2020 Young Alumna Award

Jessica Kendrick Thomas, Class of 2008

Looking back at the leadership roles and campus activities in which Jessica Kendrick Thomas ’08 participated during her four years at Wesleyan, it is evident that she was building a set of skills required for the impressive career she now enjoys.

Jessica served on the Council on Judicial Affairs all four years at Wesleyan, and as chancellor her senior year. She participated in Summer Leadership Institute 2007, held several positions with the Student Government Association, and was a member of Mortar Board and the national honor society Alpha Kappa Psi.

After graduating from Wesleyan with a degree in English, Jessica earned her master’s degree in business administration in 2012 from North Carolina Central University and began working with the United States Navy in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, she supported contract billing of various government entities.

Jessica’s career has been focused on assisting in Navy Audit Readiness efforts through the Statement of Budgetary Activity Audit, Existence and Completeness testing, Business Process Improvement, Project Management, and PBC review. She spent four years supporting the assistant secretary of the Navy’s Financial Management Office Financial Management and Comptroller Office Audit Readiness effort. Today she serves as an analyst for Booz Allen Hamilton Associates, an American management and information technology consulting firm headquartered in McLean, Virginia, with 80 offices around the globe. There she works as a contractor to improve military pay functions for the United States Navy. Most recently, her time has been spent supporting the OPNAV N10 Business Development Office in providing audit oversight and insight into the Navy Pay and Personnel platform while performing Master Scheduling functions in establishing the PAYOPS Center which will integrate pay functions with the U.S. Navy.  

In 2017, Jessica received the Passionate Service Award for successful coordination and creating recordable opportunities for the FY17 Full Financial Statement Audit Award and the Team Freundel WAR Award for which she was nominated by team members for consistent work to meet the needs of the client. In 2018 and 2019 respectively, Jessica earned Scrum Master Certification and Scrum Product Owner Certification.

Jessica has been a member of The Junior League of Washington since 2015, serving in several capacities including as a volunteer for the National Book Fair, Tossed and Found clothing sale to benefit underrepresented people, and as a member of the member activities committee. She enjoys volunteering at Riverside Baptist Church and at Wesleyan College, where she has collected clothes for the Center for Career Development’s Career Closet, serves as a Purple Briefcase mentor, and helped organize the Summer Leadership Institute’s trip to Washington, D.C. in 2019.

As an active member and leader of the D.C. Metro Wesleyan Alumnae Club, Jessica has worked tirelessly to give back to the College, fostering an open network among alumnae, planning sisterhood events, and seeking to connect to and mentor current and future Wesleyan students entering the workforce. When she is not working, tutoring, and volunteering with the alumnae association, Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband, running, traveling, and watching British historical dramas. She is truly a Wesleyan woman who lives out her mission for her college and her country.