John W. Thompson

Chairman of the Board

John W. Thompson is chairman of the board of directors of Symantec Corporation. Thompson served as chief executive officer of Symantec for ten years from 1999 – 2009 and under his leadership, Symantec grew from a small consumer software publisher with annual revenue of $600 million to a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions with annual revenue of approximately $6 billion.

In September 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Thompson to the National Infrastructure Advisory Committee (NIAC), to make recommendations regarding the security of the critical infrastructure of the United States. In addition, Thompson has served as the chair of the Silicon Valley Blue Ribbon Task Force on Aviation Security and Technology to identify and evaluate technology-driven solutions to improve the security and efficiency of national and local aviation.

Prior to joining Symantec, Thompson had a distinguished career with the IBM Corporation where he held senior executive positions in sales, marketing and software development. In his last assignment, he was general manager of IBM Americas and a member of the company’s Worldwide Management Council.

He serves as a director on the corporate boards of UPS and Seagate Technology. In addition, he serves on the board of Teach for America, an organization dedicated to eliminating educational inequities for all children. He completed his undergraduate studies at Florida A&M University and holds a master’s degree in management science from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

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