Mike Thompson has spent 30 years leading and advising nonprofits, government, and philanthropic organizations. He is currently a consultant to government officials and administrators of nonprofit organizations and private foundations seeking to influence policy at the local, state, and federal levels.    

Previously, Mike was a senior vice president at the Pew Charitable Trusts. Between 2017 and 2022, he oversaw much of Pew’s domestic policy work, designing new initiatives on topics such as housing and mental health. Before Pew, he worked for 20 years at the Council of State Governments (CSG). There, Mike founded the Justice Center, where Republicans and Democrats relied on his team’s analysis of data and their front-line experience working in policing, courts, corrections, health, victim services, and other systems.

Mike started his career in corrections and for much of the time since then has worked to end the use of jails and emergency departments as the default response to people experiencing a mental health or substance use-related emergency. For example, he established the Criminal Justice / Mental Health Consensus Project, designed, and led the Stepping Up Initiative, and administered multi-million-dollar national technical assistance centers funded by the US Dept of Justice and the US Dept of Health and Human Services.

Mike has been quoted extensively in the national and local media and testified frequently before Congress and state legislatures. He is fluent in Spanish.   

Mike received his BA from Middlebury College.