Introducing Dr. Jack E. Thompson, SAE President for 2003

A change agent with early roots in the automotive industry gets in the Society's driver's seat for 2003.

Automobiles have long been a part of Dr. Jack E. Thompson's life. His father owned a Dodge dealership in his native New Mexico, and Thompson and his two brothers all learned the ropes of the dealership-greasing cars, balancing the books, sweeping floors, taking parts inventory-working for their father. “I grew up with a strong interest in automobiles and that evolved into a desire to be at the front end of the car design process and to be able to influence how the cars were designed,” he explained.

That desire inspired Thompson to study mechanical engineering in college. In 1961, he graduated with distinction (top 10% of his class) and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Thompson then went on to receive his Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University in 1962, having been awarded a General Motors Fellowship in Design.