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E99 Don’t be a Waiter with Ben Peters

March 24, 2022 by Karen

Dont-be-a-Waiter-with-Ben-Peters-feature

Phoenix Business Radio

E99 Don’t be a Waiter with Ben Peters

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E99 Don’t be a Waiter with Ben Peters

In this episode of Project Management Office Hours, Ben Peters and PMO Joe discussed Ben’s journey in the PMO space, Portfolio Management along with Engineering and Project Management in Cape Town!

Ben’s unique experience as professional spans over 18 years within the mining, oil and gas, telecoms, food, health care and the government sectors. With significant experience as a seasoned professional in all aspects of Project Management.

As we learn about his story and path into the PMO space he started not within the Project Management field rather an industrial engineering. “After industrial engineering studies, I found myself in the project management space applying those industrial engineering principles—Always be proactive. I am known within the city of Cape Town as an implementer, as a driver, as a continuous enforcer. I’m striving for change. I like change. I’m not waiting for anything because it’s just changing your mindset and maximizing those skills in the project management field.” Those early career experiences were setting the stage for a successful Project Management career as he learned the importance of mindset, organization, and management.

Ben shared that he enjoys solving problems and helping others. In Cape town he worked on a project to help citizens impacted with Covid-19. “You sometimes take it for granted, but it’s a great contribution that we do in the project management group that we’re touching lives. I think that’s the reason why I keep on working in this space.” As a government agency it is amazing to see the applications in project management take place and have such an impact on so many lives. We often tend to think of just business when it comes to PMO, however it applies to anything as Ben has experienced.

Connect with Ben:

Company Website – www.capetown.gov.za

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-peters-b-eng-hons-pr-eng-pmp-pr-cpm-mba-3a24bb7/

Or see the guest list for upcoming shows – https://www.thepmosquad.com/podcast

Thank you to THE PMO SQUAD and The PMO Leader for sponsoring this show.

The PMO Squad is a leading provider of PMO and Project Management services in the US. They assist clients building and improving PMOs, provide Project Management Consulting services, deliver custom Project Management Training and provide Project Management staffing services.
Learn more about The PMO Squad – www.thepmosquad.com

Where do PMO Leaders go for Information, Learning, Networking and Services? The PMO Leader community has “Everything You Need to Become a Great PMO Leader”. One PMO World, One Community!
Learn more about The PMO Leader – www.thepmoleader.com

Cape Town, colloquially named the Mother City, is home to just under 4.5 million and 1.5 million households. The City is an independent sphere of government, which has a broad range of powers and functions in its execution of its constitutional obligations.

It is a growing city, by 2030 we expect 5.12 million people to be residing in Cape Town, where growth is characterized as both formal and informal. Approximately 3.5 million people live in formal residential conditions, while approximately 500 000 people resides informal, vulnerable conditions.

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring socio-economic crisis has exacerbated conditions, especially for the most vulnerable.

Looking forward, it is projected that there will be a sharp increase in unemployment, increase in business closures, and increasing inequality and hunger.

Considering the contextual specificities of Cape Town, value creation in the public sector is not just about the rate of expenditure but the about benefits created and engendered in projects and programmes for all stakeholders AND residents.

Excellence in project, program and portfolio management it critical to ensure the City of Cape Town is able to continue to deliver on what is needed and what is promised with the intended outcomes, so as to ensure benefit to all residents.

The City of Cape Town’s Corporate Project, Programme Portfolio Management (C3PM) Department in its current form has been a decade in the making, having undergone multiple iterations of structure and ways of operating. It is now a global leader in pioneering benefits in the public sector.

Barend Daniel’s (Ben) Peters’ experience as professional spans over 18 years (15 years’ senior management) within the mining, oil and gas, telecoms, food, health care and the government sectors.

He has significant experience as a professional engineer, project manager, programme manager, portfolio manager and senior manager in construction, information technology and business improvement industries. He has advanced portfolio, programme and project management, general management and leadership capabilities.

Ben has been exposed to multiple project, programme and portfolio management frameworks and lifecycles. He is capable of sharing his knowledge in creative and innovative ways. He is well known for my strengths as an implementer and solution finder / solver to any given problem. I am a confident decision maker.

Ben has achieved the highest status of Gold Winner in the International Project Management Association (IPMA) Achievement Award as Young Project Manager of the Year in 2016. He was also recognised as Employee of the year within the Corporate Services Directorate, City of Cape Town in 2018. With these achievement, he has proved that with his unique approach, he is in the “Top League” and a master of his craft.

