Gemma McDonald, Group Manager – Commercial, Global Finance Team
In October 2022, Gemma McDonald joined OceanaGold as Group Manager – Commercial for the Asia-Pacific region. With over 15 years’ experience in senior procurement and commercial roles in the mining industry, Gemma is enjoying a role that is both hands on and strategic, and a culture where people really care – about each other and performance.
Just 12 months after joining OceanaGold, Gemma McDonald is already making a valuable impact, whether it’s establishing initiatives that propel others to succeed, balancing resources to achieve optimum results or crafting a role that is equally strategic and hands-on.
Attributing her positive journey to the global company’s relatively small size and strong culture, and being surrounded by inspiring senior leaders that care about their people, Gemma is excited to grow her future with the company.
“What’s unique about OceanaGold is its personable approach.” Gemma said.
“The energy of let’s get this done together is a core element of our culture. For a small team, this breeds success,” she said.
“Joining OceanaGold has felt like being welcomed into a family. Many of my colleagues are long-standing employees and everyone wants to share their experience and history of the company.”
Day to day Gemma works across OceanaGold’s Asia Pacific operations – the Waihi and Macraes operations in New Zealand and Didipio Mine in the Philippines – supporting operational teams to deliver commercial outcomes that align with business objectives.
“Coming into what was a newly established role has been liberating and challenging,” she said.
“I support capital expenditure application reviews and approvals through to anything budgeting, forecasting and analysis related from a financial, operational and commercial delivery perspective. I love that I’ve been able to shape my role to balance tactical and strategic outputs.”
Gemma says OceanaGold employees benefit from a greater level of visibility across centralised and operational roles. For Gemma this has resulted in valuable exposure to leaders within the business.
“Since late 2022, I’ve had the opportunity to be an Executive Committee Coordinator as part of a 12-month internal rotating development program. Through this I’ve been fortunate to witness first-hand how decisions are made at the executive and senior levels of the business.”
An intrinsic passion for customer service forms the basis of Gemma’s approach in bringing together teams to achieve success.
“I love helping the operations to deliver and achieve positive results. Success in growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it’s a team effort. There are a lot of people at OceanaGold that genuinely believe this mantra and that’s what makes us different,” Gemma said.
Reflecting on the past 12 months, Gemma has enjoyed traveling to different sites, crafting positive working relationships with operational teams and embracing cultural nuances. Introducing coaching opportunities within site commercial teams has been a key initiative.
“Exploring cultural differences between operations in New Zealand and the Philippines has taught me to have more appreciation around resourcefulness and investigate new ways to achieve optimum outcomes.”
When it comes to growing a future at OceanaGold, Gemma is most excited about the opportunity to be part of a small team that continues to achieve positive global results.
“In an organisation the size of OceanaGold, with its global footprint and complex multi-disciplinary assets, it’s motivating to be a part of the company’s growth,” she said.
“You can look at a result or figure and identify exactly how you personally contributed to achieving that outcome. This isn’t always possible at larger organisations and for me that’s a special part of OceanaGold.”
Come grow with us at OceanaGold. To find out more visit https://oceanagold.com/
