

Andrew G Kelleher (Hagrid)
by angishields

Andrew G Kelleher (Hagrid)
by angishields
Foo Foo Fest events – www.FooFooFest.com
5th Annual Foo Foo Festival Arrives in Pensacola, Florida November 1-12
The “Festival City of the South” Offers 12-Day Arts & Culture Celebration
Pensacola, Fla. – When the modern performance arts have the backdrop of America’s oldest settlement, one of the South’s most charming coastal cities is magically transformed into a delightful, sensory feast. The nonprofit organization, Art, Culture, and Entertainment, Inc. (ACE), presents this sensory event when the 5th Annual Foo Foo Festival occurs November 1-12, 2018 in Pensacola, Fla. The 12-day Foo Foo Fest celebrates culturally creative happenings, events and moments and invites visitors to “Vacation Artfully” in Pensacola for nearly two weeks.
Pensacola, known as the “Festival City of the South,” is the only city on the stretch of the Gulf Coast from Mobile, Ala. to Tampa, Fla. that boasts having the “big five,” an opera, ballet, symphony, theatre and museum. Foo Foo Festival’s roster of events celebrates art, music, dance, opera, theatre and cuisine with programming from 30 grant recipients, throughout the city of Pensacola for nearly two weeks. The 2018 ACE grant recipients will host individual experiences specific to their craft throughout the festival. Strategically positioned in and around some of Pensacola’s most popular and longer-running events, the Foo Foo Fest encourages cultural tourists to make Pensacola an arts destination and enjoy other events those two weeks including The Greater Gulf Coast Arts Festival, the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show, Pensacola Eggfest, the 34th Annual Frank Brown Songwriters Festival and the 14th Annual Pensacola Marathon.
To mark the fifth anniversary of the Foo Foo Fest, this year’s 2018 event features a special, large-scale interactive picture mural created from thousands of images of festival-goers. This Foo Foo Festival Picture Mosaic allows visitors to become “part of the art,” actually leaving personal, creative marks on a permanent historical art collage in downtown Pensacola, thus further emphasizing the wider community’s interconnectivity.
“Pensacola, Fla. has established a stellar reputation for its unique, diverse cultural arts offerings,” said David Bear, trustee emeritus for Art, Culture, and Entertainment, Inc. “So, it’s only natural we bring not only a variety of opera, ballet, symphony, theatre and museum culture to visitors and residents, but so many other diverse offerings of high artistic, cultural caliber during the 5th annual Foo Foo Fest.”
2018 Foo Foo Festival Highlights include:
In addition to the arts, downtown Pensacola offers historic walking tours, a large farmer’s market, quaint shops, food trucks, brewery tours and daily running clubs. Hosting the Foo Foo Festival in the fall offers big fun and a hefty dose of Southern sophistication delivered to boost tourism and travel during the “off season” with its unique slate of events.
For more information about the 2018 Pensacola Foo Foo Festival visit www.FooFooFest.com or follow Foo Foo Festival on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About Art, Culture, Entertainment, Inc. (ACE)
ACE is a nonprofit organization that receives Federal, State of Florida, Escambia County, City of Pensacola, corporate, foundation and personal funds. ACE disperses these funds through an equitable granting process to nonprofit arts, culture and entertainment organizations throughout Escambia County, Fla., and promotes Escambia County as an arts and cultural destination through the annual Foo Foo Festival and other marketing efforts. For more information about ACE, visit www.acepensacola.org.

by angishields

EntreCon is a business and leadership conference for entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders to come together, build on their purpose and skill set, build and lead stronger teams, and ready to build better workplaces.

