Richard L. Thompson G’67

Richard L. Thompson G’67 joined the Washington, DC, office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in June 2014, as senior counsel in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. Prior to that, Thompson was senior counsel at Patton Boggs LLP in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, following his retirement from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company where he was senior vice president of policy and government affairs.

He was the vice president for government affairs of Squibb Corporation from 1983 to 1989 and director of Washington Affairs for Abbott Laboratories from 1978 to 1983. In addition, Thompson held several senior staff positions in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Republican Staff Director and Counsel to the Government Operations Committee from 1976 to 1978; Minority Counsel to the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources, and the Committee on Government Operations, from 1973 to 1976. He was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps from January 1968 to January 1970, including service in Vietnam, during which he received the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Vietnam Service Medal.

In addition to earning his graduate degree in political science from Syracuse’s Maxwell School, Thompson received a J.D. degree from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in 1975, and an undergraduate degree in history and political science from SUNY Albany in 1966.

Thompson is a member of the American Bar Association and is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Thompson has been involved in numerous civic and charitable activities. He has served as chairman of the board of directors of Ford’s Theatre, chairman of the Governance Committee and member of the Board of Directors of Meridian International Center, member of the Federal City Council, and member of the Board of Governors of the Bryce Harlow Foundation.

For Syracuse University, Thompson is chairman of the Board of Trustees. He serves on the Executive Committee and ex officio on all other Board committees. He also serves on the Washington, DC, Advisory Board. He previously served on the Whitman School of Management Advisory Board and the Maxwell School Advisory Board. In 2000, Thompson and his wife, C. Jean Terry Thompson ’66, provided significant funding for the Remembrance Scholarship given each year in memory of those Syracuse University students killed on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. In February 2013, Thompson was elected to the Institute for Veterans and Military Families External Advisory Board.

He and his wife are the parents of Kristin Anne Thompson Bonacci and Catherine Elizabeth Thompson Power, and have four grandchildren, Stephan, Kaitlin, Kenneth, and Catherine.