Kate Thomas

Kate Thomas (Tangata Tiriti) is the Chief Executive Officer of Booster Foundation, a philanthropic organisation responsible for stewarding Booster Financial Services' shareholder donations. After 15 years in the private sector, Kate made the shift to philanthropy a decade ago to align her career with her purpose: facilitating ideas and mobilising resources to create social change. She is an experienced strategic leader known for connecting people and organisations around shared goals, and for driving social and cultural impact within a commercial context.

Kate spent ten years at Spark New Zealand, including six as General Manager of Spark Foundation. She led their strategic transformation to support communities working towards digital equity, with a focus on better serving Māori aspirations. During this time, Kate worked directly with frontline community providers to design Skinny Jump, a subsidised broadband service that now serves 35,000 homes. She went on to lead Thriving Communities Aotearoa through its start-up phase and currently sits on the Board of Trustees for Young Enterprise. Kate has a particular interest in youth development and pathways to employment, seeing these as critical enablers of collective wellbeing and prosperity.