SSA Commissioners

Lawrence H. Thompson

July 19, 1993 to October 7, 1993 (Acting)

Larry Thompson was born in Ohio. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Iowa State University, a master's degree in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Michigan. Mr. Thompson began his federal career in 1970 as a policy analyst with the Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington D.C. He served as an economist, in 1973 with the U.S. National Institute of Education, and in 1974 to 1976 with the Office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, HEW. In 1977 Mr. Thompson became Director of Social Security Planning, HEW, a position he held until 1978 when he became HEW's Executive Director, U.S. Advisory Council on Social Security. He joined the Social Security Administration in 1979 and worked until 1981 as Associate Commissioner for Policy, and Director of the Office of Research and Statistics. In 1983, Mr. Thompson left SSA to take a position with the General Accounting Office where he worked as Chief Economist, and Assistant Comptroller General for Human Resources Programs. Mr. Thompson returned to SSA in 1993 as Principal Deputy Commissioner, and for the first three months of his appointment also served as Acting Commissioner of Social Security, pending selection of a permanent Commissioner. In December 1995, Larry Thompson left Social Security to become a Fellow at the Urban Institute located in Washington, D.C.