Kevin Thompson

Kevin Thompson is a Lecturer and previous Executive in Residence at the Ross School of Business.  He teaches InterMission, an undergraduate self leadership course for students adrift in a sea of expectations who are exceptional at fulfilling goals set by others but find themselves too busy to reflect on whether they're the right thing to do. The course transitions from the classroom to the field on a one-week wilderness immersion in Utah's Canyonlands with the National Outdoor Leadership School. 

Kevin's day job involves serving as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI.org). GeSI's mission is to lead the movement that defines, demonstrates, and takes action on the enabling role of digital solutions in sustainability.

Kevin has a 25 year executive career of diverse experiences ranging from managing a farm in a remote West African village to programs with multinational corporations in industries from big tech to impact media. He is an internationally recognized social intrapreneur.

For 15 years, Kevin worked at IBM in eight positions of increasing responsibility and scope in strategy, corporate citizenship and marketing. While at IBM, Kevin led the design, launch and scaling of IBM's Corporate Service Corps (CSC), which placed 5,000 IBMers from 60+ countries on month-long, onsite assignments in 32 low-income countries, working with nonprofits, universities, government agencies, and small business owners.

Most recently, Kevin served as the General Manager for GOOD Worldwide and Upworthy, a leader in social impact, sustainability and engagement at scale.

Mr. Thompson is a First Mover Fellow with the Aspen Institute, the subject of a Harvard Business School case study and winner of a FrED Forum innovation award.