Health Care: RONY THOMAS

During its 40 years, nonprofit LifeNet has assisted with 8 million organ, tissue and cell transplants. It employs more than 1,400 people globally, including 991 in Virginia.

Known as an organ procurement organization (OPO), LifeNet connects patients with newly available organs — often kidneys, which are needed by about 80% of people on transplant lists in the commonwealth. The organization facilitated donations from a record 238 people in 2021, providing 539 patients with new organs (multiples, in some cases) throughout Virginia and part of West Virginia.

Thomas has led LifeNet since 2004. He earned an executive MBA from Case Western Reserve University and a master’s degree in engineering and bioengineering from the University of Akron, and he serves on Virginia Commonwealth University’s College of Engineering Foundation, the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and the Chrysler Museum of Art boards.

LifeNet plans to open new offices in Richmond to expand its organ procurement division and Virginia Beach to expand its LifeSciences division — which provides human primary cells and tissues for research and drug discovery. In June, philanthropist Joan Brock donated $100,000 to LifeNet, its largest gift ever.

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