Thomas Ross will speak on “The Death Penalty and Sentencing Reform” at 3:30 p.m. on March 29.
THOMAS W. ROSS is the Director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Foundation is a private philanthropic grant-making organization with assets exceeding 400 million dollars. Prior to January 2001, Tom served as the director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts from June 1999-December 2000 and as a North Carolina Superior Court Judge from January 1984 to November 2000. Before 1984, he served as the Chief of Staff to a United States Congressman, as a partner in a Greensboro, NC law firm and as an Assistant Professor of Law and Government at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In November 2000 Tom was presented the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence. This award, named for former U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, is presented annually to one state court judge nationally who possesses the qualities of judicial excellence. In 1994, Tom was one of ten people in the United States selected as “Public Official of the Year” by Governing Magazine. In 1995, he received one of nine Foundation for the Improvement of Justice Awards presented nationally. In 1996, he was named “North Carolina Trial Judge of the Year”. In 1999, he was presented the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Governor Jim Hunt and the Raleigh News and Observer named him “Tarheel of the Week.” In 2001, Tom was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by Davidson College and, most recently, in 2005 he was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award by the UNC School of Law.
Tom served as Chair of the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission from 1990 to 1999. In this capacity, he led North Carolina to adopt innovative sentencing guidelines and community corrections legislation that have been called a “model for the nation” by the American Bar Association Journal. The Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University recognized the work of the Sentencing Commission in 1997 with the Innovation in American Government Award. Tom also served as Chair of the Governor’s Commission to Modernize State Finances in 2002. In addition to other civic activities, he currently serves on the Boards of Trustees of Davidson College and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the latter of which he chairs. He also serves on the boards of the Southeastern Council of Foundations, Hispanics in Philanthropy, the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University, the NC Open Government Coalition, the Carolina Environmental Program at UNC-Chapel Hill and Justice at Stake.
Tom received a BA degree from Davidson College in 1972 and a JD degree with honors from the University of North Carolina in 1975. He is a 1985 graduate of the National Judicial College. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his wife, Susan, and has two children, Tommy and Mary Kathryn.