John W. Thompson is chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of Symantec Corporation. Under Thompson’s leadership, Symantec has grown from a small consumer software publisher to a global leader in infrastructure software. Prior to joining Symantec, Thompson had a distinguished career with the IBM Corporation where he held senior executive positions in sales, marketing and software development. In his last assignment, he was general manager of IBM Americas and a member of the company’s Worldwide Management Council.

He is a member of the board of directors of UPS, Seagate and Teach for America. Thompson also serves as the chairman of the board for the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, the only advocacy group dedicated exclusively to ensuring the privacy, reliability and integrity of information systems through public policy, technology, education and awareness. He completed his undergraduate studies at Florida A&M University and holds a master’s degree in management science from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/wttw/ceoexchange/episodes/ceo_jthompson.html