Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson
Strategic Communications & Business Development
"Stories constitute the single most
powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal.”
Professor, Harvard University
Who
Born and raised in New York, Meredith started her career at Time, Inc, packaging stories from the company’s flagship titles for use by television news affiliates, before leaving for South Africa, where she worked as a financial reporter for Business Day in Johannesburg.
True to her lifelong interest in conservation, she soon began filing feature stories about the environment, and over the years has become known for her in-depth knowledge of and reporting on issues associated with conservation and sustainable development.
For the past fifteen years, Meredith has served in both executive and non-executive capacities, helping governments, corporates and non-profits to tell their stories and raise awareness and funding. Her expertise covering business, combined with extensive knowledge of political and regulatory environments across the African continent, eventually led to her recruitment to head up the Africa team at Aldwych Capital Partners, a boutique investment bank focused on Latin America and Africa. While there, she was responsible for all project origination for the Africa Group, as well as the production of all Africa-focused investor presentations and marketing materials.
In 2016 Meredith launched Pangolin LLC, and for the past four years has worked with both businesses and non-profits, advising on strategic communications and business development and creating data-driven content to support fundraising and institutional growth. She is well-regarded for her creative thinking, as well as her ability to activate a global network of high-level executives and thought leaders in support of a variety of initiatives, particularly those aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Meredith's work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Telegraph, VOGUE, Porter, Stella, Horizon (with the Wall Street Journal), SNOW (writer and editor-in-chief), Good Housekeeping, and The Lady, among others. She has written for both documentary and feature film.
Meredith holds a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University, and a Graduate Diploma in Modern Art Studies from the University of Cambridge. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, on the advisory boards of Big Life Foundation and Stop Ivory, and is a Trustee of ERuDeF (Cameroon).
"Effective stories are powerful because they drive action:
spurring donations, mobilizing supporters, and more."
Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies
Social Impact Storytelling
What
Where
EPI Activation, Hong Kong
Crisis Group panel, Council on Foreign Relations
Tusk Trust 25th Anniversary
Kiang West National Park, The Gambia
Big Life Foundation, Kenya
US-Islamic World Forum, Doha
Studio189, Africa House
UN General Assembly 2018
Woburn Safari Park
Tusk USA launch
On assignment for SNOW, Portes du Soleil
Africa House
UN General Assembly 2018
Heading 2
"If history were told in the form of stories,
it would never be forgotten."
Rudyard Kipling
“Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust.
Trust drives revenue.”
Andrew M. David, Brandscaping
Unleashing the Power of Partnerships