{"id":11959,"date":"2025-10-01T08:58:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=11959"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:12:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:12:29","slug":"cant-put-a-number-on-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2025\/10\/01\/cant-put-a-number-on-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"Can’t Put a Number on Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mouths drop in awe as the huge body of a whale shark fills the Observation Wall of the Ocean Voyager Gallery at Georgia Aquarium. Its shadow passes over the heads of visitors crowding the glass, putting mere feet between them and the largest fish in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tammie Williams (\u201998, \u201915) beams as the shark disappears from view, swimming to another part of the 6.3 million gallon tank. The shark is her favorite animal at the aquarium, mostly because of the wonder it sparks whenever it comes into view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere Wonder Lives,\u201d the aquarium\u2019s slogan, was an immediate draw for the Georgia Southern University alumna when she became chief financial officer of the organization earlier this year. Initially, she planned to take the year off to enjoy a slower schedule after retiring from her role as senior vice president and head of global content finance for Warner Brothers Discovery, but the culture at the aquarium was too enthralling to pass up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou see a lot of people beyond children coming in for the peace of it, in awe of the natural world,\u201d she said. \u201cIt lets you know that there\u2019s more to life than Atlanta traffic and what we experience on a day-to-day basis. These animals exist alongside us, and the biodiversity in these tanks reflects the biodiversity we experience in our lives; every single species brings something to the aquarium, to the ocean, just like we as individuals bring something to our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt changes people when they think about it that way. Seeing all the harmony in here,\u201d she said, gesturing at the wall of blue, \u201cinspires that message.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valuing people is a principle that has defined Williams\u2019 career since her days at Georgia Southern. Between semesters of earning dual degrees in accounting and computer information systems, Williams worked summer internships in accounting and auditing across the state of Georgia, where she learned how her work could empower businesses to make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was eye-opening for me that every business, small and large, needs accountants,\u201d she recalled. \u201cA lot of people are trying to do the right thing in business but fail often due to financial reporting and compliance guidelines. They need someone who will tell them the truth and take the time to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams can still hear Professor Leslie Fletcher, Ph.D., lecturing about the importance of financial storytelling: the ability to explain finances in a way anyone can understand. Her lessons were a launch point for Williams\u2019 early work in auditing, and were emphasized by the then-Director of Accountancy Lowell Mooney, Ph.D. He demonstrated the impact of an unconditional act of kindness when he invited members of Beta Alpha Psi, an honor organization for accounting students, to his family home for dinner. Williams remembers watching Mooney\u2019s daughters run around the dining table while the professor asked each member how they were doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGeorgia Southern taught me how to be an accountant as a whole person, not just a business professional,\u201d Williams says. \u201cThe connections I\u2019ve made since then are from doing the right thing by people without wanting anything from them, just treating them right over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Tammie<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of all the jobs she\u2019s worked since earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Georgia Southern, Williams said she had the most fun at TNT Sports, where she led the team managing all finances for the NBA on TNT. The fun came after an intense start: days after her role was announced, the pandemic shut everything down, including that year\u2019s NCAA Men\u2019s March Madness tournament. Williams worked late nights from her virtual workspace managing the financial impact of cancelled sports \u2013 but overcoming challenges with the support of her team make the work rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour relationships matter,\u201d she shares. \u201cLife will surprise you with how important it is to do the right thing, and how that will come back to bless you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those blessings came near the end of 2024 via a phone call from a former coworker, who knew of her sabbatical. She\u2019d heard about the opening at Georgia Aquarium and thought Williams could do great things for the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlways take the call,\u201d Williams chuckled. \u201cOnce I went there and toured the operations and met the leadership team and heard about the vision and strategy for the next several years, I was all in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mouths drop in awe as the huge body of a whale shark fills the Observation Wall of the Ocean Voyager Gallery at Georgia Aquarium. Its shadow passes over the heads of visitors crowding the glass, putting mere feet between them and the largest fish in the world. Tammie Williams (\u201998, \u201915) beams as the shark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":898,"featured_media":11960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[90],"class_list":["post-11959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-spring-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/898"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}