John E. Thomson, a native of California, is a founding member of the Clarksville Region Historical Society, and has been a member of its Board of Directors for a number of years. During his professional career John held research or management positions at GATX Leasing Corporation, San Francisco; Bechtel Corporation, San Francisco; and Syntex Corporation, Palo Alto. He consulted for Cisco Sytems, Raychem Corporation, and Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP). In academia, John held various positions at Phillips Junior College, Heald College, National Hispanic University, John Moores University (Liverpool), and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He earned an Associate of Arts (A.A.) from El Camino College, Torrance, California; a Bachelor of Science in Administrative Science (B.S.A.S.) from Pepperdine University, Malibu; a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Golden Gate University, San Francisco; and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in International Business from International University of America, London. John is the author of numerous papers and monographs, including "Entertainment Services on the Information Highway: The Case for Video-on-Demand" (1996), and co-authored the book Life After Layoff (1999) with his wife Frances Thomson. John and Fran live with their cat, Miss Puss, in El Dorado Hills, California.