Speaker Thomas

Kristen Stephens


UNIVERSITY, Miss. - Along a path that began in a newsroom and ended in a health care company, Ole Miss alumnus John Thomas enlightened journalism students on how a journalism degree and an open mindset led to his present career success.

Thomas began his journalism career the day after he graduated with an Ole Miss Bachelor's degree as he and another journalism student partnered to launch Oxford Times to compete with the Oxford Eagle. Since selling his half of Oxford Times, he has been employed at Better Homes and Gardens magazine, Meredith Corp., Abbott, a health-care company, and soon-to-be-launched Abbvie, a branch of Abbott centered on bio-pharmaceuticals.

While answering questions, Thomas enriched the students' minds with lessons he learned moving from one career field to another.

"Take those opportunities when they come along, and they don't come along that often," Thomas said.

Some of the positions Thomas held were given to him due to his willingness to take on the challenge of a new job he said. He moved up to his current position as vice president for investor relations and public affairs at Abbott simply because no one else wanted it.

"Be persistent," Thomas advised the budding journalism students. "Be responsive. Show that you're interested and that you're very responsive."

Whether working in journalism or in public relations, Thomas worked to brand his company's message, which in Abbott's case is helping people and others around the world.

"We are really the protectors of the brand," Thomas said. "We are all supporting the same message."

Picking up lessons from his journalism career, Thomas helped Abbott face the challenge of positive branding in a world driven by social media. He believes information today is skewed and scattered with lots of distractions keeping the public from truth and maintaining the company's brand can be difficult, especially with all the potential hazards social media can bring. However, though the company was resistant to entering social media at first, with Thomas' help, Abbott made its mark and now posts regularly on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

A proud alumnus, Thomas and his wife, Mary, with the aid of the Abbott Fund, created an integrated marketing scholarship specifically for University of Mississippi students in the integrated marketing communications or journalism programs. Thomas said he decided to start a scholarship at Ole Miss because he is proud of what the university is doing with the Meek School of Journalism and New Media.

"The changes that have been made here are very exciting," Thomas said. "It's where the world is going. You can still use your traditional journalism skills but doing it in the way you're doing it, makes a lot of sense. You're successful in this way."