Nicholas Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic, a position he has held since 2021. During that time, the publication has won three National Magazine Awards for General Excellence, three Pulitzer Prizes, and was named Digiday’s Publisher of the Year. Under his leadership, The Atlantic has significantly increased revenue, reached profitability, grown faster than any other publication in its peer group, and achieved the highest subscriber count in its 167-year history.

Thompson is the former editor-in-chief of WIRED, where he built successful subscription and affiliate revenue businesses. While at WIRED, he wrote and edited multiple stories that were cited in front of Congress, including one that was adapted into an Academy Award–winning film for Best Picture.

He is a co-founder of The Atavist, a multimedia CMS that was sold to WordPress, and Speakeasy.ai, which was sold to Amplica Labs. Thompson previously served as editor of NewYorker.com and is the author of the acclaimed book The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War (Henry Holt and Co., 2009). His second book, The Running Ground: A Story About Fathers, Sons, and What Running Can Teach Us About Our Lives (Random House, 2024), will be published this fall.

Thompson films a daily video on tech policy for LinkedIn and has roughly two million followers across social media platforms. He serves on the boards of ProRata.AI and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. A longtime competitive runner, Thompson set the American record for men 45+ in the 50K race in 2021.