Marie Thomas serves as the Director of External Relations, overseeing marketing, communications, media relations, and overall school branding. She also works closely with the External Relations team on essential initiatives, including advancement, stewardship, and alumni relations.

Mrs. Thomas joined Gunston in January 2020, bringing significant expertise in strategic communications and creative services. She immediately applied her skills to enhance the school's public-facing presence and internal communication strategies during a period of complex operational changes surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before coming to Gunston, Mrs. Thomas held significant roles in both higher education and the non-profit sector. From 2016 to 2020, she was the Director of Creative Services at Washington College (WC), where she produced and oversaw all of the college’s creative content. Prior to that, she served as the Communications & Art Director at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM) in St. Michaels.

In 2018, she collaborated with CBMM to design the hardcover book Tradition, Speed and Grace: Chesapeake Bay Sailing Log Canoes, which won the Maryland Historical Society’s 2019 Brewington Book Prize. She later designed a second hardcover book in 2022, Bear Me Into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass. Mrs. Thomas earned both her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Baltimore, where her work earned the 2013 Ampersand Award, honoring exceptional achievement in both writing and design.