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Oral History Interview with Dennis Gillings, June 10, 1999. Interview I-0072. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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  • Abstract
    Dennis Gillings is the chairman and chief executive officer of Quintiles Transnational Corporation, a company specializing in consulting for the pharmaceutical agency. In this interview, he describes the decision, made when he held a professorship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to apply his training as a scientist in the corporate world. Gillings left academia after his corporation's growth seemed secure. He shares his common sense business philosophy, which, despite its lack of nuance, appears to have served him very well.
    Excerpts
  • Launching a career in pharmaceutical consulting
  • Building a successful business
  • University ties help build post-university career
  • University ties help build post-university career
  • English accent lends aura of authority
  • Common-sense management style
  • Building a successful business
  • Building a team is essential in building a business
  • Financial success awakens Gillings's conscience
  • Global expansion of Quintiles
  • Global expansion of Quintiles
  • Belief that business leaders should focus on business, not PR
  • Business success enhances leadership skills
  • Learn More
  • Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
  • Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
  • Subjects
  • Industries--North Carolina--History--20th century
  • Quintiles Transnational Corporation
  • Pharmaceutical industry--North Carolina
  • International business enterprises--North Carolina
  • Research Triangle Park Region (N.C.)
  • Gillings, Dennis B.
  • The Southern Oral History Program transcripts presented here on Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts held by the Southern Historical Collection.

    Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.