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

Nissan Motor Corporation , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun brands, ...

, U.S.A., and Clinton administration-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, Califor ...

, an automotive news provider.

Early life

Thomas was born in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, in 1945, and grew up in

Hyannis, Nebraska Hyannis is a village in Grant County, Nebraska. 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 known as the Sandhill ...

, 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. T ...

, 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 academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and U ...

, where he received a

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

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 Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

until 1972, achieving the rank of captain. 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 space development, acquisition, launch, and logistics field command. It is headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California and manages the United States' space launch ...

in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

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 automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

, where he spent ten years with Ford's

Lincoln-Mercury Mercury is a defunct division of the American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company. Created in 1938 by Edsel Ford, Mercury served as the medium-price brand of Ford for nearly its entire existence, bridging the price gap between the Ford ...

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 is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. Infiniti officially started selling vehicles on November 8, 1989, in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti-branded vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in ...

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 and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

'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