The Water Resilience Programme in Cape Town received bronze for Innovate Project of the year where he was the Programme Manager.

As Director of the Corporate Project Management Office, the PMO has received honours of Gold (winner) for the 2020 South African PMO of the year, African PMO of the year 2021 and Top 4 for the Global PMO awards under his leadership.

Ben is an active member at the South African Institute of Industrial Engineering and Project Management Institution, President for the Association for Project Management South Africa and Head of the International Project Management Smarter Cities Special Interest Group.

His senior management experience inspired him to obtain more knowledge within the business and management environment and therefore he completed his MBA (Master in Business Administration) in 2019 at the University of Edinburgh (Herriot Watt Business School).

Ben is a sports fanatic in his private life. He believes in a team culture and loves all sports. He is a keen tri-athlete, MTB rider.

Connect with Ben on LinkedIn.

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.

Where do PMO Leaders go for Information, Learning, Networking and Services? The PMO Leader community has “Everything You Need to Become a Great PMO Leader”. One PMO World, One Community! Learn more about The PMO Leader – www.thepmoleader.com

Al Mishkoff, Jo Ann Tuttle, Jeff Sheehan and Brittni Ping Guests

May 6, 2013 by angishields

BRX National

Al Mishkoff, Jo Ann Tuttle, Jeff Sheehan and Brittni Ping Guests

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Our show today covers topics from garage floor coatings to increase your home’s appeal and utility, construction consulting services for companies and governments to take the pain out of accounting and reporting, using sophisticated psychometric testing to help your college student make the right choices, to expert advice on how to use social media to promote your business so you don’t do more damage than good.

Al Mishkoff is president of Granite Garage Floors, a residential services company that upgrades garage floors with a durable, functional and decorative epoxy coating system that will give your garage a look worthy of Jay Leno’s garage. With businesses opened in four cities besides Atlanta and expansion plans afoot, other areas will soon be able to turn their dirty, stained old garages into showcases.

Using diamond grinders and a lot of preparation of the floor makes sure the foundation of the home comes up before Al’s durable coating ever comes up. Well almost anyway, he says that his floor is guaranteed to stay down and not peel like acid prepped surfaces with epoxy paint usually do. With an infinite range of looks you can turn an old dusty garage into a stain proof and easy to clean one.

You can contact Al Mishkoff and find out more at www.granitegaragefloors.com email him at alan@granitegaragefloors.com or call 770-329-1751.

Jo Ann Tuttle started her consulting firm JAT Consulting Services, Inc., 19 years ago and it now helps governmental agencies such as Hartsfield Jackson Airport manage the financial complexities of its $6.2 billion capital improvement program working for International Aviation Consultants LLC. Taking the complex payments, compliance reporting and contracting details for cities and municipalities are another service her firm provides.

The city of Dunwoody is an example where her company handles all finance, budget and purchasing activities for the newly incorporated city. This model of outsourcing services to private parties to keep government overhead low and results responsive to the citizens is a popular trend here and other governments could well improve services and cut costs with JAT.

A person who gives back, Ms. Tuttle is a member of the Airport Minority Advisory Council, Consulting engineering of Georgia and the Women’s Transportation Seminar. She coaches and helps contractors working in places like Hartsfied-Jackson (there are over 700 contractors, many small) learn business skills and gain the knowledge that simply can’t be learned anywhere else through seminars and mentoring.

Saying she believes that giving back to help these companies not just gives you sense of personal satisfaction that’s hard to duplicate, it also builds a stronger Atlanta.

You can contact Ms. Tuttle at 770-975-7359 email her at joanntuttle@jatconsulting.net or on the web at www.jatconsulting.net.

Brittini Ping is President of Students & College, an information services company for parents and their children who are in the process of selecting a college and thinking of how to cut the costs of a higher education given today’s massive costs for college.

We’re all different and understanding those differences can help you and your college bound children pick the right major and school the first time and save frustration and money later on. That’s what Brittini and her team do for families grappling with college choices and costs.

A division of BestWork DATA, a psychometric testing firm used by companies to help understand how to best place employees in positions and the best strategies for helping their employees maximize their potential, Students & College uses the same powerful testing tools to help you and your son or daughter understand the areas where they will do their best and be happy in their major. By picking the right major up front, you avoid the high cost of having to swap majors later and spend an added year to get a degree, an obvious benefit to the cost conscious.

As important, you and your son or daughter will gain valuable insights as to the college that is likely to be the best fit be that a small liberal arts school or a school with tens of thousands of students. We’re all different and understanding those differences can help you and your college bound children pick the right major and school the first time and save frustration and money later on.

