It was wonderful to welcome back NHEHS alumna, Georgie Thornton (née Messer) (Class of 2001) this week for a Careers Spotlight session. Georgie is currently Vice President, Head of Tennis (media rights) at IMG Media. This involves managing the relationships with Wimbledon, ATP Tour, broadcasters and external and internal stakeholders.

Georgie explained how, having completed her degree in Law at Warwick University in 2005, she decided to combine her love of sport, business and law rather than work for a law firm. When a junior position came up at IMG, she jumped at it as she saw it as a huge opportunity to get a foot in the door and to gain experience in as many areas of the company as possible including a stint working in New Zealand!

Georgie left IMG when an incredible opportunity arose to work as a Broadcast Manager at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and, from there, she joined Sky Sports in their Commercial Team managing their acquisitions and syndication. For the last four years, Georgie has been enjoying a second chapter at IMG. She was offered a role as the head of IMG’s tennis media rights team and, having come from a tennis background herself, playing at national level until she was 14, it was an opportunity too good for her to turn down.

Georgie explained about how the sports media industry has evolved and is much more female-friendly now than it was 20 years ago. She is currently Co-Chair of Women in Endeavor (IMG’s parent company) and she is passionate about seeing women rise through, and succeed in, the business.

Georgie shared hugely valuable tips when asked by one of our Sixth Form students for advice about getting into the industry including seizing every opportunity! Our Year 13 Careers Reps, Lauren and Chris explained, “Georgie shared with us some of her best tips that she has learnt for negotiating contracts. These included how going for a coffee with someone can lead to opportunities unfolding down the line. She also advised us to leave on good terms when you leave any job as you may rejoin the company further down the line as she did with IMG. She also told us to be the one to ask questions and make ourselves memorable as this is what will make us stand out. Georgie has been lucky enough to meet many tennis stars, recalling how Andy Murray has a great sense of humour, Rafa Nadal is lovely to speak to, and Serena Williams is a character and enjoys talking about more political aspects of life! She also told us that Djokovic is far nicer off the courts than he is on them, and he detests talking about more political things; he solely wants to play tennis.”

Huge thank you Georgie for sharing your knowledge, experience and top tips!