Brad Thompson’s journey to – and through – the U.S. healthcare supply chain has involved many twists, turns, and memorable experiences.
Talk to Brad Thompson for any length of time, and you’re bound to be surprised by something from his personal and professional experiences. Even if you’ve known him for years. “Both my high school and college guidance counselors made similar comments about me, ‘Your first impression of Brad is not what you’ll eventually see in him,’” he admitted. “My adaptiveness has served me well.”
Thompson, one of this year’s Medical Distribution Hall of Fame inductees, began his healthcare career in 1992 with Laboratory Supply Company (LABSCO) – Louisville, Kentucky. He’s entering his 33rd year in U.S. healthcare distribution, showcasing a rewarding career initiated by a focus on clinical-laboratory suppliers and their products, eventually landing him at NDC, Inc., where he serves today as an executive on the supplier management team stewarding supply chain solutions for NDC’s supplier partners. But his journey through the years in the med/surg community has been anything but linear.
“I got here ‘the long way around,’ and by some coincidence,” Thompson said.
Life as a classroom
Thompson grew up in a military family that valued new experiences and a hard work ethic. His father was a career military officer and army aviator who served two tours in Vietnam. The Thompsons moved about every 18 months, from as far south as the Panama Canal Zone to as far north as Fairbanks, Alaska, and all points in between. “It afforded me a lot of opportunities to learn about people in general,” Thompson said.
His father’s last assignment before retirement took the family from Alaska to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. After graduating high school, Thompson enrolled at nearby Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, with the intent of becoming a high school teacher. “I majored in English, minored in journalism, and had a focus in French and Art, so I thought I would put that all together.”
Thompson’s dad always stressed the importance of taking full advantage of the opportunities a new place afforded. Being the son of an Army aviator, Thompson had earned an FAA A&P license (aircraft mechanic) in high school, which would eventually allow him to work full-time at a local airfield to support himself through college. In fact, he paid for his own college tuition and graduated debt-free.
With a college degree in hand, Thompson drew a circle on a map within a 500-mile radius and asked himself, where to next? He chose Asheville, North Carolina, and started a small sole proprietorship business focused on dog boarding, grooming, training, and supplies. “It taught me a whole lot about what the customer experience is and how important it is to take care of the customer.”
Through his work training dogs, Thompson got involved in a local search and rescue organization, which led him down yet another path in life, and ultimately introduced him to Charlie Davis, the owner/founder of Laboratory Supply Company (LABSCO), a leading distributor of clinical-laboratory equipment, diagnostics and medical supplies founded in 1972 (LABSCO was eventually acquired by McKesson).
After moving to Louisville in 1992, Thompson started work at a small construction company, but was soon hit with a major life altering diagnosis of testicular cancer. He spent the following several months undergoing grueling chemotherapy and a major surgery.
Thompson recalls the conversation with his oncologist. “He said to me, ‘You look like somebody that wants to hear it straight.’ I said absolutely. I work on percentages, right? So, my first question to him after being diagnosed was, ‘What’s my prognosis as a percentage?’
“The oncologist said, ‘It’s going to be one of two types of cancer. If it’s type, A, to put it to you bluntly, your goose is cooked. If it’s type B, I’m going to be able to help you.’”
If Thompson’s body responded to the chemo, then the doctor gave him a 90% or greater chance of a full recovery. And it did. Even though it was a challenging experience through multiple surgeries and chemotherapies, Thompson still had a positive outlook knowing that if he fought, the chances were good that that he would come out on top.
And he did. However, the demands on his body were too much while recovering, which prompted Thompson to consider a new career outlook. During this time, Charlie Davis approached Thompson with an offer to work in LABSCO’s warehouse, pick-packing and shipping. “That was my introduction to U.S. healthcare,” Thompson said.
After about three or four months of working in the warehouse, Davis then asked Thompson if he would be interested in developing and leading a tele sales team. “Back then it was a rotary dial phone, a Yellow Pages phone book and a stack of green bar paper listing products and pricing – no sophisticated CRMs, no voicemail, no emails!” Thompson said yes. Eventually, he was promoted to director of marketing and remained in that position until leaving LABSCO in 2003.
Long-lasting connections
That same year, Thompson would meet three people who would prove pivotal to the next season of his career: Jim Stover, president and CEO of NDC, Gary Skura, VP of marketing at NDC, and Mark Seitz, who was NDC’s corporate council at the time and would later become NDC’s president and CEO. Thompson would join NDC in 2004 to help develop and expand their clinical-lab portfolio. Now in his 22nd year with the organization, Thompson often reflects on the circumstances that placed him in the path of industry leaders – including Hall of Famers Jim Stover and Mark Seitz – whose leadership left a lasting impact on his career.
