Ryan Thompson | Consultant

thompson@diffcon.com

Ryan Thompson is the Managing Partner of Idea Matrix.  He works with individuals and organizations to improve their negotiation, relationship management, and strategic planning skills.  He specializes in the interest-based approach to negotiation and conflict management.  Mr. Thompson has worked with public and private sector clients in financial services, health care, mining, law, and manufacturing in North America, Europe and Asia.  Clients include the Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Vale, Xstrata, AstraZeneca, Canadian Tire Corporation, and Veterans Affairs Canada. 

Before entering the field for negotiation, Mr. Thompson worked for 6 years as an environmental consultant, first with the Cadmus Group and then with Intrinsik Environmental Sciences.  This work primarily involved performing wildlife risk assessments for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at two contaminated sites: Housatonic River, Massachusetts, and Calcasieu Estuary, Louisiana.  His time in environmental consulting gave him hands-on experience in conflict management and negotiation in the areas of project management, research and design, and public-stakeholder involvement.  From this perspective, he brings insights from working with private and public sector clients and stakeholders, solving complex problems that demand innovative, multidisciplinary thinking. 

Mr. Thompson has a Master’s Degree in Conflict Studies from St. Paul University in Ottawa (Canada) and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario (Canada) in Environment and Resources Management.  Studies for his Master’s degree included labour and management relations and the influence that gender and culture have on the negotiation process.