Unsung Heroes: The Coordinators Who Keep MLR Running

The 6th Annual Promotional Review Summit, sponsored by Momentum Events, was packed full of compelling presentations and discussions around the MLR process, with a specific focus on response to the FDA crackdown on promotion.

The event was attended by members of the MLR review team and Coordinators, who are at the center of the promotional review process. It struck me that the coordinator role rarely gets the spotlight but quietly keeps the entire promotional review machine moving. Coordinators sit at the intersection of marketing ambition and regulatory precision — the unsung heroes who make sure every asset, every claim, every footnote moves through the process without derailing.

While they may lack impressive titles, their impact is anything but small. These professionals are the glue of the process, holding together creative teams, reviewers, agencies, and systems — all while balancing deadlines, compliance, and personalities.

The Invisible Engine of Efficiency

When an MLR process runs smoothly, it’s tempting to assume the system itself is working. But behind every on-time approval is a coordinator who’s quietly managed version control, chased missing references, scheduled meetings, tracked reviewer feedback, and soothed tensions between departments.

They are the bridge between worlds: translating marketing’s excitement into regulatory-ready language and interpreting legal or medical feedback back into something marketers can act on. They anticipate bottlenecks before they happen, maintain institutional memory, and ensure that every piece of content that leaves the organization is not just compelling — but compliant.

What It Takes to Be the Glue

The best coordinators are a rare combination of strategist, diplomat, and therapist.
They don’t simply push tasks; they orchestrate people, priorities, and process flow with grace under pressure.

Here are some of the qualities that define these quiet leaders:

Interpersonal & Emotional Intelligence

• Compassionate, emotionally intelligent, and thick-skinned, they manage competing egos and expectations with calm diplomacy.

• They function as informal therapists, mediating healthy conflict between brand teams and reviewers while maintaining trust on both sides.

Cognitive & Analytical Agility

• Curious and critical thinkers, they dig into data and references, ensuring every claim is traceable and defensible.

• As translators, they bridge the gap between creative messaging and scientific accuracy.

Operational Mastery

• Organized, flexible, and communicative, they manage hundreds of moving parts with precision.

• They are leaders and orchestrators, prioritizing efficiently and solving problems on the fly — often before anyone else realizes there’s a problem.

Resilience & Grit

• Relentless, resilient, and clearheaded, they face shifting deadlines, sudden regulatory updates, and constant scrutiny — yet they keep the process intact.

• They’re customer service oriented, ensuring that every stakeholder feels heard while never losing sight of compliance imperatives.

In short, coordinators embody the paradox of quiet strength: they may not have formal authority, but they command trust through competence.

Why Recognition Matters

When leadership looks for efficiency gains, the coordinator function is often overlooked or underfunded — assumed to be administrative rather than strategic.
But data from countless promotional review audits tell another story: the difference between a two-week review and a six-week one often comes down to the quality of coordination.

A skilled coordinator:

• Reduces rework and version churn

• Improves reviewer throughput

• Increases consistency across brands and agencies

• Mitigates regulatory and reputational risk

• Enhances team morale during high-pressure cycles

Investing in this role — through training, recognition, and technology support — is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve MLR efficiency and compliance outcomes.

A Call to Leadership

If you lead a marketing, medical, or regulatory function, pause for a moment and look at the people who keep your MLR process on track.

• Do they have the right tools?

• Are they empowered to speak up when timelines collide or quality slips?

• Do they get credit when launches go right — or only attention when something goes wrong?

Recognizing coordinators isn’t just about appreciation; it’s about reinforcing the foundation of compliance excellence.
They are the connective tissue between strategy, science, and speed — the ones who ensure that marketing ambition never outpaces regulatory truth.

A Tribute to the Unsung Heroes

So, here’s to the coordinators — the clearheaded, resilient, compassionate, critical thinkers who make the impossible look effortless. They are the first to arrive, the last to sign off, and the reason MLR works at all.

Their names may not appear on a press release or a campaign award, but their fingerprints are on every compliant piece of content that reaches the market.

They are the unsung heroes of MLR — and it’s time we sing their praise.