Gillian Mathurin is the Director of Strategic and Corporate Communications at Grand Challenges Canada.

Gill brings nearly two decades of experience in strategic communications, advocacy, and media relations, most recently as the Director, Strategic Communications & Public Engagement for the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. At the Munk School, she led the communications and events teams, grew the School’s international reputation, raised the profile of experts working on a wide variety of global issues, and hosted leading scholars, diplomats and dignitaries.

Before joining the University of Toronto, Gill spent the majority of her career in advocacy and non-profit organizations. As AIDS-Free World’s Director of Communications, she worked on issues of sexual violence, HIV, and discrimination, and was instrumental in launching the Code Blue Campaign to end impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping personnel. At the Stephen Lewis Foundation, she raised the profile of grassroots organizations turning the tide of HIV and AIDS in Africa and helped launch the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. Gill began her international career in the Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Unit of UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programmes in New York. Over the years, her work has taken her around the globe, working with grassroots organizations in sub-Saharan Africa and leading outreach and media events in South Africa, Kenya, the US, UK and beyond.

Gill holds an MA in Political Science and Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Directed Interdisciplinary Studies (Religion and World Affairs) from Carleton University, where she was awarded the President’s Entrance Scholarship and a Senate Medal for Academic Achievement. She currently serves as a board member of the Public Good Initiative and UofT’s Connaught PhDs for Public Impact program. Gill lives in Toronto with her husband and two sons, and is an avid reader, traveller and basketball fan.