Advisory Council

Louis M. Thompson, Jr. received his undergraduate and master’s degrees in journalism and communication from Iowa State University.

He is recently retired as president and CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), a position he held since 1982.

Thompson is a nationally recognized expert in corporate disclosure and governance and a long-time advocate of the investor relations officer’s role with corporate boards of directors.

He has served in advisory capacities to the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange. In the early 1990s, he was a member of the Harvard University New Foundations Working Group on corporate governance and in 2001, he was the first recipient of the lifetime achievement award in investor relations by Investor Relations Magazine and Barron’s.

Prior to joining NIRI, Thompson was Assistant White House Press Secretary to President Gerald R. Ford, held key public affairs positions for the U.S. Command in Vietnam and the Office of the Secretary of Defense and was Assistant to the President of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

Thompson also serves on the Dean’s Council for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In 2001, Thompson received the Greenlee School’s Schwartz Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism and Communication.