A good word to describe Warren Thompson is "gregarious." The outgoing director of business development for Bulbtronics once worked as a bartender. He now applies his people skills to building the global business of the supplier of lamps and batteries for medical equipment worldwide.

"Our work goes past DOTmed's area of medical equipment. We are heavily involved in the entertainment segment for studios and venues in Las Vegas, shows, lights, stadiums, cruise ships. But within medical field we are the premiere source for specialty and hard-to-find replacement light sources and batteries," Thompson explained. Think about all the bulbs and batteries needed for surgical lights, ENT, scopes, defibrillators--you name it.
Thompson oversees their overseas business as well domestic. "Hospitals, clinics, OEMS, labs and medical distributors all come to Bulbtronics for replacement light sources and batteries."

All this makes for lots of contact with interesting folks around the world, a highlight of the job, he says. "I like meeting interesting, diverse people from all walks of life from different regions. One minute you are working with a biomed from a hospital in California; the next minute you could be dealing with a scientist in China who is working with fluorescence microscopy. It changes day to day."

Thompson has been with the company for 14 years, ever since graduating from the University of Wisconsin with Bachelor of Science degrees in business and political science.

In 1998 he helped established and build the company's battery division, making Bulbtronics a top ten distributor in the domestic market. Then, Thompson moved into the company's medical sales area, successfully building market share by opening new distribution channels, sourcing and positioning new products, and managing vendor and distributor relations.

Most recently the company opened a warehouse in Munich, Germany and has a half-dozen U.S. locations including both coasts. All this makes for a lot of travel.

"I love it. We have customers and dealer/distributors all over the world...England, UK, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Netherlands.... I love seeing the world and meeting people."

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