In April, Tammy L. Dempsey became AOIC’s Chief Operating Officer. As the company’s second employee, she has more than 30 years of experience working with US and global biopharmaceutical, biomedical, and nonprofit organizations. Tammy is known for her exceptional leadership, high-quality standards, and extensive implementation expertise. Her positivity and passion for life are infectious for everyone who works with her. Tammy took a quick break from her new role to share her insights with us.



When I joined AOIC, we were very advisory board and symposium focused, with the majority of our staff located on the East Coast. As our team grew, we expanded our scientific content and technology initiatives. AOIC is now a global entity focused on maintaining that same scientific rigor. I’m most proud that our core values for providing effective, content-rich solutions for our clients are still the same.



I’d say that I’m collaborative, empowering, and transparent.



That’s an easy one. Honesty and ethics are so important to me. I consistently work to lead by example, and it’s important to me to work with people who share the same values. It makes the journey more rewarding and more fun.



Before I worked at AOIC, I had a department boss who requested every one of his deliverables become everyone’s top priority immediately—everything was urgent. Often his requests would be made without making eye contact or even saying, “Good morning.” I learned very quickly that you need a personal touch when you’re dealing with people—we aren’t machines.

His approach taught me two very important lessons:

1. Not everything is (or needs to be) an urgent matter because, when the true urgent matter arises, everyone thinks it’s just the same fire drill and may not respond as quickly as you need; and
2. Take the time to learn about your teammates, their role and challenges within the organization, and what’s on their plate.

I appreciate feeling valued for the job I do and want others to feel valued for the job they are doing too.



I was super privileged to play second base and shortstop for Drexel's softball team, with a short stint in pitching when our pitcher was injured. Being a student athlete in a school with 10-week trimesters really enhanced my organizational and time management skills. A few of my favorite lessons learned include:

1. The KISS principle (Keep It Simple Silly)—teaching me to stick to the basics and the facts,
2. Perspective is important—take time to see and learn about the things around you,
3. To deal with curve balls and show people what you’re really made of (will you bail or hang in there?),
4. You must respect the people around you—it’s essential to earning trust and building a team,
5. Not all managers have the same coaching style or approach to get the best results from their players, and
6. To make something happen, you have to take a chance.

They might be surprised to learn that I wanted to be a certified public accountant and went to Drexel University to obtain my finance degree (and play softball). In my first (and only) finance co-op job, I finished the assigned work three months into my six-month co-op. My managers didn't know what to do with me for the additional three months, so they sent me down to the chaotic sales and marketing group to support their newly developed international business team. I loved the controlled chaos, the noise, and the excitement of it. When my co-op finished and I returned to Drexel, I immediately changed my focus from finance to marketing and international business. I loved (and love) the bookwork of finance, which has helped in all my roles, but I love this world of medical and scientific communications even more.