Gemma Longfellow

Gemma Longfellow is a senior strategic leader with over 15 years of experience driving cultural and operational excellence within the creative and media sectors. Currently serving as Chief People Officer at Open Partners, Gemma operates on the Executive Board to align talent strategy with commercial growth. Her current role follows a successful tenure as Managing Partner at Ear to the Ground, where she established the talent and cultural strategy that underpinned the agency’s rapid scale-up, including the development of a comprehensive, agency-wide learning curriculum.

A graduate of the Oxford Executive Diploma in Organisational Leadership (Saïd Business School), Gemma is a passionate advocate for lifelong learning and the support of grassroots talent, as well as a believer in coaching and mentoring at all levels. This commitment led her to establish cross-industry senior leadership communities, fostering a space for collaborative growth and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.

Gemma specialises in applying academic rigour and trend mapping to the creative industry. She is currently authoring two books focused on the future of leadership: the first exploring how to harness misalignment and ambiguity to drive creativity, and the second providing a framework for mitigating bias within the workplace. A dedicated champion of professional standards, Gemma focuses on the intersection of human capital, inclusive leadership, and strategic business success.