Kim Kraig Thompson

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Kim Kraig Thompson
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Born
Lansing, Michigan
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Education
  • BA in Applied Economics
  • Juris Doctorate
Alma mater
  • Michigan State University
  • University of Michigan Law School
Occupation
  • Entrepreneur
  • Inventor
  • Civil rights activist
OrganizationKraig Biocraft Laboratories
TitleCEO

Kim Kraig Thompson is an American business man, entrepreneur, inventor, trial lawyer and civil rights activist. He is the founder and CEO of Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, a publicly traded company focused on the development and production of recombinant spider silk. Thompson is also a founder and partner in the Chicago law firm of McJessy, Ching & Thompson.[1]

Early life

Kim Kraig Thompson was born in Lansing, Michigan. His parents separated when he was two years old. After which, he and his younger sister were raised by their mother. While Thompson reports that it was a nurturing home, the family experienced poverty and there was often little and sometimes nothing to eat. His first job was working as a paperboy for the Lansing State Journal as soon as he was able in order to help support the family.

Thompson held title as chess champion of both his elementary and middle school. He also showed an early aptitude for science and was an avid reader.[2]

Thompson originally attended Everett High School (Michigan). However, the in-school shooting and murder of his friend and longtime chess partner, William Drehar and wounding of another friend, and member of the chess club, Kevin Jones[3] by another student[4] prompted his single mother to move the family to an apartment in East Lansing. While at East Lansing High School,Thompson continued his participation in Debate, Model UN and was on the Chess Team.

After graduating high school Thompson’s family experienced tragedy when his mother fell ill and had to be hospitalized for a number of months and was permanently disabled. Thompson worked full time doing menial jobs at a local restaurant while taking night classes at a community college. He left that life by joining an Alaskan alluvial mining company as a professional diver. His work required him to live in the Alaskan wilderness where he spent six hours a day beneath the water, directing dredging equipment.[5]

Education

Thompson was accepted into the specialty college of James Madison College at Michigan State University, where he earned a BA in Applied Economics with a minor is Socioeconomics.

While a student at James Madison, Thompson worked numerus jobs to support himself and pay for his education, including becoming the general manager of a national wholesale company. As a student, he also founded his own company which specialized in diamonds and precious stones. As his mother could no longer work, he also helped to support her.

After receiving his degree from Michigan State, he became a vice president for California Craftsman and then transitioned to the finance industry at both Franchise Venture Partners and Shearson Lehman. Thompson received the highest series 7 exam score for all Shearson brokers in his class nationwide. At Shearson Lehman, Thompson specialized in equity trading and the research of small-cap companies. In the course of that work, he identified a local micro-cap company as being greatly overvalued. Thompson invested his own money in that company, which in a short period of time increased in value from $3.5 to $27. With the money he made, he retired from finance and enrolled in law school. Thompson received a perfect LSAT Score of 48 (170 on adjusted scale at that time).

Thompson married his law school sweetheart and for their honeymoon the two of them conducted a five-count felony trial. The couple moved to China to pursue business interests in the pearl river delta. Their nascent project was destroyed by the Asian currency crisis which caused a run on Hong Kong banks and the withdrawal of key investors in the project. Years later another party picked up the project which was highly successful.

Awards

For his work in biotechnology, Thompson was recognized as one of the top 20 Pioneering CEO’s of 2019.[6]

In the media

              

References

External links

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