Rich Thompson
Rich is well known in the Canadian advertising community, private company investment circles and in the northern Canadian real estate arena. He holds a B.SC from the University of Toronto and an MBA from York University where he graduated with distinction. Rich founded Strokes Design Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta in 1987 and evolved it into Parallel Strategies Inc. which became western Canada’s largest independent advertising agency in the 1990s. He also co-founded Tiger Media which became one of Canada’s leading multimedia firms in the 1990s. Both were sold to Axia Netmedia in 1997, with Rich becoming President of Axia’s New Media division.
In 2000 Rich repurchased a number of assets from Axia, forming Zero Gravity Inc., and since then the company has grown steadily – now ranking as Alberta’s largest agency under the name ZGM Collaborative Marking – while winning significant recognition for its work. Rich is Chairman of ZGM.
In 2004 Rich co-founded Northern Vision Development LP, the most active real estate company in the Yukon. Serving on the board since formation, he took over as that Partnership’s CEO in March 2009. In 2011 and again in 2018 The Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce named NVD Business of the Year and in 2015 NVD was named best large business in Canada’s northern Territories at the Frozen Globe Awards. NVD owns hotels in Whitehorse, Dawson City, Mayo and Carmacks while also being responsible for the Yukon’s standard-setting residential and commercial developments. NVD manages a comprehensive commercial and residential estate portfolio. Rich also owns and manages an extensive personal portfolio of real estate holdings in Alberta and BC. In 2021 Rich received recognition at the Fourth Annual Arctic Indigenous Conference as Yukon Innovator of the Year for his work as Chair of the Yukon Governments Business Advisory Council on COVID responses.
In 2008 he launched Pureform Diagnostic Imaging Clinics and Medstate Developments LP, a company focused on the development of state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging clinics in Alberta. Subsequent to the sale of Medstate in November 2019, Rich continued as CEO.
Rich has a strong entrepreneurial record and is well known as a business leader in Alberta. He has acted as a director for the Institute of Canadian Advertising, the Glenbow Museum, the Alberta Ballet and the Calgary Urban Project Society. For three years he served as Canada’s representative on the International Board of the Young Presidents’ Organization ultimately fulfilling the role as the international organization’s Vice-Chair in 2008/9. Rich has served on many boards in the Yukon and was Chairman of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce for three years. He co-chaired the Yukon Tourism Steering Committee responsible for establishing strategies for growth in the tourism sector.
