Robert J. "Bob" Thomas (1945-November 23, 2014) was an American executive who was president and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Corporation, U.S.A., and

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...

-appointee for the

One America Initiative One America in the 21st Century: The President's Initiative on Race , or the One America Initiative, was established by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1997 with . The main thrust of the effort was convening and encouraging community dialogue throu ...

. Thomas was president and CEO of Nissan Motors USA from 1993 to 1997. In 2000, he became chief executive officer for the North American operations of

Edmunds.com Edmunds.com Inc. (stylized as edmunds) is an American online resource for automotive inventory and information, including expert car reviews based on testing at the company's private facility. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, Califo ...

, an automotive news provider.

Early life

Thomas was born in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, in 1945, and grew up in

Hyannis, Nebraska Hyannis is a village in Grant County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 165 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Grant County. It is centrally located in the extensive, unique, and remote region of grasslands know ...

, where he worked summers on a ranch. While in high school in

North Platte, Nebraska North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the west-central part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. ...

, Thomas was selected to the All-State football team and was also a Scholastic All-American in his senior year. He was appointed to the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

, where he received a

bachelor of science degree A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in engineering management in 1967. He was also a member of the academy's track and field team, participating in the sprint medley, shot put and discus. In his senior year, he was commander of the 22nd Squadron and a member of the academy's ethics committee.

Military and professional career

Upon graduation he served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

until 1972, achieving the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. His service included a tour of duty at the

Space and Missile Systems Center Space Systems Command (SSC) is the United States Space Force's research and development, space development, Military acquisition, acquisition, space launch, launch, and Military logistics, logistics field command. It is headquartered at Los An ...

in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

area, where he was the financial manager for a program office handling a restricted-data defense system. Following his honorable discharge, he worked briefly for the Allstate Insurance Company before moving to the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

, where he spent ten years with Ford's

Lincoln-Mercury Mercury was a brand of medium-priced automobiles that was produced by American manufacturer Ford Motor Company between the 1939 and 2011 motor years. Created by Edsel Ford in 1938, Mercury was established to bridge the gap between the Ford and ...

division prior to joining Nissan. Soon after arriving at Nissan Thomas was running its sales operations, and in a 1988 reorganization that divided the company into three entities (Nissan,

Infiniti (stylized in all caps) is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. The brand began on November 8, 1989, initially in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in the 201 ...

and parts and service) Thomas was made a vice president and head of the Nissan division. In 1993 he succeeded Thomas Mignanelli as corporate president and CEO when Mignanelli retired after heart surgery. However, after 21-month slide in sales, Nissan announced on October 7, 1997, that Thomas was resigning for personal reasons. He was replaced by

Minoru Nakamura was a former Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher. He played for the Yomiuri Giants from 1957 to 1969. He won 72 games in 13 seasons, winning a career high 20 games in 1965. Career Nakamura pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) ...

, then-current chairman of Nissan Motors USA and president of Nissan North America (the parent company of Nissan Motors USA). In July 2000, Roberts was named chief executive officer for North American operations of Edmunds.com, responsible for North American sales and marketing, partner relationship management and business development. In November of that same year, he was promoted to corporate chief operating officer, with Peter Steinlauf (the controlling shareholder) assuming the titles of chairman and CEO. He served in that position until his retirement in August 2004.

Honors and awards

In February 1997, Thomas was appointed as an advisory board member to the "One America in the 21st Century: The President's Initiative on Race" commission as the sole business representative on the seven-person body. He also served on the Board of Directors for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

's New Business Ventures in 1998 and 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Robert J. American chief executives in the automobile industry United States Air Force Academy alumni 2014 deaths 1945 births