Thomas Reynolds is the current President of the Montclair Branch of the NAACP. He was raised in Montclair and attended Montclair High School, where he was introduced to the NAACP through the ACT-SO program. He went on to receive bronze, silver and gold medals for Poetry and Music Composition and to attend the National ACT-SO competitions. From his experience with ACT-SO, he joined the Youth Council in which he was actively engaged in leadership until he graduated Montclair High.

Thomas Reynolds is the current President of the Montclair Branch of the NAACP. He was raised in Montclair and attended Montclair High School, where he was introduced to the NAACP through the ACT-SO program. He went on to receive bronze, silver and gold medals for Poetry and Music Composition and to attend the National ACT-SO competitions. From his experience with ACT-SO, he joined the Youth Council in which he was actively engaged in leadership until he graduated Montclair High.

Tom attended the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he studied architecture. With the leadership skills developed in the Youth Council, he went on to various positions of leadership in the Residence Hall Association, Architecture Student Union and served two times as President of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity. During college he was inducted into the National Residence Hall Honorary, an organization that recognizes leadership in the residence halls. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Tom organized and led a group of 50 architecture students and brothers of his fraternity to New Orleans to assist in cleanup efforts and start the initial work for the design of a prototype renewable, sustainable and survivable house in a flood zone. In his senior year, he organized an on-campus protest of the firing of qualified educators to meet budget cuts.

After graduating NJIT, Tom moved back to Montclair. He became an Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 12 Montclair, the Boy Scout troop at which he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and he volunteered to teach merit badges and work on a retention plan for older scouts. Tom also went on to be a founding member of the New Jersey Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, serving as its first parliamentarian. Tom recruited members of NJ-NOMA to become mentors and judges for the NAACP’s ACT-SO program. Along with NJ-NOMA, Tom is a founding member of Architecture for Humanity, Newark Chapter. He has been a guest panelist for Architecture for Humanity’s conversations on rebuilding Haiti after the earthquake, where he spoke on how architecture can save a nation.

Tom was recruited by his fraternity to serve as Grand Colony Advisor (Alumni Advisor) for new groups at Montclair State, Seton Hall, and William Patterson Universities. Tom serves as GCA for the Montclair State University, where he is leading the group to being the largest and most active fraternal group on campus. He has offered leadership seminars, retreats and recruitment planning.

Tom has served as president of the Montclair NAACP since January 2011 on the platform of an inclusive NAACP, frequently noting: “This is our NAACP.”