E48 Community Involvement from Project Management Leaders
How are you investing in your community to improve our Project Management profession? In this episode, we discuss events and participation within the University and Non-Profit sectors to help advance and support our PM community. Listen to hear Jennifer Smolnik and Debra and Cory Hildebrand discuss the ASU PM Network and VPMMA, the Veterans Project Manager Mentoring Alliance.
Jennifer is the President of the Arizona State University PM Network. The ASU PM Network is a volunteer organization that has provided an opportunity for internal faculty and staff to develop a community of practice, learning, and service. While the PM Network has historically provided resources to internal faculty and staff at ASU, the Network is attempting to expand its offerings to ASU students and to the larger Phoenix community to create broader social impact and encourage more constructive dialog and partnerships.
Both Cory and Deb serve on the VPMMA Board of Directors. Cory is a Veteran and currently works as Managing Director of Charles Schwab Internal Threats Program. He shared how his experiences in the military have translated to project management application within the corporate world. In addition to being a Military Spouse, Deb is a PM instructor at two prominent west coast universities and runs her own consulting practice.
ASU and VPMMA are teaming up for 2 great events in April. The Inaugural VPMMA Golf Tournament fundraiser will take place April 19th at Legacy Golf Club in Phoenix. You can learn more and register as a golfer, sponsor, or volunteer at www.thevpmma.org/golf. The ASU PM Network Summit will take place the following day on April 20th. This event will bring together faculty, staff, students and the PM Network community to share their experience, learn about best practices and the latest technologies, and celebrate teams engaged in innovation. You can register for this event at https://uto.asu.edu/events/PM-Summit-2020.
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The Military pours tens of thousands experienced, talented, cleared, educated, and credentialed Project Managers (PMs) into the talent pool every year. However, a large percentage of these Veterans are not equipped to translate their expertise and experience into the civilian workforce.
The Veteran Project Manager Mentor Alliance (VPMMA) is a 501c3 Non-Profit Organization that connects these Service Members, Veterans and Military Spouses with industry PM mentors so they can transition into meaningful civilian PM careers.
Cory Hildebrand is Managing Director of Charles Schwab Insider Threat Program. His 25+ years in information technology and cybersecurity has spanned across several Fortune 500 companies where he has held leadership positions.
He is the Director of Corporate Sponsorship for VPMMA and a Marine Corps Gulf War Veteran.
Debra Hildebrand is a Project Management guru who teaches PM at two universities as well as runs a project management training and consulting firm.
She is a military spouse and the Director of Education for VPMMA.
Follow VPMMA on LinkedIn, Facebook Twitter and Instagram.
The Project Management Network at ASU, a volunteer organization based on ASU’s Tempe campus, has provided an opportunity for internal faculty and staff to develop a community of practice, learning, and service. 
While the PM Network has historically provided resources to internal faculty and staff at ASU, the Network is attempting to expand its offerings to ASU students and to the larger Phoenix community to create broader social impact and encourage more constructive dialog and partnerships.
Jennifer Smolnik is a certified Project Management Professional since 2012 and has been an elected board member of the ASU PM Network since 2016. Jennifer has spent her time in Project Management in a variety of roles at ASU, relating to Cost Accounting, Quality Management and Process Improvement.
She works as an unsuspecting leader and sees Project Management as a discipline that facilitates leadership and team-building skills, even in the absence of an organized PMO.
Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn and follow ASU on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
ABOUT PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE HOURS SERIES
Project Management Office Hours is intended to provide Project Management professionals a place to drop in and discuss Success Stories, Best Practices, and Lessons Learned. Project Management Consultant Joy Gumz has shared with us, “Operations keep the lights on, strategy provides the light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.”
Each of us has a unique story to tell, but collectively we share a message that organizations who embrace Project Management Best Practices perform better than those which don’t. Organizations which align Projects to Strategy perform better. Organizations with Engage Executive Sponsors deliver better results. Organizations which measure Project Management performance outperform those which don’t.
During our Project Management Office Hours, we hear directly from Industry leaders how to make an impact in our profession. How we, collectively, will Advance Project Management Best Practices, One Listener at a time!
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Joe Pusz started THE PMO SQUAD to bring real world PMO Leadership experience to the consulting space and to advocate for Project Management through his blog PMOJOE.com. The old saying is “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Following this mindset Joe left Corporate America in 2013 to start THE PMO SQUAD and work with fellow Natural Born Project Managers to advance Project Management Best Practices.
ABOUT OUR SPONSOR
THE PMO SQUAD focuses exclusively on PMO and Project Management consulting. Corporate America is full of Accidental Project Managers running projects who haven’t been trained to be PMs. To help solve this problem THE PMO SQUAD is on the Leading Edge with PMO As a Service. PMO As a Service allows our clients to focus on their respective core competencies while THE PMO SQUAD delivers Project Management expertise. Contact Joe at 678-591-7868. Follow The PMO Squad on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
