Maria Thompson is an optimistic leader who brings the perspectives of both a scrappy startup entrepreneur and an alternative energy innovator to the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan’s Board of Trustees.
Thompson and her husband, Dr. Levi Thompson, along with Dr. Mike Wixom, co-founded the alternative energy company T/J Technologies in 1991. They grew and developed the business before selling it in 2006 to A123 Systems, a leading global supplier of high-power, lithium-ion batteries used in vehicle manufacturing. In 2008, the Washington, D.C.-based Minority Enterprise Executive Council named Thompson as one of 25 Powerful Minority Women in Business.
Today, the semi-retired CEO is a venture partner at Arsenal, a growth equity firm focused on the intersection of the government, large corporations and emerging technology companies. She also serves on the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business Zell Lurie Institute Advisory Board and the Reko International Group Board of Directors, among others.
Inspired by the Community Foundation’s commitment to innovation, Thompson joined its Board of Trustees in 2020 and has since applied her extensive experience as a member of its Program and Distribution Committee. She also has donated to support the Community Foundation’s administrative fund, as well as its Mariam C. Noland Public Spaces Fund.
“Philanthropy just makes the world a better place,” she says. “Providing everyone an opportunity to get a leg up and to be successful pays dividends for the entire community.”
What are you working on that has you excited?
Having been an entrepreneur and grown a successful company, it’s important for me to help the next generation of entrepreneurs.
In the past year, I’ve joined the advisory committee of the New Economy Initiative, which the Community Foundation manages. The initiative’s mission is to grow an inclusive community of entrepreneurship in southeast Michigan that benefits all residents and strengthens the regional economy.
Helping to encourage people to start and grow their own businesses is a passion of mine.
Which one of the Community Foundation’s values resonates most with you?
There are two of them, actually. One is Innovation and the other is Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.
My training as an industrial designer was basically in innovation. Having an innovative, diverse staff was our superpower in growing our business, coming up with new battery materials for an industry that was just emerging. The Community Foundation also uses innovation to creatively address community problems and create opportunities to improve life in southeast Michigan.
The other is DEI, because what interests me as a Community Foundation trustee, besides entrepreneurship and the New Economy Initiative, is helping underrepresented minorities and people from less-privileged backgrounds. Southeast Michigan will be a better place if everybody has a voice and an equal opportunity to be successful.
What are your hopes for the Community Foundation and our region?
Southeast Michigan, because of the auto industry, has an opportunity to be the epicenter of advanced mobility vehicles and alternative energy opportunities. We have some of the greatest research and development institutions.
I hope to see more of an emphasis on creating entry-level training and apprentice programs so that young people have an easier time landing their first job on their career path. That will encourage them to stay in Michigan after graduation.
I appreciate that the Community Foundation is also supporting parks and greenways to make southeast Michigan an environment where people want to live, work and play.
This story originally appeared in the 2023-2024 Annual Report