Su-Mei Thompson is CEO of Media Trust, a non-profit organisation based in London which works with media industry partners to give charities, under-represented communities and young people a stronger voice.
Su-Mei started her career as a corporate finance lawyer at Linklaters, before spending many years in leading media companies including The Walt Disney Company and the Financial Times. She was a member of the FT’s Global Management Board and Managing Director for Asia, before going on to be Co-Head of Christie’s Asia.
Her career in the non-profit sector began in 2007 when she became CEO of The Women’s Foundation Hong Kong. Under Su-Mei’s leadership, The Women’s Foundation emerged as a leading NGO, known for its innovative and impactful community and mentoring programmes and effective partnerships with multiple stakeholders. Su-Mei also founded the 30% Club’s Hong Kong chapter to advocate for more women on boards and TWF’s Male Allies HeForShe network. At TWF, Su-Mei started to make her mark as a leading advocate for gender equality on the international stage. She co-produced the award-winning documentary “She Objects” and was invited to discuss female media representation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. Meanwhile, her TED talk ”Dying To Be Thin” has attracted over 150,000 views.
Having previously served on Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission, in 2020, Su-Mei was appointed to the Board of the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission - the UK’s national human rights institution. She is also a Supervisory Board member of IMD – the leading business school in Lausanne, a Trustee of the Orwell Foundation, a Member of the English National Opera’s Insights Council and a member of WACL where she served on the Campaign Committee for two years.
A law graduate of Cambridge and Oxford, she was the first woman to make the Dean's List for IMD’s MBA program and was recently named by IMD as one of its 50 MBA Laureates. She was also recognised by Charity Times on International Women’s Day 2022 as one of 15 women leaders making a difference and inspiring other leaders in the charity sector.