Richard S. Thompson
Rich is well known in the Canadian advertising community, private company investment circles and in the northern Canadian real estate arena where he was CEO of Northern Vision Development LP from 2009 to 2023 and now sits as the Partnership’s executive Chairman. He holds a B.SC from the University of Toronto (Mathematics and Statistics) and an MBA (Finance) from York University where he graduated with distinction. Rich founded Strokes Design Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta in 1987 which evolved it into Parallel Strategies Inc. – western Canada’s largest independent advertising agency in the 1990s. He also co-founded Tiger Media which became one of Canada’s leading multimedia firms in the 1990s. Both were sold to Axia Netmedia in 1997, with Rich staying with the company as President of its New Media division.
In 2000 Rich repurchased a number of assets from Axia, forming Zero Gravity Inc., and since then the company has grown steadily – now ranking as Alberta’s largest marketing agency as ZGM Collaborative Marking – while winning significant recognition for its work. Rich is Chairman of ZGM.
Northern Vision Development LP: In 2004 Rich co-founded Northern Vision Development LP, the most active real estate company in the Yukon. Serving on the board since formation, he took over as that Partnership’s CEO in March 2009. In 2011 and again in 2018 The Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce named NVD Business of the Year and in 2015 NVD was named best large business in Canada’s northern Territories at the Frozen Globe Awards. NVD owns two hotels in Whitehorse (and is building the Hyatt Place which will be its third) and partially owns and manages three hotels in Dawson City, two in Mayo and one in Carmacks. The company also owns and manages a large portfolio of Yukon standard-setting residential and commercial real estate assets most of which are located in Whitehorse. In 2022, NVD joined its partners in KBC Developments Inc. in constructing and operating the 84-unit Normandy Independent Living facility in Whitehorse. NVD also operates a diverse portfolio of restaurants in the Yukon. Rich owns and manages an extensive personal portfolio of real estate holdings in Alberta and BC. In 2021 Rich received recognition at the Fourth Annual Artic Indigenous Conference as Yukon innovator of the year.
As Chairman of ZGM Collaborative marketing he is involved with Alberta’s largest marketing services firm which employs over 125 professionals in Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton under its ZGM, Paper Leaf and Dossier brands. He also manages the Maple Leaf Radiology group which serves Calgary and Red Deer based radiology clinics as well as the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
Rich has a strong entrepreneurial record and is well known as a business leader in Alberta. He has acted as a director for the Institute of Canadian Advertising, the Glenbow Museum, the Alberta Ballet and the Calgary Urban Project Society. For three years he served as Canada’s representative on the International Board of the Young Presidents’ Organization ultimately fulfilling the role as the international organization’s Vice-Chair in 2008/9. Rich has served on many boards in the Yukon and was Chairman of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce for three years. He chaired the Senior Marketing Committee of the Tourism Industry Association of Yukon and co-chaired the Yukon Tourism Steering Committee responsible for establishing strategies for growth in the tourism sector. During the COVID period Rich chaired the Yukon Premier’s Business Advisory Committee directing responses to COVID impacts for Yukon-based businesses.