Michael K. Thomas is the President and CEO of the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) in Boston, Massachusetts, an organization providing strategic policy leadership, capacity-building programs, professional development, and consulting services to public policy makers and senior leaders of New England’s 250 colleges and universities.

Dr. Thomas directs NEBHE’s policy, research, publishing, and programmatic activities. These promote innovative post-secondary and life-long learning practices and expand collaboration among leaders in business, government, and higher education.

He has worked in corporate training and human resources and held varied leadership roles in higher education institutions, both public and private. Prior to joining NEBHE, he served as Executive Assistant to the President at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Brigham Young University and master’s degrees in higher education from Teachers College, Columbia University; and Harvard University. He earned a doctorate in education and social policy from Harvard University and an MBA from Boston University.

He has held several university faculty appointments. He currently teaches at Harvard University and Northeastern University. Thomas serves in numerous board and advisory roles and is a Certified Director through the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the nation’s largest organization focused on advancing exemplary governance and board leadership for public, private, and nonprofit organizations. He is a trustee of New England College and served as trustee and vice chair of the board of Worcester State University. He also serves on the board of the Foundation for Student Success.

Thomas frequently speaks on K-12 and post-secondary education policy, regional and global competitiveness, the internationalization of higher education, college readiness, and the economic impact of higher education.

He is married to the former Jennifer Midgley Walker and they are the parents of four sons.

Managing Partner: Responsible for driving overall vision and direction at the corporate and portfolio level, while driving transactions and capital raising activities.

• Developed parameters for an investment thesis to guide through the acquisition process.

• Drive deal-flow and deal screening to identify targets to acquire through M&A activities.

• Perform various tasks such as financial and buyout modeling, valuation, calls with brokers and sellers, issuing IOI’s and LOI’s, due diligence, etc.

• Conduct financial, qualitative, and market due diligence and analysis.

• Raise capital from institutional investors for debt and equity for the buyouts.

• Develop leaders through rigorous coaching and training with particular focus on visioneering the company through a financial and leadership scorecard.

• Build customized financial models for each portfolio company to analyze for IRR’s, MOIC and other metrics along with increased efficiency, standardization, and insights into the full financial picture of the company.

• Strategize with management and investors to help maximize valuation and exit through organic and acquisition growth.

• Facilitate and drive the budgeting process to ensure margin control and management accountability is achieved.

• Drive the growth through acquisition strategy.