Nashville is the place where Thompson met his wife, Lisa. The two joined their families together: Keller, Tyeler, Morgan and her husband Jeremy, and Chase and his wife Claudia, who blessed Brad and Lisa with two grandchildren, Nolan and Nelly. “I’m now Paw Paw Brad!”
Family is important to Thompson, as is the family he built within healthcare distribution. He counts himself lucky to have worked with independent distributors and suppliers over the last two-plus decades. He’s seen firsthand the value they bring because of their long-standing relationships with healthcare providers – sometimes generations long. “In a lot of instances, their kids went to school together, they played sports together,” he said. “So, the partnerships and relationships they’ve developed over time are tremendous, and relationships still matter. Obviously, you have to provide the right product at the right time, but building the relationships with the independent dealer and the suppliers is what simplifies things for the provider.”
In an era of constant disruption, healthcare providers value a trusted distributor partner now more than ever. A lot has changed since Thompson entered the U.S. healthcare industry in the early 1990s, most notably market pricing. Distributors used to sell clinical-lab products at list plus a margin. It was not uncommon to sell at 50% plus margins on new tests clinicians demanded, he said. These new tests were fast, less-labor intensive and pricing was not a significant factor.
“Today highly competitive pricing with low margins is more the norm,” Thompson said.
The expansion of CLIA-waived, point-of-care (POC) testing exploded during the same span of time. “There are now POC tests for hCG, Strep A, FLU A/B, COVID, RSV, PSA, fecal occult, lipids, hemoglobin A1c, urinalysis, etc.,” Thompson said. “Many of these tests are more traditional lateral-flow technology and there are now POC molecular devices performing many of the traditional lateral-flow tests. This led to in-office testing with immediate results providing the physician with the opportunity to have a teachable moment with the patient.”
Additionally, gone are the LABSCOs and InfoLABs that were strong regional clinical-lab focused distributors that targeted physician offices, independent reference labs and hospital labs – most of their field representatives were medical technologists with prior experience working in the labs. These companies also had lab specialists exclusively focused on selling clinical chemistry, hematology, immunoassay and other analyzers – all were trusted experts.
“The U.S. laboratory testing market is now over $100 billion with a couple hundred thousand laboratories – 75% of those labs are CLIA-waived – fertile grounds for POC testing,” Thompson said. “Clinical diagnostic tests account for 2% to 3% of all healthcare expenditures but drive 70% of the diagnostic and therapeutic decisions – now that is efficiency.”
The COVID-pandemic changed the world forever. In the lab space, those changes included the rapid expansion of over-the-counter (OTC) lab tests available to the public and testing now moving to the home – tests for COVID-19 could be purchased from retailers or online for personal use and the first-time ever.
Post pandemic, a physician performing basic tests annually for a patient may uncover multiple chronic illnesses including diabetes, high-cholesterol and other disease states, that if addressed early, can be effectively managed.
“Preventative health testing equates to wearing a helmet while riding a bike,” Thompson said. “While it may not protect you fully in all circumstances, it will protect you in most instances.”
Two journeys to raise awareness
In 2002 while at LABSCO, Thompson decided to celebrate his tenth anniversary of being cancer free by doing something that benefited others. So, he created a fund-raising event called LifeCycle 2002, a self-contained bicycle ride from San Diego, California to St. Augustine, Florida. On this journey, he would raise over $50,000 from family, friends, and colleagues for the American Cancer Society.
Thompson averaged over 80 miles a day during the 38-day cross-country trek. He only stopped around the halfway point in San Antonio, Texas, to spend time with his brother’s family, before finishing the journey. Fellow Medical Distribution Hall of Fame inductee Jonathan Overbey was with Thompson in San Diego to see him off at Dog Beach. Hall of Famers Bill McLaughlin, Sr. and Yates Farris, were present to greet him upon the completion of his journey in St. Augustine. The solo ride covered 2,800 miles.
“When asked how did you accomplish such a feat, I answered, ‘just one pedal rotation at a time,” Thompson recalled. “I knew if I just stayed in the saddle for 8 to 10 hours each day, going west to east, I would eventually find myself standing in the Atlantic Ocean.”
In 2012 at the 20-year mark of being cancer free, Thompson got an even crazier idea to raise awareness – a motorcycle trip around the world. He was inspired by Long Way Round (LWR), a British television series and book documenting the 19,000-mile (31,000 km) journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman from London to New York City on motorcycles. They travelled eastwards through Europe and Asia, flew to Alaska, and continued by road to New York.
