Meet the Directors: Rebecca Thompson

Rebecca Thompson, chief financial officer, treasurer and vice president of finance at AAON Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, joined the Kansas City Fed’s Oklahoma City Branch Board of Directors this year.

At AAON, a leading commercial and industrial manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, Thompson has responsibility for a wide range of operations, including accounting, risk management, investor relations, technology and communications.

“Day to day I’m trying to look at the big picture and make sure that everything within the organization is working together and moving in the right direction,” Thompson said.

Thompson is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a master’s degree in Information Systems and Accounting, both from the University of Tulsa. Before joining AAON, she served in accounting roles with Andersen and Grant Thornton. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma and on the Executive Advisory Board for the College of Business at the University of Tulsa.

She said that AAON, which was founded in 1988, sets itself apart from HVAC industry competitors by delivering premier solutions that are specialized to meet customers’ needs.

“We build a more custom solution, a more configurable product that is designed to order, but we’re able to do it an affordable manner,” Thompson said.

Before joining the Board of Directors, Thompson served on the Tenth District’s Economic Advisory Council, which provided a valuable view of how the Reserve Bank taps into varied expertise across its region to help it serve in the public’s interest.

“I found it fascinating and interesting how it all works and the way they bring together all of these people from different industries and different states to all put together information to make sense of the economics of everything,” Thompson said. “And I like the idea of being able to help out and feel like I have a larger contribution to the community by helping with whatever the Fed needs in order to shape monetary policy and those things it needs to do. I like the idea of being able to help in that way.”

Whether the topic is labor trends or commercial development activity, Reserve Bank directors have a unique platform, allowing members to analyze and share what they are seeing in their communities.

“I have access to a lot of information and a lot of different perspectives through our company and our operations but also through the peers I have connections with and through their businesses,” Thompson said. “I’m able to take those real, live experiences and information and relay that back to the Fed to help provide insight. Being able to provide real-world examples to help interpret the data is what I view as most valuable in helping in this role.”

Learn more about Ms. Thompson here.