Derek Thompson has been a learning facilitator since the launch of the Park System Leadership Course in 2005. In 2003 he retired as Deputy Minister of Environment after 30 years in the British Columbia public service. As an Assistant Deputy Minister he established the Land Use Planning Programme for the province and was Special Commissioner for Environmental Impact Assessment.

Since retirement he has

• worked as an advisor to Canadian Governments
• served on Task Force for the China Council and as an advisor to WWF Canada, studied and taught in China, and provided advice to WWF International and the Government of Norway on Forest Climate programs in Indonesia, Amazonia and the Congo.
• become the inaugural Chair of the Haida Gwaii Management Council, the first example of fully delegated joint decision making on natural resources planning and management in the British Commonwealth.