Alumni turn education into opportunities for others

Ask John Thompson '70, MBA '72 and Phyllis Thompson M.S. '74 about Virginia Tech, and they will share their journey of education and giving back to the teachers and institutions that helped them thrive. 

Their story began long before their time in Blacksburg. They grew up in the same small Virginia town, first met at a Little League baseball game, and shared teachers who set them in the right direction. They reconnected as college students when John was at Virginia Tech and Phyllis was at the University of Mary Washington, then called Mary Washington College.

After completing their bachelor’s degrees, Phyllis became a teacher and John returned to Virginia Tech to earn an MBA in what is now the Pamplin College of Business. At that time, the university allowed enrolled students' spouses to take one course per year free of charge. Phyllis seized the opportunity to strengthen her work with struggling readers, taking classes in the evening while still teaching. 

“I was hooked,” she said. “Those courses were filled with teachers who wanted to learn how to reach students in need of extra help.” 

That experience inspired a 16-year teaching career, beginning in sixth and seventh grade classrooms and later focusing on students with learning disabilities. What she remembers most from her career is the joy of watching a child learn. 

“It’s not pride,” she says. “It’s a joy to see their eyes light up when something finally makes sense.”

John’s path led him into business, but the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and pattern-recognition skills he honed at Virginia Tech proved essential. He built a distinguished 40-year career in executive recruiting, much of it with Heidrick & Struggles in Silicon Valley, working with global companies, advising on recruiting and helping select more than 200 chief executives and 450 board members. These hires, John said, helped create more than 3 million new jobs. 

Now retired, he reflects on what surprised him most, realizing how well-prepared he was for that world. 

“At first I wondered if my Virginia Tech degree could stand beside Ivy League MBAs,” he said. “But I found that the foundation I had was every bit as strong. No one ever asked where I went to school — and they could see I could do the work.”

For the Thompsons, education has always been about more than credentials. “Higher education gives you tools,” John said. “It gives you options to do different things and pursue what matters to you.” 

Over the years they have stayed connected to the institutions that shaped them, believing that education remains one of society’s most transformative forces. “It’s where we learned to think, to write, to solve problems,” Phyllis said. “It helped us understand the world and how to work with people.”

John added, “Higher education is the greatest gift you can give yourself or that parents can give their children. It gives you so many options to do different things and apply your interests.”

Their belief in the power of education to transform lives and provide opportunities has translated into support for future generations of Hokies, including for undergraduate and graduate programs and the Global Business and Analytics Complex.  For the Thompsons, the Pamplin College of Business embodies what higher education should do best — equip students not only with knowledge but with the confidence, communication skills, and problem-solving ability that prepare them for their careers

“It’s exactly the kind of applied, hands-on learning that makes education meaningful,” John said. “It’s about helping students learn how to learn and how to help others do the same.”

After decades of success and service, the Thompsons remain reflective and humble about what endures most. Their story, rooted in education and service to others, continues to inspire.

John also offers a bit of advice he credits to a professor at Virginia Tech, “Delay your need to know to allow yourself to grow.” 

It’s a reminder, he says, that patience, humility, and listening often lead to the best insights in business, teaching, or marriage.