Chief Learning and Innovation Officer
Rev. Dr. Blair Thompson
Rev. Dr. Blair Thompson is chief learning and innovation officer at Wesleyan Impact Partners and Texas Methodist Foundation, where she and her team lead the organizations’ three Lilly Endowment-funded initiatives: Courageous Congregations Collaborative (C3), Courageous Leadership Imperative (CLI), and Phygital Preaching Fellows. She also leads Wesleyan Impact Partners’ Locke Innovative Leader Award process and cohorts of spiritual entrepreneurs. Blair is the creator and producer of the Igniting Imagination® podcast.
An ordained Elder in the Horizon Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church, Blair is a seasoned speaker, writer, preacher, and facilitator. Her work focuses on expanding imagination, discerning purpose, and developing leaders across the Wesleyan ecosystem.
Blair joined Wesleyan Impact Partners in 2020 after more than a decade in pastoral ministry. She previously served as senior pastor at Arapaho UMC in Richardson, associate pastor at First UMC in downtown Dallas, and senior pastor at Frontenac UMC in Kansas.
She holds both a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Perkins School of Theology, where her doctoral research explored pilgrimage as a formative practice for clergy leadership.
At the heart of Blair’s work is a commitment to shaping a church that forms her daughter, Abby, and future generations with Wesleyan values, equipping them to make a difference and help transform the world for good in the name of Jesus Christ