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James W. Thompson, Ph.D.

Senior Partner
Florida

Dr. Jim Thompson is a Senior Partner with Kingsley Gate and leads Organizational and Business Psychology for the firm worldwide.

He has been in the consulting industry for over 40 years specializing in applied research. He has developed many instruments that are key to assisting companies in executive evaluation and placement, organizational assessment and strategic planning, including Leadership Style Indicator®, the HiPerOrg Survey®, ProStyle®, and the Developmental Opportunity Identifier®. At Kingsley Gate, he led the design and development of our Athena® values differentiation assessment.

Dr. Thompson plans and facilitates strategic planning conferences and team problem solving, as well as workshops for executives and their teams. He developed a selection service trademarked QualiFit® Systems, including a database of position success profiles that allow more objective selection of key personnel based on unique empirical models developed for specific positions.

He was an Officer in the Air Force, Army, and Navy Reserve as a clinical psychologist and organizational effectiveness staff officer and helped an Army unit screen and select candidates for sniper training. He also was the Director of Leadership and Organizational Development for a large public power company.

Dr. Thompson holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arkansas, a B.B.A. in Personnel Management from the University of North Texas and an M.B.A. in Management from Golden Gate University.

He works out of our Tampa Bay, Florida location.

A decision that had a huge impact on your life
My transition from clinical to organizational psychology had its roots in my decision to pursue a M.B.A. However, the major pivot in my career occurred when I learned about an Army program to train Officers to assist in the Army’s culture transition necessitated by moving to an all-volunteer Army. The program was an intensive 3-month organizational effectiveness course followed by an assignment to an Army Medical Center as the OE Staff Officer. In that role, I helped a Nurse Manager reorganize her nursing wards to improve employee engagement and morale. When I decided to leave the Army at the end of that tour, I began a new career as a business psychologist that has been far more rewarding in too many ways to count.
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