Gen is Director of Learning and Influence at Social Investment Business where she leads the organisation’s work on impact measurement, research, policy, data, communications and business development.
She began her career in academia with a doctorate in politics and philosophy. She has lectured at Oxford University, Roehampton University, the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, Birkbeck College London and Cambridge University. Gen set up the Social Economy Data Lab, co-developed the social investment data standard and has spearheaded the use of banking data to model local economies and spending patterns in partnership with the marketing company Reward Ltd. Whilst at Power to Change, Gen led the development of the insights platform Twine.
Prior to PTC, she was Director of Research at the social impact lab Osca, Head of Social Impact at The U, a social venture developed by the Young Foundation, and founder and director of a social enterprise working with young people excluded from school.
Gen has published widely on evaluation and social measurement, the social economy and data use. She has written a regular column for Civil Society News and has published articles for the Guardian, Charity Finance, Feedback Labs, The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph, The Centre for Youth Impact, the Alliance 4 Useful Evidence and New Start Magazine, and blogs regularly for SIB. She has also appeared on Newsnight and Dispatches and has given evidence on impact measurement practice to the House of Commons and the House of Lords.