Executive Biographies
Retired Vice-President and Director of Technology, Corning Cable Systems
David A. Thompson most recently served as Vice-President and Director of Hardware and Equipment Technology at Corning Cable Systems, where he held this position until retiring from Corning in 2008. Prior to this, he held several technical management roles at Corning Inc. starting in 1976. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of EXFO since July 2000 and also continues to serve on the engineering advisory group at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.
Dr. Thompson joined Corning Inc. in 1976 in glass chemistry research, developing new specialty glasses for television, optical lenses, solar mirrors and optical fibers. He served in several global business management and strategic planning roles for Corning in both R&D and the Telecommunications Division between 1988 and 1999. He was technical director for the creation of optical amplifier and optical components for Corning and in creation of the Samsung-Corning Micro-Optics joint venture. He later was named Vice-President for the Strategic Planning and Innovation Effectiveness on return to the Corning RD&E Division.
David A. Thompson holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Ohio State University, a masters and doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of Michigan, and he attended the MIT Sloan School for technology leaders. He also holds over 20 patents and has over two dozen technical publications in the areas of inorganic chemistry, glass technology and telecommunications. Dr. Thompson is a member of several professional and honor societies and has chaired numerous technical society groups during his career.