SVI

The death of his infant son propelled Mike Thompson out of advertising and into the organizational development industry.
Although Thompson, who became a partner in the Fayetteville advertising agency Thompson Murray, “absolutely loved” advertising, his son’s death from leukemia led him to an epiphany. “I realized at that point that, one, life is short; two, you’ve got to make it count because it’s so precious; and three, you have no control.”
Part of making life count for Thompson was helping people, and though he had no experience in the organizational development industry, he took a “leap of faith,” sold his agency to Saatchi & Saatchi and founded SVI in 2003.
The first two years were hard, said Thompson, SVI’s CEO. “I made every mistake you could possibly make, and it was two years of really just trying to figure out what this is and how to make it something that could be sustainable.”
SVI, which develops training and talent development programs for clients that include Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble and Tyson Foods, now has 17 employees and has seen double-digit, even triple-digit, revenue growth during the last three years.
Thompson said SVI’s biggest challenge had been to wake up “a very tired industry,” one that has experienced little in the way of expansion. Early on, SVI decided to “bring edge, innovation, a little bit of even moxie to our industry,” he said.
Now, SVI’s message is being heard. “We’re starting to get the microphone. We’re starting to be invited to the national conferences. We’re starting to have that voice that we’ve been working so hard to have for our industry for the past five years.”
SVI, Thompson said, is emerging as a global leader in the organizational development industry with global clients.
What makes his company unique, he said, is its speed and innovation. Thompson likened SVI to the Ferrari brand. “What Ferrari is to the automobile industry we are to the organizational development industry.”

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