Thompson decided this trip would raise money for the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, empowering volunteers across the country to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer research to find better treatments with fewer long-term side effects and, ultimately, cures. (www.rallyfoundation.org)
He left Nashville, Tennessee and traveled north to Fairbanks, Alaska down to Anchorage. He crated his bike and flew to Incheon, Korea, went across Korea, caught a 24-hour ferry from Donghae, Korea to Vladivostok, Russia, which is the start of the Siberian Railroad. Thompson rode all the way across Siberia, crossed into Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belgium, France, and the Channel Tunnel also known as the “Chunnel”. He then air-freighted his bike from London to Montreal and rode from Montreal back down to Nashville.
“It ended up taking me 50 days,” Thompson said. “I had 15,000 road miles. And at the end of the day, we, collectively, folks in our industry, family, friends, raised $100,000 for Rally Foundation.”
The journey did come with some bumps, bruises, and broken bones. While in Siberia, an old Russian military van pulled out in front of Thompson and sideswiped him. Thompson crashed and broke several ribs. The bike was a mess too.
Fortunately, a group of young bikers saw what happened and stopped to help. Prior to the trip, Thompson had built a network of people around the world. He phoned a group called the Siberian Bears. They arrived and helped him with the police, getting treatment at a hospital and getting his motorcycle repaired. (Editor’s note: Thompson shared a hilarious experience during his recovery that involved a Russian bath house and oak leaves. You’ll want to listen to his podcast with Repertoire Publisher Scott Adams at repertoiremag.com/resources/podcasts).
“That global network of bikers took care of me,” Thompson said. “And I, of course, said the same thing to them, ‘If you ever come to the United States, know that you have someone here that will take wonderful care of you.’ Even though it was negative for me that I had the wreck, I was able to interface with some amazing people.”
Elevating tomorrow’s leaders
Even more than three decades into his professional journey, there are still new challenging roads Thompson is excited about exploring.
In late 2023, NDC President and CEO Jack Stephens approached him about a re-focus initiative on the clinical lab market. During the pandemic, the emphasis was almost exclusively on supply chain assuring products were available for the NDC distributor and their healthcare provider customers. With the re-focus, a comprehensive business plan was developed which included the creation of an NDC Laboratory Advisory Council assembling lab thought leaders from both the supplier and distributor community; an extensive gap analysis identifying missing lab product categories and suppliers; a MemberSite lab resource page; and the development of a lab quick-reference guide.
Thompson is also passionate about mentoring younger, high-potential and talented colleagues at NDC. He co-leads a monthly Women in NDC (WIN) mentoring circle of aspiring leaders. WIN is NDC’s first employee resource group (ERG) that is dedicated to increasing exposure and advancement for women within the organization by providing resources in professional development, executive networking and mentoring to build connections and strengthen relationships among fellow employees.
“As I enter the later years of my career, I remain sharply focused on the mission of the supplier management team to meet and exceed our annual goals,” Thompson said, “but paying it forward to help others elevate their career paths continues to be tremendously rewarding.”
Quotes about Thompson
Brad Thompson and I have worked together since he joined NDC back in 2005. Over that time period, many of the vendors opted to distribute their products through the NDC Warehouse rather than selling directly to the independent distributor. Brad always made sure that our company was never disadvantaged in the process given our geographical location in Hawaii. When it involved special considerations for distributing lab products such as shipping, dating or special pricing, Brad was always the key person I could depend on to represent our best interests to the manufacturer.
— Richard Weinstein, Founder, R. Weinstein Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products, Honolulu, Hawaii
Brad Thompson’s induction into the Medical Distributors Hall of Fame is a testament to his dedication to both the business of healthcare distribution and also to the people of healthcare. A true expert in his field, Brad has built his career on partnership, integrity, and a relentless pursuit of win-win solutions. Always quick to solve challenges and highly responsive to customer needs, he is not just a trusted leader, but also a valued friend and colleague. His ability to blend professionalism with genuine friendship and fun has made a lasting impact on the industry and all who have had the privilege of working with him. Congratulations, Brad – this honor is well deserved!”
— Jack Stephens, NDC President and CEO
It’s been my pleasure to work with Brad for the last 11 years. His industry knowledge and relationships are extensive and make him an invaluable asset to NDC, as well as our supplier and distributor customers. At NDC we have a saying “We have a good time taking heath care seriously,” and Brad exemplifies our motto. No one works harder and is more dedicated to their company, partners, and teammates than Brad, yet he does so in a lighthearted and fun manner. My congratulations to Brad for this well-deserved honor.
— Steve Martin, NDC