Kiwi-born US business leader to be honoured

14 May 2007

Kiwi-born US business leader to be honoured by Victoria

A Victoria University alumnus who has created the world’s largest recreation vehicle company is to receive an honorary doctorate from his alma mater in recognition of his outstanding business acumen and leadership qualities.

The University Council has conferred an honorary Doctor of Commerce degree on Wade F. B. Thompson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive of Thor Industries, Inc. He will receive the degree in the United States later this year.

Mr Thompson graduated from Victoria with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1962 and a Master of Science in Retailing from New York University in 1965. Twelve years later, he purchased Ohio-based Hi Lo Trailer Corporation and set about turning around its fortunes in his first foray into the recreation vehicle (RV) industry. In 1980, he and business partner Peter Orthwein founded Thor Industries by buying Airstream, the most renowned name in the RV industry. Despite its famous image, Airstream lost $12 million on sales of $22 million in the year prior to acquisition. In its first year under Thompson’s management the company earned $1 million, a $13 million turnaround. A 1960 fully restored Airstream Bambi was recently accepted as one of only 6 vehicles in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

In 1984, Thor became a public company and, two years later was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company continued to buy judiciously until, with the purchase of Keystone, Thor became the world’s largest manufacturer of recreation vehicles as well as the largest manufacturer of mid-sized buses in the U.S. The company now has more than 9,000 employees in 29 plants in North America and sales of more than $US3 billion and net income of $164 million last year. Thor was the only RV company named in The Wall Street Journal’s Shareholder Scoreboard while Mr Thompson featured on the cover of Forbes magazine as ‘Lord of the Rigs’ in 2004.

Mr Thompson is celebrated as a champion of shareholder rights. Thor Industries has become a standard bearer for corporate integrity with its policy of no excessive remuneration for its chair or vice-chair, no golden parachutes or re-pricing of stock options. The company continues to operate from small offices in New York while each of the company’s many divisions are encouraged to compete against each other, with the top managers down to many of the workers, paid on their results rather than an hourly rate.

Mr Thompson and his wife Angela have also been active philanthropists and patrons of the arts. He almost single-handedly led the efforts to save and restore one of New York’s most important landmarks, Park Avenue’s Seventh Regiment Armory, which is to become a venue for the visual and performing arts. He also founded the Drive Against Prostate Cancer campaign in 2000. The Drive consists of two 40 foot long mobile medical vehicles. Nearly 60,000 men have been given free screenings and an estimated 2,000 lives have been saved due to early detection.

Mr. Thompson has been awarded the 2007 Oliver Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research from the Cancer Research Institute. In addition, he will receive The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, which is given by New York’s Municipal Art Society to an individual who by their work and deeds has made an outstanding contribution to the city of New York. The medal was named for Mrs. Onassis in 1994 in honor of her tireless efforts to preserve and protect New York’s great architecture and is the Municipal Art Society’s highest honor.

In 2004, he agreed to participate and support the production of an educational documentary featuring Thor Industries. Open Road has been shown to more than 1,800 students at Victoria as well to various New Zealand professional groups and staff and students at 10 other business schools around the world.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pat Walsh, said that Mr Thompson, despite leaving New Zealand more than 40 years ago, had never forgotten his New Zealand connections and was a fitting recipient of an honorary doctorate.

“Victoria University fosters among its graduates key attributes of leadership, creative and critical thinking and communication skills. Mr Thompson epitomises all of them but stands out as an exceptionally gifted strategic leader. His career demonstrates what can be achieved with a combination of intellectual acuity, unflinching integrity, dogged persistence and economic discipline.”

ENDS