About the Thompson Thrift Annual Meeting
The Thompson Thrift Annual Meeting is a time for us to share information, connect as a team and celebrate our successes. As we have grown and progressed as a company, this long-standing tradition has as well. From various venues in Terre Haute and Indianapolis to a Virtual Summit in 2021, we have always strived to host an excellent program to reach our goals of informing, connecting, and celebrating, and 2022 will be no different!
This page will be your source for information as we countdown to our “Values in Motion” Annual Meeting! We will share information every week through the TT Weekly Update and on this page to highlight segments of the meeting and to keep you up to date with all the details.
Virtual Attendees:
You will use the below information to connect with us via Zoom. Remember to log on early so you are ready to go by 11:00am EST.
- Meeting ID: 926 6214 5451
- Passcode: 534999
- URL: https://markeys.zoom.us/j/92662145451?pwd=QzIrT3NGU01tai9HTE5vMmlxSUN1QT09
- Please be sure to hit "Join from Your Browser" when logging into Zoom.
2022 Annual Meeting Agenda
10:30 AM - Check-In/Doors Open
11:00 AM - Kick-Off
11:05 AM - Welcome (Paul Thrift)
(11:30 AM - 1:15 PM - Lunch)
11:45 AM - Live from our Watch Parties!
12:15 PM - Market in Motion (Ken Gronbach)
1:15 PM - Break
1:35 PM - Celebrate the Live the Core Winner
1:40 PM - Spotlighting 2022 Goal (Josh Purvis, Ashlee Boyd, Brian Timberman, Aimee O'Connor)
2:10 PM - Positively Impacting our Team Members (Paul Thrift & Brett Barnes)
2:20 PM - Positively Impacting the Communities We Serve (Rebekah Wojak)
2:40 PM - Break
3:00 PM - Big Little Breakthroughs (Keynote Speaker - Josh Linkner)
4:15 PM - Wrap Up (John Thompson)
Our Historic Venue
Did you know our Annual Meeting venue remains an active train station? In 1848, Indianapolis was the first city in the world to devise a union station.
The History
Union Station
The Opening
The station building opened on September 20, 1853, and was operated by the Indianapolis Union Railway. A much larger Richardsonian Romanesque station was designed by Pittsburgh architect Thomas Rodd and constructed at the same location beginning in November 1886 and opening in September 1888. The head house and clock tower of this second station still stand today.
The Iron Horse
If your visit brings you to the Iron Horse, this is the basement of Union Station that once housed a barbershop, a women’s sitting room, and was third class steerage. This room boasts unique brick-arched ceilings that are not found anywhere else in Indianapolis. Also, located in the Southeast corner of this room are the beginnings of the underground tunnel system that ran under Union Station. At one time, these tunnels ran to the statehouse, the jail, and the post office.
Crowne Plaza Hotel
In 1986 the train shed of Union Station was converted into the Crowne Plaza hotel. The hotel was built on tracks 1 through 8, leaving tracks 9 through 11 operational. If you are staying overnight at the hotel, you might hear and feel a train coming through as well as witness the Ghost Statues. These white statues represent what the patrons of Union Station would have looked like in the heyday of train travel. There are also original Pullman Train Cars located in the hotel that has been renovated into guest rooms.
The Grand Hall
In the early 1980s, Union Station was saved by a local architect and re-introduced as the Festive Market Place. After 10 years, the marketplace was closed and reopened as the Crown Plaza hotel’s Grand Hall and Conference Center in 1999 – home of our 2022 Annual Meeting!
Famous Visitors
- Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Abraham Lincoln passed through the station to give his inaugural address in Washington, DC
- Thomas Edison worked at the Union Station as a telegraph operation but was fired for conducting too many “useless” experiments
Architectural Notes
- The station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 14, 1982.
- Union Station’s red-brick and granite “headhouse” is recognized as one of America’s finest and Indiana’s first Romanesque Revival-style structures.
- The original terrazzo floors remain in Union Station.
- You may notice a gray tint to the wheel windows in the Grand Hal. This was a result of the windows being “blacked out” during WWII to keep the building from being seen from the air.
- Union Station’s ceiling is dominated by over 3,000 square feet of stained glass.
- The steel beams you see in the Crowne Plaza hotel are original Carnegie Steel.
Market in Motion with Ken Gronbach
We are looking forward to having Ken Gronbach join us to share his expert knowledge as a demographer. Ken is predicting that the United States and the Americas, because of their superior demographics over any other continent, will excel culturally and economically in the post corona era. He is president of KGC Direct, LLC and is an internationally respected demographer who has been able to forecast societal, commercial, economic, cultural, and political phenomena with uncanny accuracy.
Ken’s unusual blend of marketing savvy and common-sense demography, based on over twenty years of proprietary demographic study, set him apart. He keynotes all over the United States and the world. His company does high-value customized demographic research. You will find that Ken’s steadfast position, that the United States is the best nation on earth, and his firm belief that the country’s best days are ahead, season his spirited presentations with unmistakable pro-American enthusiasm.
"We are dedicated to living out our mission to positively impact our team members and the communities we serve."
Top Innovation Speaker, Tech Entrepreneur, and New York Times Bestselling Author
Keynote Speaker Josh Linkner
We are excited to introduce you to our special guest speaker for the day, Josh Linkner. He is a Creative Troublemaker. He passionately believes that all human beings have incredible creative capacity, and he’s on a mission to unlock inventive thinking and creative problem solving to help leaders, individuals, and communities soar.
Josh has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million, and is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming, and The Road to Reinvention. He has invested in and/or mentored over 100 startups and is the Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners.
Today, Josh serves as Chairman and co-founder of Platypus Labs, innovation research, training, and consulting firm. He has twice been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.
Josh is also a passionate Detroiter, the father of four is a professional-level jazz guitarist, and has a slightly odd obsession for greasy pizza.
Josh Linker’s book “Big Little Breakthroughs” will be available to you at the Annual Meeting.
