Terry Lee Thompson was born February 11, 1973 in Carthage, TN. He is the son of Jerry & Billie Thompson of Lafayette, TN. He attended Macon County, TN public schools. He attended college at Cumberland University in Lebanon, TN, obtaining a Bachelor of Business Administration, with the distinction and award of the Chamber of Commerce Award in Business Administration, an award given to the Business student with the highest GPA in the school of Business. He later attended Belmont University's Massey School of Business, where he obtained his MBA. He was an accountant for the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche in his first post-undergraduate business appointment. Later he was an auditor for Healthcare Corporation of America and Community Health Systems, both based in Nashville, TN. He worked for a short time with Gaylord Entertainment Company, and then went to Georgia State University to obtain his Master of Healthcare Administration degree (MHA).