Madison “Matt” Thompson

Madison “Matt” Thompson, B.S. (Northeastern) has worked for over 30 years in the areas of conflict resolution, diversity, and cultural competency. He has worked with large regional banking institutions, higher education institutions, major teaching hospitals, and community non- profit agencies. Matt has more than 20 years of experience in diversity, inclusion, and cross-cultural competency. He recently joined the panel of neutrals at The Mediation Group located in Brookline, Massachusetts and works with the organizational practice.

Matt most recently served as the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory where a portion of his time was dedicated to the Corporate Diversity Initiative. Before joining Draper and TMG, Matt was Director of Staff Diversity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was responsible for consulting and collaborating across organizational units to introduce diversity initiatives. He served as a member of the Human Resources Leadership Team and chaired the Council for Staff Diversity. At the University of Massachusetts Boston Matt was Director of Affirmative Action and Multi-Cultural Relations where he was responsible for writing and executing the Affirmative Action Plan and investigating and resolving any discrimination complaints. He wrote “Diversity Guide to UMass Boston” to serve as a recruitment and informational tool for current and prospective staff and students. Matt has also held corporate diversity positions at Shawmut National Corporation and The Boston Company.

While serving as Assistant Vice President of Community Affairs at State Street Bank, Matt oversaw the State Street Foundation and two school partnerships along with other corporate citizenship initiatives. Matt has refined his expertise in cross-cultural mediation issues and regularly trains staff, managers, supervisors, and higher education faculty in dealing with a diverse community and student body. Matt has also been an affiliate of the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration for the past several years and worked on a number of public dialogues and workshops within that role. Certified in Facilitative Leadership®, he is also an affiliate of the Interaction Institute for Social Change based in Boston, Massachusetts.  He was in the first cadre of facilitators trained for the City-Wide Dialogues on Race and Ethnic Diversity and was honored for co-facilitating a series with The Boston City Council. For the past four years Matt has also co-facilitated “LeadBoston”, a year-long leadership program for mid-senior level managers also sponsor by YW Boston.

Matt is completing his M.A in Conflict Resolution from the University of Massachusetts Boston. A graduate of the Northeastern University Physician Assistant Program, Matt has sixteen years clinical experience as a Physician Assistant coupled with ten years in the military health care system. He currently teaches Cultural Competence and Conflict Resolution while serving on the admissions committee for the P.A. program. Matt also serves as a Guest Lecturer to several other Physician Assistant programs throughout the country.