Joining Cornell University in Fall 2024, Thomas Garrett was the Lund Practitioner-in-Residence at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and now serves as a lecturer at the Brooks School’s Cornell in Washington program. From 2017 to 2024, he served as Secretary General of the Community of Democracies (CoD) and was recognized for his diplomatic approach and ability to advance solutions to complex challenges to build consensus among varied stakeholders in order to reach agreements and results. The Government of Romania, the former President of the CoD, conferred the National Order of Merit, Grand Officer, on Garrett for his work on human rights.

Before the CoD, Garrett worked with the International Republican Institute (IRI) a pro-democracy, non-partisan NGO supporting elections, civil society, and democratic governance in 80+ countries. Over 23 years, he served as Vice President of Global Programs, Middle East Regional Director, and in the field, as chief of party in Ukraine, Mongolia, and Indonesia.

An enrolled Member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, a Federally-recognized American Indian tribe, Garrett was a legislative assistant for Native issues for U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski of Alaska and began his Federal government career at the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs as the Director of Congressional & Legislative Affairs and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.

He earned a Master of Arts in Diplomacy-International Relations from Norwich University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of Oklahoma.