Thomas ("Tom") M. Browder III was appointed IMLS General Counsel in December 2024. Previously, Browder served as the Deputy Chief Counsel for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, advising senior leaders on contracts, employment, ethics, and other legal areas. During 2023, he served a term SES appointment as Chief Counsel for Goddard Space Flight Center. Browder began his career with the federal government in 2007, joining the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Nashville District as an Assistant District Counsel. In 2009, he deployed to Iraq as a civilian, serving as the Deputy and then District Counsel for USACE’s Gulf Region District in Baghdad. Before that, he was in private practice with firms in Georgia and Florida and began his career as an Assistant District Attorney with the State of Georgia’s Brunswick Judicial Circuit.

Browder is a graduate of William & Mary Law School and Hampden-Sydney College. He is also a 2023 graduate of the Federal Executive Institute’s Leadership for a Democratic Society.