Ryan Thompson is the President of Idea Matrix Consulting Inc. For over 15 years he has worked with individuals and organizations to improve their negotiation, relationship management, and strategic planning skills. He specializes in applying an interest-based collaborative approach to negotiation and conflict management. Mr. Thompson has worked with public and private sector clients in financial services, health care, mining, law, and manufacturing in North America, Europe and Asia. He works with clients in a wide range of industries, including financial services and investment management, mining, pharmaceuticals and biosciences, CAD/CAM, and law enforcement.

Before entering the field for negotiation, Mr. Thompson spent several years as an Environmental Risk Analyst, first with the Cadmus Group and then with Intrinsik Environmental Sciences. This work primarily involved performing ecological risk assessments for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at two contaminated sites: Housatonic River, Massachusetts, and Calcasieu Estuary, Louisiana. His time in environmental consulting gave him hands-on experience in conflict management and negotiation in the areas of project management, risk management, research and design, and public-stakeholder involvement. From this perspective, he brings insights from working with private and public sector clients and stakeholders, solving complex problems that demand innovative, multidisciplinary thinking.

Mr. Thompson has a Master’s Degree in Conflict Studies from St. Paul University in Ottawa (Canada) and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario (Canada) in Environment and Resources Management. Studies for his Master’s degree included labour and management relations and the influence that the environment, gender and culture have on the negotiation process.