Paul Oestreicher is an accomplished communications and public affairs leader and doer, trusted advisor, team builder, educator and author who blends strategic vision and creative execution to achieve measurable results. A scientist by training, he is one of the early architects of global communication planning and third-party alliance building. Paul makes complex or controversial issues understandable and compelling for any audience, and is committed to the coaching, training and development of teams.
Paul is currently head of external relations and senior writer at Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company. He focuses on corporate communications, writing/messaging/positioning, public relations strategy and planning, media relations, and issues/crisis/reputation management.
Previously, he was Executive Director/Chief Communications Officer at Yeshiva University. Paul reorganized and reenergized the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, which includes public relations; Internet and digital communications; brand, crisis, change and reputation management; publications, and marketing and advertising. Paul helped to launch a university-wide Strategic Planning process, which started with focus groups, a new message platform, and revised Mission/Vision/ Values.
Paul was also an Adjunct Professor and thesis advisor at New York University’s MS Program in Public Relations & Corporate Communication, where he taught Strategic Communication, Research Process & Methodology, and Communication Ethics, Law & Regulation. He developed a new model to develop and measure the effectiveness of apologies - The 6 As - and was honored with NYU’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2012.
Paul started his career in an unconventional way, first as a scientist in the Gastrointestinal Pharmacology group at Wyeth Laboratories and then as clinical project coordinator in the Clinical R&D department at Hoffmann-La Roche. After becoming interested in the “business of science,” he moved to their Public Affairs department where he was a spokesperson, and led scientific and patient public policy and communications. Paul organized the first Global Communications Task Force, the company’s patient/consumer communications strategy, and launched the first media briefings the National Cancer Institute had ever co-sponsored with industry.
As VP of Strategic Marketing & Communications at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, he led corporate marketing and public relations, public policy, government relations, investor relations, internal communications, new business support and the web site. He even designed the holiday cards! In addition, he led a team that organized the first continuing medical education (CME) programs on personalized medicine with the American Medical Association and Yale University, and the industry’s first workshop on the subject with the FDA. Other positions held include VP, North American Communications at Sanofi-Synthelabo Inc., Executive Vice President/General Manager at Edelman, and US Healthcare Practice Director at Hill & Knowlton.
He enjoys sharing his perspectives on leadership, trust, ethics, reputation, apologies, science, marketing and politics through his blog, C-O-I-N-S: Communication Opinions, Insights and New Strategies. Paul’s book, Camelot, Inc.: Leadership and Management Insights from King Arthur and the Round Table, uses quotes from Arthurian legends to illustrate the dos and don’ts of modern leaders and institutions. Paul speaks on communication and leadership, and delivered a featured address to the PRSA International Conference. An inventor and holder of five toy patents, TagsMania, LLC markets his award-winning designs.
Paul earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Rochester, an MS and PhD in nutritional sciences from Rutgers University, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in pharmacology while with Wyeth Laboratories. He has served on a number of committees and organizations, including the Healthcare Communication & Marketing Association (HCMA), the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), the Keystone Center for Science & Public Policy, Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE), The Gene Media Forum and the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Communications Task Force, and was president of the Connecticut STEM Foundation.
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