Staff Report
Published Nov. 28, 2011

Lee M. Thomas, whose career includes serving on his town council to running a federal agency, has been elected to the DuPont board of directors.

Lee Thomas (Photo/Provided)

Thomas, a native of Ridgeway and University of South Carolina alum, is currently chairman and CEO of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Rayonier Co. Thomas’ election to the science-based products and services company is effective Dec. 1.

"Lee's impressive public and private sectors experience complement DuPont's market-driven science approach,” said Ellen Kullman, DuPont chairwoman and CEO. “I am confident Lee will help us advance our ongoing efforts to respond to the food, energy and protection challenges of a growing global population."

Thomas, 67, has headed Rayonier, a leading international forest product company, since 2007. He previously served as president and chief operating officer of Georgia-Pacific Corp. from 2002 until his retirement in 2005. He also formerly served on the Federal Reserve Board of Atlanta.

Thomas, who once served on the Ridgeway city council, ran the Environmental Protection Agency from 1985 to 1989. Thomas was the hand-picked successor of William Ruckelshaus. He left the agency at the end of the Reagan administration.

Thomas’ career in government includes a stint as executive deputy director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and director of the Division of Public Safety Programs under the S.C. governor’s office. The division included units for criminal justice, highway safety, comprehensive emergency management, and public safety grants.

He holds a master’s degree in education from the University of South Carolina, and a bachelor’s from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.

Thomas and his wife, Dorothy, reside in Jacksonville, Fla.