Prior to coming to UMKC, Lee D. Thompson was Professor of Music and Head of Piano and Accompanying Studies at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, where he taught piano, accompanying, foreign language diction for singers, and courses in the history of music. Dr. Thompson served as a member of the summer music staff of the Santa Fe Opera 1996–2000. In 2000 he was appointed an American Cultural Ambassador by the U.S. State Department and worked with the Mongolian National Opera as principal vocal coach for its first-ever English language production. Thompson has toured internationally as a collaborative artist, performing concerts in Vienna, London, Graz, Austria; Kunming, People's Republic of China; and New York City.

Thompson has a DMA from College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, and a MM and BM from Baylor University. He has also held teaching positions on the music faculties of Baylor University and Ohio State University.