Rich Thompson

Rich Thompson is an accomplished global executive with more than 25 years of experience in leadership development, culture, performance, talent management, staffing, recruiting and human resources.

Rich’s passion for building strong cultures and winning teams started on the football field, as part of the revolutionary turnaround of the Wisconsin Badger football program under legendary Hall of Fame coach Barry Alvarez where Rich was 1st Team All Big Ten, Honorable Mention All-American and a semi-finalist for the Lou Groza award, given to the nation’s best placekicker. He was also a Free Agent with the Green Bay Packers for 2 years. More than 30 years later, he remains Wisconsin’s current record holder for the most field goals in a single season.

Rich’s career has been marked by success, growth and opportunity. He has held leadership roles across the globe with expansive scope and responsibilities. His expertise includes: Talent Attraction, Organizational Design, Development Strategy, Leadership Development, Compensation Strategy, Performance Management, and Culture Programs. He has been responsible for the design and development of talent and leadership programs for tens of thousands of people across 60 different countries as well as partnerships with three of the top business schools in the world.

In addition to talent strategies, Rich was the Chief HR Officer for a $10 billion region across North America, South America, the United Kingdom and Ireland where he developed a progressive and “best in class” operating model that changed how the function executed by aligning to operational strategies and increasing efficiencies. His unique blend of operational and HR experience positions him as an expert in functional alignment to operational execution, making HR a tactical source of revenue generation and driving a people strategy through engagement and productivity.

In 2020, Rich founded the Xtra Point Group, an HR consulting company, and XPG Recruit which provides talent and HR solutions to staffing and recruiting companies across the country. In 2021, Rich saw an opportunity to assist transitioning athletes and launched XPG Recruit-Athlete which helps athletes translate their unique skills and qualities into advantages in the workplace. In 2022, he launched Podium X, a personal branding software for athletes that helps maximize opportunities in NIL, careers, internships, and graduate school. The platform currently has partnerships with some of the most recognizable names in sports and works with student-athletes from over 300 different universities.

In 2023, Rich published a leadership book titled, Relentless: Leading through Performance, Relationships, and the Lessons of Sports, which delivers tools for people strategies every manager, at every stage of their career, can embrace to build and lead a winning business team.

Rich holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Management from North Park University in Chicago. He is also a graduate of the Leadership Development Program at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Senior Leadership Program at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France and Leading in Innovation, at Hyper Island, in Stockholm, Sweden.

He also is the past Chairman of the 75th Gator Bowl.