Renu Thomas is a 2019 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow. ALI is an interfaculty fellowship dedicated to preparing experienced leaders to transition from successful careers to their next phase of community and public service. Renu was joined at Harvard by her husband John Roth and their focus is on eldercare.
Prior to ALI, Renu Thomas was Executive Vice President, Media Operations, Engineering and IT for Disney ABC Television Group (DATG). In this role, Ms. Thomas worked closely with members of DATG’s senior leadership team to ensure strategic alignment of the Group’s investments, initiatives, and business growth objectives, including global expansion, organic growth into new markets and new product/service development/deployment. Thomas was formerly Senior Vice President, Technology and Operations, Disney ABC Networks Group where she was responsible for the technical and operational strategic direction and ongoing management of all television functions across US Domestic Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, ABC Family, Disney ABC Domestic Television (Syndication) and Radio Disney. Thomas joined The Walt Disney Company in 2007 as Vice President of Operations for ABC News where she was responsible for setting the overall strategy and leading the operations for studios, control rooms, editing and graphics for all ABC News programs, including “Good Morning America,” “World News,” “Nightline,” “20/20,” “This Week,” as well as special events. She was involved in a variety of projects to help prepare ABC News for the future, including deploying new technology and improving production and business processes.
Before joining ABC News, Renu was the Director of Production for MacNeil Lehrer Productions where she oversaw the technical and production management for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” and related documentaries. She served as the Director of Studio Operations at NBC Universal where she led the management team for the network’s news and entertainment studios and control rooms at Rockefeller Center. Prior to NBC, Renu was with General Electric for over eight years with Corporate Audit Staff working at several businesses and locations world-wide.
Renu graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering. She is involved in alumni activities including the Operations Research & Information Engineering Advisory Board and the President’s Council of Cornell Women.
