Cleo Thomas, an Alabama attorney, was elected President of the Foundation replacing Mel Hopson, a retired Vice President of the McDonald Corporation. Thomas, who is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A. G. Gaston Corporation (holding company of Booker T. Washington Insurance Company and its subsidiaries companies), has served a number of years as General Counsel to the Fraternity. A graduate of the University of Alabama and the Harvard Law School, Thomas is actively involved in civic affairs and is expected to extend the Foundation's reach both internally and externally.

Other newly-elected officers were Robert L. Harris, First Vice President; Steven J. Pritchett, Junior Grand Vice Polemarch of the Fraternity, as Second Vice President; and Gerald W. McElvy as Treasurer. William G. Mays was re-elected as Foundation Secretary.

Harris, a San Francisco lawyer, is a former Grand Polemarch of the Fraternity and a former President of the National Bar Association. He is also a Vice President at Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco. He replaces Mrs. Elva Edwards who has held the position of First Vice President since the Foundation's inception. Pritchett, a senior at Florida State University will be attending law school this Fall at Duke University. He replaces Kareem T. Brantley, the former Junior Grand Vice Polemarch of the Fraternity.

McElvy, recently appointed as General Auditor of Exxon Mobil Corporation in Houston and a certified public accountant, was elected to the Foundation Board and to office of Treasurer. He replaces Ronald R. Young, a former Grand Polemarch of the Fraternity. Mays, Chairman and CEO of Mays Chemicals of Indianapolis, was re-elected as Secretary. Mays Chemicals is near the top of Black Enterprises' 100 top businesses.

Thomas, in taking over as Foundation President, emphasized that he intends to build upon the Foundation's more then two decades of progress and make it a model not only for the Fraternity, but also for other organizations. According to Thomas, "the Foundation will become the premier Greek-letter Foundation in its resources and services to the community."

For the past several years, the Foundation's fundraising efforts have received strong support from Fraternity members such as Johnnie Cochran, former Congressman Louis Stokes, Tavis Smiley, Congressman John Conyers, Astronaut Bernard Harris, noted author Lerone Bennett and many other high-profiled Kappas. Thomas indicates that he plans to have movie director John Singleton, also a Fraternity member, as the Foundation's keynote speaker at the Foundation's public fundraiser next year in Charlotte, North Carolina, in conjunction with the Fraternity's Grand Conclave.