A former Victoria University graduate who created the world's largest recreation vehicle company is to receive an honorary doctorate from his alma mater in recognition of his outstanding business acumen and leadership qualities.
US-based Wade Thompson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive of Thor Industries, will receive an honorary
Doctor of Commerce degree.
Mr Thompson graduated from Victoria with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1962 and a Master of Science in Retailing from New York University in 1965.
In a stellar business career in the US, he built up a small RV (recreation vehicle) company to be America's largest in that industry.
In 1984, Thor became a public company and, two years later was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company continued to buy judiciously until, with the purchase of Keystone, Thor became the world's largest manufacturer of recreation vehicles as well as the largest manufacturer of mid-sized buses in the US The company now has more than 9,000 employees in 29 plants in North America and sales of more than US$3 billion and net income of $164 million last year.
Thor was the only RV company named in the Wall Street Journal's Shareholder Scoreboard while Mr Thompson featured on the cover of Forbes magazine as 'Lord of the Rigs' in 2004.
He is also renowned in New York as a benefactor and a patron of the arts.
In 2004, he agreed to participate and support the production of an educational documentary featuring Thor Industries. Open Road has been shown to more than 1,800 students at Victoria as well to various New Zealand professional groups and staff and students at 10 other business schools around the world.
Victoria University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pat Walsh, said that Mr Thompson, despite leaving New Zealand more than 40 years ago, had never forgotten his New Zealand connections and was a fitting recipient of an honorary doctorate.
"Victoria University fosters among its graduates key attributes of leadership, creative and critical thinking and communication skills. Mr Thompson epitomises all of them but stands out as an exceptionally gifted strategic leader.
"His career demonstrates what can be achieved with a combination of intellectual acuity, unflinching integrity, dogged persistence and economic discipline."
