As CEO of Gundersen Health System, Dr. Thompson was the Executive Sponsor and driver behind Gundersen Health System’s sustainability effort. Dr Thompson and his team led the promotion and implementation of the concept that sustainability is both a moral and financial strategy that is good for organizations, communities, the state of Wisconsin, our country, and the world. By partnering with and teaching local and regional organizations, Gundersen became the first large health system to produce more energy from renewables than they used. While others were starting to measure, the team at Gundersen had delivered impressive results. By proving you could save money, improve the local economy, and improve health Gundersen has inspired thousands to start down this path. Dr. Thompson and his team set a goal in 2008 to become Energy Independent by 2014. Energy Independent was defined as generating more energy using clean renewable energy than what was consumed using fossil fuels for the entirety of the health system.  Gundersen achieved this goal as it recorded the first day of energy independence on October 14th, 2014.  Through this effort the system became experts at reducing energy consumption in existing facilities, renewable energy generation, and the design and construction of extraordinarily efficient new facilities including net zero health care buildings.  This type of effort was unprecedented in healthcare. 

Dr. Thompson was able to gain alignment with the board of directors and create internal engagement of employees by tying the effort to the mission of the organization and healthcare at large.  The teamwork and engagement of employees in this effort is a huge part of the Gundersen Health System culture. He created the connection between energy independence and lowering the cost of healthcare and improving the health of communities.  Using less energy, providing renewable energy to our own facilities, and selling renewable energy back to the utilities reduced expenses for the organization and created a new revenue stream that supplemented the business operations.  Additionally, the organization’s requirement for fossil fuels was greatly reduced, minimizing harmful emissions.  When Dr. Thompson stepped down as CEO of Gundersen, the organization was saving over $3 million dollars a year in energy expenses and had reduced CO2, Particulate, NOx, SOx, and mercury generation by over 80%.  Along the journey, the board and many internal stakeholders questioned why the health system wanted to continue down this path.  Dr. Thompson’s relentless commitment to this drove the organization to achieve this unprecedented sustainability performance with all the other pressing demands of a health system.  Gundersen became an icon for sustainability in the healthcare industry.  Other systems, like Kaiser Permanente, reached out to Gundersen and understand how these efforts could be achieved.  This created excitement and interest for other health systems to follow suit.  This effort also allowed Gundersen to financially give back to the community.  By purchasing renewable energy such as methane from the county landfill and wood biomass from local sawmills, Gundersen shifted energy spend from non-regional sources to local sources.  Not only did Gundersen spend less on energy, but what was spent, stayed in the community. The energy piece of sustainability was a huge part of the work, but other forms of waste reduction and re-cycling were also major initiatives