The Chancellor

John M. Thompson was named the 20th chancellor of The University of Western Ontario in March 2008. Thompson was officially installed as Chancellor at the Fall Convocation on October 24, 2008 and serves a four-year term through 2012. He succeeded Arthur Labatt, whose term ended in 2008.

Thompson served as chairman of the board of directors at TD Bank Financial Group and as vice chairman of the IBM board of directors. At the IBM Corporation, he was responsible for identifying and cultivating major growth initiatives. In addition he had oversight responsibility for the company's worldwide technology, manufacturing and business strategy. Thompson began his IBM career in Canada as a systems engineer in 1966. There, he held a variety of management jobs, before being elected president and chief executive officer of IBM Canada, Ltd. in 1986. In January 1991, Thompson moved to the United States to become corporate vice president of marketing, charged with developing IBM's strategy for entering the services business, now a $60 billion dollar operation for IBM. In October 1993, he became senior vice president of IBM's Server Group, responsible for mainframe and midrange computers. From January 1995 until August 2002, he was the senior vice president responsible for forming IBM's Software Group, after which time he was elected vice chairman of the IBM Board.

Thompson's strong affiliation with Western began when he attended Western and graduated with a degree in Engineering Science. He has also completed executive management programs at the Richard Ivey School of Business and he received an honorary LLD from Western in 1994. Thompson chaired the advisory board at Western's Faculty of Engineering as well as co-chaired the University's Renaissance Capital Campaign from 1989-1994. He belonged to the Corporate Higher Education Forum and served on three Premier of Ontario's Councils for education reform, human resources reform and industrial policy. Thompson is a director of The Thomson Corporation and Royal Philips Electronics N.V.

He was also vice chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Hospital for Sick Children and a director of the Atlantic Salmon Federation. He is a past director of the Hertz Corporation, the Robert Mondavi Corporation, the European Finance Foundation, the Conference Board of Canada and the Canadian Business Council for National Issues.

Thompson lives in Toronto. He is married with three grown children. In his leisure time, he enjoys being with his grandchildren, fly-fishing, boating and golf.

The Roles and Responsibilitites of the Chancellor

The Chancellor is the honorary and symbolic head of the university.

The official duties include presiding at Convocation ceremonies to admit candidates to degrees, diplomas and certificates. The Chancellor is an ex-officio voting member of the Board of Governors, the Senate and of certain committees of both governing bodies.

Click here to see the list of Western's past Chancellors

Click here to access the UWO Act - Chancellor section

Read about Western's Chancellor appointed for the 2012 - 1016 term here