Helping Employees Thrive
Emily Johnson ’13, Temporary Learning and Development Assistant, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Emily Johnson: Global Development
Studies major
Emily Johnson ’13 was looking at new hires on the Gates Foundation’s internal website when she came across a name she recognized: David Roodman. She read his book Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry Into Microfinance in her Microfinance class at Seattle Pacific.
“It’s a reminder of what an amazing place Gates is,” says Johnson, who is a staffing agency employee on temporary assignment at Gates. “They’re actually doing the things I read about in college.”
While at SPU, she interned at Washington Global Health Alliance and helped plan a series of events. “That was an affirmation that I don’t have to be a doctor or a researcher in a lab to do global health,” Johnson says. “There’s a lot of administrative support needed to make global health successful.”
She currently is an assistant on the learning and development team at Gates, which provides courses on employee orientation, management, personal professional development, and technology skills for foundation staff.
Johnson likes Gates’ emphasis on research and analysis and enjoys being a part of the global health sphere. “There’s a lot of backend work needed, and I feel very fulfilled in what I do,” she says. Another perk is working with some of the top minds in the field.