Nicholas Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic, a position he has held since 2021. During that time, the publication has won three National Magazine Awards for General Excellence, three Pulitzer Prizes, and been named Digiday's Publisher of the Year. It has also significantly increased revenue, reached profitability, grown faster than any other publication in its peer group, and reached the highest level of subscribers in its 167-year history. Thompson is also the former editor-in-chief of WIRED, where he built successful subscription and affiliate revenue businesses. While at WIRED he also wrote and edited multiple stories that were cited in front of Congress and one that was turned into a film that won the Academy Award for best picture.

Thompson previously served as editor of NewYorker.com and is a cofounder of The Atavist, a multimedia CMS that was sold to WordPress, and Speakeasy.ai, which was sold to Amplica Labs. He is the author of two books, “The Running Ground,” which was published by Random House in October 2025 and is a national bestseller, and the acclaimed book "The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War.” He films a daily video on tech policy for Linkedin and has nearly two million followers across social media platforms. He also serves on the boards of ProRata.AI and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. Thompson has long been a competitive runner; in 2021, he set the American record for men 45+ in the 50K race. In 2025, he became the top-ranked runner in the world in his age group for the 50-mile run.