UVA Darden Alumnus Builds Values-Driven Hospitality Giant

By Liz Jones


Warren Thompson (MBA ’83) is president and chairman of Thompson Hospitality Corp., one of the country’s largest food and facilities management firms. In addition to serving corporate clients, universities and medical centers, the company owns a burgeoning restaurant portfolio, including Austin Grill, American Tap Room and Willie T’s Lobster Shack, among other brands.

Thompson, who said he decided at age 12 to go into the restaurant business, credits hard work and values instilled in him by his family for aiding his career.

“From my perspective,” Thompson said, “the earlier you make your decision as to what it is you want to do, the better. I would say to any aspiring entrepreneur: First go work for someone in the industry. Learn the ins-and-outs of the business. Make mistakes on their dime, as opposed to going out-of-business on yours.”

Thompson views his 4,000-plus Thompson associates as the oxygen that breathes life into his company, and he strives to maintain a high-performance, high-morale culture to neutralize the hospitality sector’s famously high turnover rates.

“One thing that has driven my company for the past 25 years is a strong entrepreneurial spirit,” Thompson said. “From the beginning, I knew I wanted associates who would use their power to think, to do, to act and to take care of customers. And the best way to harness that power is to make them feel invested in the business, much like company owners.

Read Thompson’s full profile on The Network section of the Darden web site.

About the University of Virginia Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

 

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