Melissa Thomas-Hunt

Melissa Thomas-Hunt is professor at both the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. An expert in in leadership, team dynamics and negotiations, she researches the factors that unleash, leverage and amplify the contributions made by individuals — particularly women, underrepresented individuals and numerical minorities. 

Thomas-Hunt is the former head of global diversity and belonging at Airbnb, where she led the strategy and execution of global internal diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging programs, and she retains an external senior adviser role focused on advancing research on connection and belonging. Prior to her role at Airbnb, she served as vice provost for inclusive excellence and professor of management at the Vanderbilt University Owen School of Management. There she was responsible for advancing equity, diversity and inclusion across Vanderbilt's community of staff, students and faculty. Previous to her time at Vanderbilt, Thomas-Hunt served as global chief diversity officer and professor at Darden.

B.S., Princeton University; M.Sc. and Ph.D., J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University

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