For designing innovative museum experiences that preserve history and promote human rights

Manager of Public Programs and Special Projects at Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center | Skokie, Illinois, United States of America

There are three people Rahim Thompson, the manager of public programs and special projects at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center (the world’s second-largest Holocaust museum) wants you to know: Gregg Doyel, George Kingland, and Kelley Szany. Without them, says Rahim, he wouldn’t be where he is in his career today.

Rahim, a voracious reader, had always wanted to be a journalist. When he was a 16-year-old high school student, he started writing for the local paper. During college, and thanks to a nudge from then CBC sports correspondent Gregg Doyel, he interned for KWCH12 in Wichita, Kansas. He followed that up by a stint covering sports at the Chicago Tribune. What he didn’t realize then was that long-form, in-depth profiles and features were starting to be replaced by listicles and click-bait type snippets, recalls Thompson. “I wanted to craft stories like you’d see in Sports Illustrated, but you don’t see that much anymore.”

This realization forced him to ask himself: What does my future look like? The answer to that question came in the form of George Kingman, an executive vice president for LA Fitness known as “a fixer,” who turns unprofitable regions around. He’d come to Chicago and by chance, met the newly employed Thompson at one of the company’s gyms. “I took a part-time sales job and within 60 days was promoted to assistant general manager because of George,” recalls Thompson. Kingland saw something in the 23-year-old and handed him a golden opportunity: to take over the largest signature facility in the city and help the company expand.

“He groomed me to be a strong GM, to build teams, think and behave like a C-level executive, and employ service leadership. That’s where you’re giving to other people to get the best out of everyone,” he explains. With two grand openings under his belt, a general contractor told him, “You’re the best project manager I’ve ever worked with!” Rahim replied, “I’m not a project manager.” The contractor said, “Oh yes, you are!” That interaction got Rahim thinking and researching. He took a job with a medical device and pharmaceutical company where he honed his project management skills working with teams stateside and remotely in Europe. Rahim says that building strong teams, promoting people, and using their strengths to lift up everyone are hallmarks that have consistently helped him in his career.

“I never made any of my successes about me. When I was at LA Fitness, I was like the mayor of the gym. I had the most sales because I had the most connections. It’s about the relationships you build. I’ve always been about people and in return, people have invested in me,” explains Rahim. “People and gratitude. It’s always been that way.”

After one interview with Holocaust Museum Senior Vice President Kelley Szany, Rahim knew where his next chapter would take him. “We connected quickly on the vision of what we wanted to accomplish at the museum. I didn’t have a Holocaust background, 10 years of project management experience, or a museum background—but I had the vision, and I knew how to tell a story because of my journalism experience.”

Rahim looked at the museum like a blank canvas, a place that could inspire people. “I had used my project management skills to make companies better. I knew I could do that here and advocate for human rights for people of all backgrounds at the same time. By the middle of the second year, we were selling out every program with exhibitions spotlighting the LGBTQ+ community, WWII’s Ghost Armies, and beyond,” he explains.

One of the most important exhibitions he helped create and project manage was a new, first-in-the-world holographic exhibition that takes high-definition holographic interview recordings of Survivors paired with voice recognition technology so that visitors can interact in a one-on-one ‘conversation.’

It’s these types of projects that motivate Rahim. “My work here has taught me that we’re all more alike than different, especially if we just take the time to understand each other,” Rahim says.

Rahim’s got his finger on the pulse of what makes history alive. He attributes that to George’s mantra: Don’t let the best you’ve done so far be the standard for the rest of your life. For Rahim, it’s always about redefining his personal best and continuing to grow, personally and professionally. Two years ago, he completed the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)^® and shortly he’ll work on completing his Project Management Professional (PMP)^® certification. “When I say I want to be the best, it means I want to be better than I am today. Not just as a project manager but as a person, wherever that leads me.”