The MIT Office of the Vice President for Finance (VPF) determines the best ways to allocate funds for the goods, resources, and services that support the research, education, and important work performed by students, staff, and faculty at MIT. The attention to detail and organization of VPF's staff members help community members understand and use Institute financial resources. One of the 170 staff members in VPF who works hard behind the scenes to make life at MIT more effective is Jessica Tam, senior strategic sourcing analyst, travel and hospitality.
Tam has been in the travel and hospitality industry for over 20 years. She worked for hotels for 15 years before arriving at MIT, leaving one side of hospitality for the other. Tam is well-versed in forming and maintaining relationships with vendors, including travel companies and caterers. Those invaluable skills allowed her to comfortably pivot from what she refers to as "being a supplier" to "being a buyer."
A member of the strategic sourcing and contracts team, Tam is responsible for everything related to travel and hospitality (catering, dining, tents, and events) that involves purchasing. Knowing how to connect with people is a significant part of her job, as she oversees reaching out to suppliers, both potential and preferred, managing requests for proposals (RPFs), negotiating contracts, securing concessions, and ensuring the best value for MIT travelers and event planners. When assisting with travel accommodations, she troubleshoots issues that a traveler may run into. Tam also answers vendor questions and works very closely with Institute Events.
Even though she is constantly meeting and speaking with new people, Tam notes that the hospitality industry is small. When she came to MIT there was a lot to learn, but knowing the major players in the industry helped her to acclimate quickly into the role. With her expertise, Tam was immediately able to help streamline the hotel side of travel. With her knowledge of the industry, she was able to rebalance MIT's negotiated rates so that they were competitive and in line with what she believed MIT should be paying.
A significant part of Tam's job is vetting vendors to be included on the list of MIT preferred businesses. For example, when a staff member asks for VPF's list of preferred hotels, it comes with expected price points for each that have already been negotiated by Tam, eliminating the need for that staff member to carry out a selection of source - finding two or three other competitive quotes. Terms and conditions have also already been put in place so that after selecting one of the preferred hotels, it is simple to gain approval in the buy-to-pay process.
In May 2024, Tam received an Excellence Award for Embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for a project she began in March 2020 that was put on hold due to the pandemic. The initiative's purpose was to bring diverse catering options for events taking place at MIT. The preferred catering services list in place when Tam started her job was mostly known, big-box caterers. When she resumed work on the project, Tam issued RPFs to small, local, Black- and minority-owned catering businesses. At the project's conclusion, Tam had almost doubled the number of preferred caterers available to the community. In her award nomination, colleagues noted that Tam's work "fosters inclusivity, contributes to the growth and success of our local economy, and brings new, diverse culinary options to our very global community."
Soundbytes
Q: What do you like the most about your job?
Tam: I enjoy introducing people to resources at MIT that they did not know existed. Sometimes there is a travel hiccup for a faculty member, and I get them on the next flight. If a catering order does not show up for an event, I check which preferred vendor has availability to come up with bagged lunches on a tight deadline. I'm here to answer questions that make my colleagues' travel and events as seamless as possible. I want the community to know that I am here to be a resource. It's a little-known fact that the VPF website is a great tool available to the community that has every possible piece of information not just for travel planning and hospitality, but for expense reports, budget planning, and more.
Q: What do you like the most about the people at MIT?
Tam: I am a member of the strategic sourcing and contracts team, and everyone is so friendly. When we come together on in-office days it feels like a family. Our Vice President of Finance Katie Hammer is approachable and will ask, "How was your weekend? How are your kids?" I can walk to her office and ask a question, which is nice and probably different from other universities where you might hear about your VP but you could never ask them a question directly or say hello.
I also love that at MIT you might not initially know the accomplishments of the person you are working with. I have been talking to Professor Tod Machover, who is a composer, and it turns out that the popular video games "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" grew out of Machover's group at the Media Lab - something that never came up in our work conversations. My first year at MIT I had to reach out to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is the inventor of the World Wide Web. You never know who you're going to meet or talk to.
Q: What advice would you give to a new staff member at MIT?
Tam: Try and meet the people you will work with in person, even if your job is hybrid. This is my first job in higher education, and I had heard that working at a university can feel like you work in a silo. In hospitality I learned that a five- or 10-minute conversation goes a long way, even if it is just to say, "I'm Jessica, I'm in this role, and I look forward to working with you." When I first started, I found a list of departments and people that I knew I would be working with and visited their offices to introduce myself and have a brief conversation. Meeting in person gives you a good understanding of how people communicate.
