Charl Thom is group MD and partner at FoxP2 (www.foxp2.com; Biz press office), which he joined in 2007 fresh from a five-year stint as Grey Advertising Cape Town's business unit director.

FoxP2 won FinWeek's Agency of the Year award for Newcomer Agency 2007, Small Agency 2008, Cape Agency 2009 and an Outstanding Performance Award in 2011. The agency also won FInancial Mail's Agency of the Year award in 2008 and was ranked number one at Loeries 2009 and 2011.

At Grey, Thom ran the Heineken, Tanqueray and Captain Morgan Rum portfolio accounts for key FoxP2 client Brandhouse. He also assisted in setting up the Grey Cape Town office.

Charl has a B Comm (marketing) from RAU and worked both in South Africa and London in media before making the switch to working for a creative agency.

When he's not working, Charl can be found on his surfboard somewhere along the Atlantic Coast.

Contact Charl on tel +27 (0)21 424 4802 or email . You can follow him on Twitter at @charlthom or read some of his thoughts on his blog at charlthom.posterous.com.