Team Feature: A conversation with Tamara Terry, Vice President of Client Strategy
This week, we sat down with Tamara, our Vice President of Client Strategy, to learn more about what motivates her work, how she builds trust with clients and teams, and the trends she sees ahead for clients.
What motivates your work in client strategy and partnership development?
What motivates me most is the opportunity to connect vision and ideas to real impact. Throughout my career, I’ve been drawn to work that brings people, ideas, and resources together to solve complex challenges. I enjoy understanding what matters most to a client, identifying opportunities they may not see yet, and helping translate their goals into strategies that create meaningful results. For me, successful partnerships go beyond delivering a service and it's all about building relationships rooted in shared purpose, creating value, and helping organizations extend their impact in the organizations and communities they serve.
How do you approach building trust and alignment with clients and internal teams?
I lead with trust, curiosity, transparency, and intentional listening. I believe trust begins with understanding and I try to take time to understand each stakeholder’s priorities, challenges, and definition of success, then work to create a shared vision that connects those perspectives. Internally, I value open communication, respect for different areas of expertise, and clarity around roles and expectations. My approach is to bring people together around a common goal, ensure everyone understands how their contributions move us forward, and build the kind of relationships where people feel heard, valued, and accountable for the outcomes we achieve together.
What is one insight you’ve gained at vitalink that shapes how you lead?
One insight I’ve gained at vitalink is that the strength of a team isn’t defined by its size, but by the collective expertise, perspectives, and value each person brings to the table. Smaller teams can offer a unique advantage through close collaboration, agility, and the ability to bring specialized knowledge together to develop thoughtful, tailored solutions for clients. This reinforces how I lead: recognizing individual strengths, creating space for each person’s expertise to shine, and ensuring we leverage our collective capabilities to deliver exceptional value. When people are aligned around a shared goal and empowered to contribute what they do best, a small team can make a significant impact.
What emerging trends do you believe will matter most for clients in the next year?
I believe three trends will be particularly important: the thoughtful integration of AI, the growing importance of trust and authentic communication, and the need to demonstrate measurable impact. AI is creating opportunities to work smarter and personalize engagement, but organizations must balance innovation with human judgment, ethics, and authenticity. At the same time, audiences are increasingly discerning about who they trust and which messages deserve their attention. Finally, clients will need to move beyond measuring visibility and activity to demonstrating meaningful outcomes. The organizations best positioned for success will be those that combine technology, evidence-based strategy, and a genuine understanding of the people they serve.
What values guide your work at vitalink?
The values that guide my work are integrity, collaboration, curiosity, and impact. I believe in doing what is right, being transparent in how I work, and honoring the trust clients and colleagues place in me. I value diverse perspectives because the strongest solutions emerge when people with different experiences and expertise come together. I also believe in remaining curious, challenging assumptions, and being willing to see a problem from a different perspective. Ultimately, I want my work to make a meaningful difference and this not just for the organizations we serve, but for the people and communities whose lives are influenced by the work.
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