Thomas L. Kalahar
Member, NAACP National Board of Directors; Treasurer, NAACP Foundation Board of Trustees
Tom is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Camelot Communications, LTD (DBA Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media). He has had a distinguished career serving in various roles for some of America's most respected companies.
Kalahar began his career with Procter & Gamble and held a variety of sales and marketing management positions in the consumer packaged goods business before assuming responsibilities for the U.S. and Canadian Foodservice Division. Kalahar then joined the Dr. Pepper Company as Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer prior to founding Camelot Communications.
Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media specializes in developing comprehensive go to market business plans, including planning and buying all forms of media locally and nationally (TV/Radio/Print/Connected TV/Streaming/Search and Social Media).
Camelot bills over $750 million annually on behalf of its clients, which has included Southwest Airlines, 7-Eleven, Intuit, Turbo Tax, Experian, AMC, Nordstrom's, Amazon, Whole Foods, Facebook, LogMein, Time Warner Charter, Spectrum, P.F. Chang's, Zaxby's and others.
Within the industry, Kalahar has been recognized and honored by:
- The Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) with its most prestigious lifetime achievement award – "The Silver Award of Excellence."
- The American Advertising Federation (AAF), where he has been inducted into the AAF Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to the advertising industry and community service in the Southwest.
Kalahar was Managing General Partner of the Dallas Sidekicks professional soccer team and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Dallas Stars professional hockey team (NHL).
Outside the business world, Kalahar has been active in supporting civic and charitable organizations on a national, as well as a local basis, including The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as a past National Board Member and Member of the Executive Committee, Boy Scouts of America as a past Board Member and Executive Committee Member of the Dan Beard Council. Kalahar is currently a National Board Member and Executive Committee Member of the Tom Joyner Foundation, an organization focused on supporting historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and the continuing education of students attending those institutions.
Tom is a Diamond Life Member of the NAACP and currently serves on the National Board of Directors and as a Member of the Executive Committee. He is also National Treasurer of The NAACP Foundation.
In the Media
NAACP Responds to Cannabis Reclassification
Today's executive order to reschedule cannabis is a long-overdue acknowledgment that decades of federal drug policy were rooted in misinformation and resulted in profound harm, particularly to Black communities. However, the executive order does not go far enough to correct and prevent that harm.
NAACP Denounces AT&T’s Decision to Backtrack on DEI Commitments
Today, the NAACP has sent a formal letter to AT&T denouncing its decision to discontinue its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. The move, which follows a nationwide trend of corporate reversal of commitments to diverse communities, reveals a troubling shift for the telecommunications leader.
NAACP Condemns Supreme Court Decision Allowing Racially Motivated Gerrymandering in Texas
The NAACP strongly denounces today's Supreme Court ruling that allows Texas officials to implement mid-decade congressional map redraws, a move that will erode Black and brown voting power and violate core protections guaranteed under the Voting Rights Act.