USAFA Way of Life Alumni Group

The Association of Graduates has a new President /CEO to take the AOG into a bright, new era. Many grads will remember him as a wide receiver on the Falcon football team that went to the Sugar Bowl in 1971. After that, over the next 37 years, he gathered skills and experiences that make him ideal, possibly even unique, to thrive in the new responsibilities he’s taking on.

William L. Thompson, Class of ’73, known as “T” to classmates and friends, is an entrepreneur who has owned successful small businesses, and he has served on boards of directors of a number of diverse organizations, ranging from national charities to local banks. He also served for 17 years – under three different governors from both political parties -- as an appointed commissioner on the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission. Along the way he also became a lawyer. The remarkable thing is that he accomplished all of that while flying for Delta Airlines, eventually becoming a captain who gave Delta crews check flights. One of his former bosses, the chief pilot at Delta, described him this way: a very sharp guy; street-smart; well-connected; a tough negotiator.

More recently, he’s become a professional public speaker. For a preview of coming attractions at the AOG -- and at gatherings of grads across the nation -- take a look at Thompson’s Web site, First Class Flight Plans for Business and Life at:

http://www.captaint1.com/bios.cfm

After he sealed the deal with the AOG’s Board of Directors during the Board’s meeting this weekend, Thompson said, “I’m strongly attracted to the position of President/CEO because I believe deeply in the three-part mission of the AOG. I also believe in gathering the resources necessary to do that mission very, very well, better than it’s ever been done before.”

A classmate of both the Academy’s Superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Regni and the new Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, Thompson looks forward to working with old friends to move the AOG, the Academy and the Air Force forward. “I couldn’t ask for better connections with the Superintendent and the Chief of Staff,” Thompson said.

In looking at what the alumni associations at West Point and Navy have accomplished, Thompson has set his sights high. “There is no reason why we can’t organize our grads and friends of the AOG and the Academy to surpass those excellent organizations in what they do for their members and for their schools. That’s my goal going in.”

So, it looks like we’re in for an exciting trip with Captain “T” at the controls. Grads, fasten your seat belts.

This article is passed on by===
Richard Hall
President, USAFA WOL Alumni Group