E65 PMI and VPMMA supporting Veterans and Military Spouses
As we approach Veterans Day we dedicated our show to a discussion about supporting Veterans and Military Spouses with services and programs assisting with transitioning to civilian Project Management careers. Two leading organizations in the industry which are supporting Veterans are PMI and VPMMA and we learn more about what they have to offer Veterans.
PMO Joe was joined by Brantlee Underhill, Kerry Brooks and Al Calvi all from PMI, the Project Management Institute. Brantlee is the Managing Director North America, Kerry is a Military Spouse and PMI Product Manager and Al is Veteran and Military Program Champion.
Al gives us an inside look as a Veteran of the challenges he and his family faced when transitioning to the civilian workforce. He also shared how earning his PMP helped ease the strain of the transition. He now works closely with PMI Chapters to help them build successful Veterans Mentoring Programs.
Kerry shares the impact a military family can have on your career such as frequent relocations and the stresses of the unknown. Kerry was recently featured along with VPMMA Co-Founder Eric “Doc” Wright on the Montel Williams Lifetime Network show, Military Makeover. You can see that episode here – https://militarymakeover.tv/pmi-empowering-people-to-make-ideas-a-reality/
Brantlee shares PMI’s vision and plan to support Veterans in the Project Economy such as their partnership with Pearson VUE to provide exams at military bases around the world. She also shares one of PMI’s Core Values is Volunteerism with Al being an example of how volunteering can make an impact personally and within the community.
To learn about all the services PMI offers for the Military and Veterans visit www.pmi.org/military. To learn more about VPMMA, Veteran Project Manager Mentor Alliance, visit www.thevpmma.org.
Thanks to our sponsor THE PMO SQUAD. Visit www.thepmosquad.com to learn to Empower People to Deliver Results and assist your PMO as you evolve in the new post-COVID business world.
Check out all prior episodes and upcoming guests by visiting www.projectmanagementofficehours.com.
Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world’s leading association for those who consider project, program or portfolio management their profession.
Through global advocacy, collaboration, education and research, PMI works to prepare more than three million professionals around the world for the Project Economy: the coming economy in which work, and individuals, are organized around projects.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2019, they work in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, improve organizational success and further mature the project management profession through globally-recognized standards, certifications, communities, resources, tools, academic research, publications, professional development courses and networking opportunities.
As part of the PMI family, ProjectManagement.com creates online global communities that deliver more resources, better tools, larger networks and broader perspectives.
Brantlee Underhill leads Project Management Institute’s (PMI) North America region business as well as global chapter and volunteer programs. A Certified Association Executive (CAE) and nonprofit executive, Brantlee aligns PMI’s strategy and operational plans to serve PMI’s North American market and volunteer-lead communities to empower people to make their ideas a reality.
In her 20+ years with PMI, Brantlee has led community, organizational and volunteer leadership transformation to achieve greater engagement and value outcomes for PMI members around the globe. She has led the establishment of PMI offices in Dubai, Singapore and Brussels; coaches teams in change and stakeholder engagement; and co-led the start-up team for implementing PMI’s culture and change management capability.
Connect with Brantlee on LinkedIn.
Kerry Brooks is a product manager with PMI’s Global Membership Team. Her background is in product development, product management, and strategic marketing. Kerry develops career-focused digital tools and programs to solve customer pain-points throughout their career journeys in project management. In addition, Kerry is a subject matter expert and co-lead of PMI’s U.S. military initiative, Operation: Qualify for Hire. She’s a military spouse who, when not performing her product management duties, volunteers as a Family Readiness Leader (FRG leader) for her husband’s unit, is the webmaster for the local Military Officers of Association of America (MOAA) chapter, and enjoys advocating for the military community.
Kerry has her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Marist College and her Master’s in Business Administration from Wilmington University. She also holds her Level VI certifications in Pragmatic Marketing and her Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) and Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certifications.
Mr. Al Calvi is currently serving the PMI (Project Management Institute) volunteer role as the Region 14 Mentor supporting 24 PMI Chapters in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Jamaica and Southern Caribbean. He is also the PMI North American Military Liaison Program Champion working with various PMI Chapters promoting military to civilian project management career transition efforts.
Prior to his 2016 retirement, Mr. Al Calvi was the site lead engineer and project manager for the CACI Inc INSCOM (Intelligence and Security Command) Genesis contract. He has over forty years of project management, engineering, military and industrial experience in support of US Army active duty, reserves, National Guard, civil affairs, military intelligence, inspector general, and mission critical IT equipment.
Prior to joining CACI in early 2005, Mr. Calvi was serving in an active duty assignment in Ft. McPherson, GA as a US Army Reserves Colonel with Army Central Command C9 Civil Military Operations. Mr. Calvi US Army assignments included; 352nd Civil Affairs Command Chief of staff Task Force Commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom combat operations, 401st Civil Affairs Battalion Commander, 98th Division Assistant Inspector General, certified military instructor and 82nd Airborne Division Combat Engineer & Maintenance Officer.
Concurrent with his US Army Reserves career and prior to joining CACI Inc., Mr. Calvi held key project management and senior mechanical engineering positions at Eastman Kodak Company during his twenty four year tenure with the Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Calvi was the senior facilities management group executive with the Heidelberg and Kodak joint venture Heidelberg Digital LLC supporting the new $250 million digital color print equipment manufacturing market.
Mr. Calvi is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology with a master’s degree in Manufacturing Management and Leadership, and a graduate of Colorado Technical University with a master’s degree in Information Systems Security. Mr. Calvi is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and a registered professional engineer (PE) in the state of Georgia.
Connect with Al on LinkedIn and follow PMI Institute on LinkedIn, 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.
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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.
