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John Thompson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of four Indianapolis-based businesses: Thompson Distribution Company, a distributor of mechanical supplies and equipment; First Electric Supply Company, a distributor of electrical supplies and equipment; CMID, an architectural and engineering design firm; and BC Countertops, a millwork fabricator and installer. Running several distribution businesses side by side is precisely what shaped the requirement he describes above — shared accounting, staff who can cover across companies, and one platform rather than four.

He sits on the AD LLC Board, where he chairs the Governance & Nominating Committee, and prior to the AD/IMARK merger he was Chairman of IMARK Electrical and a board member of IMARK Group. He is Immediate Past Chair of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, began his career with McKinsey & Company in New York and London, and spent seventeen years as vice president of Mays Chemical Company. He holds an MBA with Honors from Columbia University and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell.