Amy Thom

Amy is a Manager on the Sustainable Development Innovation team at Verra. In this role, she supports the evolution and expansion of the SD VISta and CCB programs and contributes to the identification and realization of new strategies and asset opportunities for sustainable development outcomes.

Amy is a rural development practitioner and socio-economic researcher with more than 10 years of hands-on experience in sustainable development project design, implementation, and evaluation. Prior to joining Verra, Amy managed a multi-province farmer support program across rural South Africa, where she led field-based teams and engaged local, national, and international stakeholders to strategically layer sustainable development interventions. Amy has consulted on a range of social sector projects dealing with impact strategy, market analyses, stakeholder mapping, evaluation design, and international partnership creation.

She’s now in Portugal completing a Ph.D. in Agronomy & Sustainable Rural Development at the University of Lisbon, where she’s been modeling the social impacts and technical efficiency of milk production among Madagascan smallholders. Amy joined Verra because she loves to connect the dots between theory, data, and practice to drive real-world change for people and the planet.

Amy holds a Bachelor degree in International Studies & Sociology from the University of California San Diego, as well as a Master degree in Social Justice (emphasis on Politics & Economics) from the University of Cape Town. She loves languages, wild places, her dog Vasco, and she’s been surfing around the world for the past 20+ years.