member of the Economic Club of New York and the Council on Foreign Relations. Thomas-Graham is the author of a three-title book series, "Ivy League Mysteries", published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

: ''A Darker Shade Of Crimson'' (1998), ''Blue Blood'' (1999), and ''Orange Crushed'' (2004). Thomas-Graham is the creator and owner of ''Dandelion Chandelier'', a blog that explores the intersection of luxury, wellness, marketing, and technology.

Personal life

Thomas-Graham and her late husband the author and attorney, Lawrence Otis Graham (1961–2021) have three children together and lived in New York City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas-Graham, Pamela African-American novelists American mystery writers People from Chappaqua, New York American women chief executives Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Law School alumni McKinsey & Company people 1963 births Living people African-American women in business 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American women novelists American women mystery writers 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers Harvard College alumni Goldman Sachs people