You can reach Brittni Ping at 770-274-0518 x 8300, via email at brittni.ping@celebratestrengths.com or on the web at www.studentsandcollege.com

Jeff Sheehan is President of Sheehan Marketing Strategies, a firm that helps companies use the right mix of social media to drive business and avoid the many pitfalls of “do it yourself” social media approaches can harbor. Explaining it is not something that will work for every company nor will the same social media channels work with every situation, Jeff says that you really must understand the problems and characteristics of your marketing goals and match that to the right media for the job. That media might be social media or not and if it is, then it might be LinkedIn but not twitter.

Knowing takes a professional and Jeff brings his major ad agency background with him when discussing and advising companies on how best to use this “new media.”

An active speaker in the Atlanta community, Jeff is well known for his volunteer work with career ministries helping others to learn how to think about and use social media in their job search and to develop a personal brand.

You can put his years of experience marketing products to and for major companies like Cisco, Apple, HP, Dow Chemical, and IBM to work in your firm helping you makes sense of and get real business out of today’s new media.

Jeff Sheehan can be reached at 770-366-1047 by email at jeffsheehan2010@gmail.com or on the web at http://sheehanmarketingstrategies.com

Mayor Mike Bodker of Johns Creek and Mike Caines & David Shavzin ISO Certification

February 4, 2013 by angishields

BRX National

Mayor Mike Bodker of Johns Creek and Mike Caines & David Shavzin ISO Certification

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The Johns Creek Story – What makes a city great

The Mayor of Johns Creek, Mike Bodker, was our first guest discussing Why Johns Creek was formed in 2006, what lead up to the decision and his pivotal role in the process. He did such a terrific job that he was elected the city’s firs mayor and is now serving a second term.

Many cities are now incorporating because of the many advantages they have as chartered entities. Keeping tax money at home, gaining control over police, fire, planning and 911 service are just a few of the advantages Johns Creek has discovered.

Calling the city “the Beverly Hills” of Georgia is no exaggeration. It is one of the wealthiest cities in the US with most of the best schools in Atlanta. It is respected for its well-managed, planned and sensible approach to growth, citizen service, governmental efficiency, community outreach, a spirit of volunteerism, and a reputation as a community that contributes generously to worthy causes.

Anyone interested in learning how a city can really serve the goals of a community through sensible guided growth and effective, cost conscious government will want to listen in. To find out more about the process of city formation or reforms that can save tax dollars, contact the Mayor. For companies looking for a great city to headquarter in, you’ll want to have a look at the City of Johns Creek.

You can reach Mayor Bodker at 678-512-3313. You can also contact him and other departments and the other organizations through the city’s website at www.johnscreekga.gov.

Process Improvement and ISO Certification to Grow Profit and Sales

Mike Caines and David Shavzin and team are process improvement and ISO certification consultants. They help companies streamline their operations and improve financial results by examining every aspect of their business processes. Starting from customer to vendor and every department in between, they work with their clients with the objective of making the flow smooth where interactions and customer experience are exceptional.

Explaining that process improvement isn’t about seeking to eliminate people but rather examining the processes that have grown up in a company and, in conjunction with the people involved using a proven process to look for ways to streamline, simplify and focus the way things are done.

That process produces savings but also sales. It cuts friction costs out such as too much or too little inventory, wasted effort in flows, documentation, lost or misplaced equipment, confusion, etc.

In fact, the process will, the delight the CEO, the CFO as well as the people who were formerly wasting time and emotional effort struggling with the old ways of doing things.

ISO is what could be described as a holistic process that a company adheres to in order to systematically improve their customer’s experience, streamline their operations and turn problems into opportunities to grow and stay focused on results.

Surprisingly, ISO certification is available for almost any company and may or may not be part of a process improvement project. But, as it is often the key to the door for a company wishing to do business with large companies, it can be a key differentiator between you and your competition.

David works with teams as does Mike, helping deal with the human emotional dimensions of change. Change often fails to implant itself if that is not handled well and they are experts at dealing with the issues involved.

One thing that can help businesses in Georgia is generous tax breaks for instituting a process improvement program. One client received a six figure refund as a result. Now that’s real stimulus!

You can find out about process improvement and ISO Certification by contacting Mike and David as follows:

Mike Caines can be reached www.mariettabusinesscoach.com, mcaines@mariettabusinesscoach.com or 770-826-2559 and David Shavzin at dshavsin@shavzinassociates.com, www.shavzinassociates.com dshavzin@shavzinassociates.com or call 678-795-1750.