LANSING – Maria Thompson, former President and CEO, T/J Technologies, Ann Arbor, was recognized July 24 as an Entrepreneur Extraordinaire by the Small Business Foundation of Michigan.
The Entrepreneur Extraordinaire recognition is given to an individual who demonstrates exceptional merit in the assumption of risks for an enterprise that transforms ideas into new value within the context of a small business enterprise.
T/J Technologies,was incorporated in 1991 to develop and commercialize energy-related products with dramatically increased energy storage capability. By developing superior products, T/J Technologies, in a little over ten years, has moved from a startup to a large business, after being acquired by A123Systems.
T/J Technologies was founded, owned and managed by the husband-and-wife team of Maria and Dr. Levi Thompson and Dr. Mike Wixom. Dr. Thompson, a tenured professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, is an expert in advanced catalytic and electronic materials. In 1991 he received the prestigious National Science Foundation’s Presidential Young Investigator Award.
Maria Thompson earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and gained industrial experience with Steelcase Corporation, where she worked in product development, and with IBM, where she helped develop the technology and service business for a global automobile market segment. Prior T/J, Dr. Wixom was a senior research scientist at KMS Fusion, Inc. and then a Project Manager at the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. Dr, Wixom earned his bachelors degree at Cornell University and his doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Michigan.
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