With experience in human resources and executive searches, he joins Elon as the new executive director of corporate and employer relations.
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Thomas M. Brinkley, a partner with one of the Southeast’s top international retained executive search firms, has been named Elon University’s new executive director of corporate and employer relations.
He begins his duties at Elon on Dec. 1.
In his new role, Brinkley will lead the university’s new Student Professional Development Center now under construction in the Moseley Center and scheduled to open in January. The center, which will occupy the space previously used by the campus bookstore, will house the Office of Career Services and represents an innovative and holistic approach to employer relations and the professional development of Elon students.
As part of his duties, Brinkley will work closely with academic deans, faculty, alumni and advisory boards to develop a strategic plan for employer relations. He and his staff will continue to develop and grow the number and variety of employment and recruiting events on campus.
The center itself will feature several amenities, including a large event room, employer interview rooms and instructional areas for professional development workshops. The lobby will provide space for employer-student gatherings and a new display will showcase student and graduate success stories.
Brinkley joins the university community from his current position with Coleman Lew & Associates Inc. in Charlotte, N.C. Since 1998, he has managed more than 150 search assignments for senior level positions at client organizations, and has served as a liaison between clients and candidates during the search process.
Prior to his work at Coleman Lew, Brinkley served as the senior vice president for human resources at Oakwood Homes Corporation in Greensboro, N.C., and before that, as director of executive education and MBA career services at Wake Forest University.
After beginning his career teaching English and American Studies courses in Durham County, Brinkley moved into consulting in 1979, working first for FMI Corporation in Raleigh, N.C., and then through much of the 1980s in a variety of roles in recruiting and human resources for RJR Nabisco in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Brinkley earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Wake Forest University. He has taken part in programs at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, Disney University and the Corporate Leadership Council in Washington, D.C., among other training opportunities.
Brinkley is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management and is on the board of directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Piedmont Triad Chapter.