Jamie Thomas (born October 11, 1974), is an American professional skateboarder and skateboard industry magnate from Dothan, Alabama, United States (US). Thomas is the owner and president of Black Box Distribution, a company that distributes brands such as Zero Skateboards and Fallen Footwear. Thomas' nickname in the skateboard industry is "The Chief".
Thomas started skateboarding at the age of eleven.
Thomas has explained that his nickname, "The Chief", was started by professional skateboarders Elissa Steamer, Erik Ellington and Jim Greco.
Thomas was first sponsored in 1992 by Deluxe (Thunder trucks, Spitfire wheels and as a flow rider for Real Skateboards). This prompted him to move to San Francisco with his friends Sean Young and Hurley.
While living in San Francisco, Thomas turned pro for a short-lived company, Experience Skateboards. Thomas then went on to ride for the San Diego based Invisible Skateboards. After relocating to Southern California in 1994, Thomas was featured on the cover of Transworld Skateboard magazine and had video parts in the Spitfire and Invisible videos.
In 1995, Thomas joined Ed Templeton's Toy Machine, and filmed and directed two of the company's videos, the second one being Welcome To Hell.
The Zero video, Thrill Of It All, featured Thomas' attempt at what would be coined "The Leap of Faith" (an "ollie melon", over a handrail, down an 18-foot, 8-inch drop). The location of the "leap" was the Point Loma High School in San Diego, California, US. Although Thomas did not successfully land the trick, his attempt garnered notoriety.
In 1996, Thomas started a small clothing company through Toy Machine's distributor Tum Yeto. This company later became Zero Skateboards. Thomas is the owner and president of Black Box Distribution, which was created in 2000 and is the parent company of Mystery Skateboards, $lave Skateboards, Zero Skateboards, Threat By Zero, Insight Clothing, and Fallen Footwear. In 2006, Thomas won a regional "Entrepreneur of the Year" award from Ernst & Young.
Thomas has stated that he constantly wishes that he is not a perfectionist: "Yeah, I wish that all the time. My whole life is wishing that I didn't need to have something a certain way. I don't like to use the term "perfectionist" because I don't think perfection is accomplishable. But I wish I wasn't obsessed with trying to make things perfect. Yes. It's terrible; it's a curse."
Thomas is married to Joanne and has three children (Julien Tiger, born October 30, 2003, James Ruby, born March 30, 2006, and Maximus Trey, born June 11, 2008). The Thomas family resides in Encinitas, California, US. Thomas is also a Christian, with several board graphics that feature Christian imagery and scripture.