Tom Polifka

Tom Polifka is the founder of Jemma, the career platform built exclusively for nurses. After more than 18 years married to a nurse and a career that's spanned travel, agency, PRN, and staff roles across the country; Tom saw two things go unaddressed for far too long: nurses rarely know whether they're being paid what they're worth, and the milestones of a demanding career too often go uncelebrated and undocumented.

He built Jemma to change both. At its foundation is 100% anonymous, verified salary data submitted by real nurses, not scraped from job postings — giving nurses an honest answer to "what do nurses like me actually make?" From there, Jemma grows into a full set of tools for a nurse's entire career: negotiation help, debt tracking, and Career Chapters, a place to capture the moments worth remembering.

Tom is deliberate about how Jemma operates. It's never employer-funded and never sells nurse data to recruiters; it stays aligned with the nurses who power it through a community give-back model rather than venture pressure. He reads every piece of feedback that comes through the platform himself.