Professional History: Gemma Thomson is the Head of Development at the Good Work Foundation (GWF). GWF is a non-profit education organisation that has pioneered a unique ecosystem of learning and working on the edge of rural Bushbuckridge, one of South Africa’s largest informal economies. This ecosystem delivers experiential learning programmes to children and adults in six locally-managed digital learning campuses. Gemma's path to GWF began in the advertising industry. She was headhunted for a position at Ogilvy in Cape Town before going on to Ogilvy in London to join the global Unilever brand team. After a few years, she returned to South Africa to manage Ogilvy's Unilever brands. With 12 years of experience under her belt, she decided to switch gears to work in the philanthropic non-profit space, joining GWF as their Senior Communications Manager before going on to manage their fundraising and communications as Head of Development.

Academic and professional credentials: BA in Industrial Psychology, Political Science, and Decision-Making & Values studies at Stellenbosch University
Post-Graduate Diploma in Advertising & Marketing Communications

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