Damian Thorman J.D.

National Program Director, Knight Foundation

Damian joined Knight Foundation in April 2007. He works with the vice president for strategic initiatives in the foundation’s efforts to support innovative leadership, organizations and ideas with the potential to drive transformative change nationally and in Knight’s 26 communities. He will help develop new grant opportunities with philanthropic organizations and nonprofits at a national level that target systemic change.

Damian most recently served as assistant prosecuting attorney and deputy director of the Family Support Division of the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in Kansas City, Mo. He founded and ran the Thorman Group, a consulting practice that assisted foundations, nonprofits and for profit organizations from 2002 to 2005. He served as adjunct political science professor at Avila College in Kansas City, Mo. He was the director of public affairs and policy at the Ewing Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City from 1994 to 2002. In Washington, D.C. he served as assistant director at the American Academy of Pediatrics, staff work with the House Education and Labor Committee, and congressional staff work with then-U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson.

He has a law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a master’s in business administration from Rockhurst University.