Dr. Bonita Thompson, EdD, MBA

NYTimes Bestselling Author | Thinkers50 Leading Coach | Top 3 Educator 2023 Global 30 Gurus 

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Dr. Bonita Thompson is an author, coach, and researcher in Collaborative Leadership who teaches high-performance leaders and their teams specific collaboration skills to achieve their goals faster and more effectively. Dr. Thompson is recognized as a “Thinkers 50” Global Leading Coach. Her bestselling book, "ADMIRED," reflects her research into the behaviors that earn leaders respect and admiration, a theme she has explored through her career. She served as research director, in partnership with Wharton, for the book Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters which interviewed over two-hundred leaders including Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson and Jimmy Carter. 

 

Dr. Thompson's career spans over 30 years in corporate HR and leadership development. Beginning in Silicon Valley with Genentech, where she launched the HR function and recruited genetic engineering scientists. In the financial services industry, she reclassified 10,000 jobs into a performance and skills-based compensation structure. To keep the Bank of America competitive, she created The Market Analyzer, a statistical algorithm for actively monitoring of the Bank’s competitive pay practices. Dr. Thompson managed the team that developed the world’s first corporate HR intranet and installed it at Levi Strauss. Her influence is further extended by her academic contributions, lecturing at prestigious institutions such as Harvard's Institute of Coaching and conducting research at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Currently, Dr. Thompson speaks globally regarding collaborative leadership. She leads collaborative skill-building workshops at various companies, from publishers to manufacturers including The World Bank and Colgate-Palmolive. As the Managing Director at Chief Executive Alliance, she continues to influence global leaders and organizations towards embracing collaborative environments. 

 

Dr. Thompson teaches Leadership and Collaboration at Vanderbilt University using innovative teaching methods such as project-based learning and having students create a chatbot using collaboration research.  She is recognized among the Top 3 Global 30 Gurus in Education for 2023.  Dr. Thompson has also been recognized with special U.S. Congressional Recognition for her educational program, 'StoryBook Math’ teaching young students math concepts through funny engaging stories.