Lyn & Bob Turknett/Turknett Leadership Group

Turknett Leadership Group‘s expertise is Leadership. They are Atlanta’s premiere resource for Executive Coaching, Leadership Talent Assessment, Executive Team Development, Cultural Assessment, Executive Selection, and more. Through an approach grounded in science and guided by the Leadership Character Model, they help organizations hire the best people, identifying and developing high potentials, and creating an ethical culture.
TLG is a boutique consulting firm focused on providing personalized guidance and support to their clients. Their professional staff brings both depth and breadth to their clients by combining expertise in the behavioral sciences with practical business and executive management experience.
Tino Mantella/Turknett Leadership Group
Tino J. Mantella became the President and CEO of Turknett Leadership Group on October 29, 2018. TLG is one of the nations top leadership development companies, driven by its proprietary Leadership Character Model and grounded in science. TLG has supported hundreds of CEO’s and their teams over the last 32 years.
Mantella brings over 30 years of leading some of the nation’s largest and most distinguished not-for-profit including the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, the National Arthritis Foundation, and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). Leader, innovator and versatile are three descriptors that collectively provide a framework for Tino’s career. He has supervised a team of over 4,500 employees during his years at the Chicago YMCA Programs ranged from gang intervention to foster care to being the largest provider of SRO’s (Single Room Occupancy Housing) in the state of Illinois. The YMCA and Mantella, during his tenure, were one of the first not-for-profits ever recognized for the prestigious George Land award for Innovation. At the Arthritis Foundation, during Mantella’s tenure, the organization disseminated over $50 million dollars to help find cures for debilitating diseases. And, at TAG (Technology Association of Georgia), over the 12 years Mantella was at the helm, the organization grew from less than 500 members to over 36,000, becoming the largest organization of its kind in North America.
In January of 2017, Tino was appointed President and CEO of Tier4 Advisors. This for-profit company helps senior leaders optimize decisions around their IT expenditures. In 2018, Tier4 was recognized as an Inc. 1,000 company for the first time in its history. Tino will remain a partner at Tier4 and equity owner.
Mantella resides in John’s Creek, Georgia with his wife Deborah.


In this follow-up deep dive Leader Dialogue episode, hosts Ben Sawyer and Duffie Dixon continue the “Baldrige Journey – Pursuing Performance Excellence” discussion with Al Faber, the President & CEO of the Baldrige Foundation, clarifying what it takes for organizations and people to succeed.
Listen in to learn…
1. What effective leaders do to succeed
2. How to overcome the organizational gaps in knowledge, performance, and visibility
3. How to identify the “metrics that matter” to improve organizational performance
4. How to overcome employee behaviors expressed as “it’s not my job” and “we’ve always done it that way”
5. How to tie these key performance excellence principles back to the visual Baldrige organizational hierarchy of needs, clarifying the critical aspects of performance, and specifying where innovation is necessary to achieve sustainable organizational and personal success
Al Faber/Baldrige Foundation
Al Faber was named President and CEO of the Baldrige Foundation in July 2014. The Mission of the Baldrige Foundation is to ensure the long-term financial growth and viability of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, and to support organizational performance excellence in the United States and throughout the world. Prior to joining the Foundation, Al served as President & CEO of The Partnership for Excellence (TPE).
Prior to that, Al served in federal and state government culminating in executive positions and leading more than 11,500 employees, with 65 major facilities, a 250 million dollar operating budget and real property exceeding $2.1 billion dollars. He has provided executive leadership, establishing policies, priorities and oversight of federal budgets, operations and training, personnel, logistical operations and infrastructure management to include numerous construction programs. He is driven to create winning organizational results with a deep sense of commitment to public service.



Performance excellence refers to an integrated approach to organizational performance management approach resulting in:
• Delivery of increasing value to customers and stakeholders contributing to organizational sustainability
• Improvement of overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities
• Organizational and personal learning
The Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework consists of seven (7) categories which integrate leadership, strategy, and customers with workforce and operations to drive results. The Baldrige system foundation of measurement, analysis, and knowledge management is critical to effective management and to a fact-based, knowledge-driven, agile system for improving performance and competitiveness.
Listen in to learn…
• How Baldrige provides a disciplined, fully integrated approach to innovation in all key areas of your business model.
• How Baldrige is visually represented through a cascading organizational hierarchy of needs, clarifying the critical aspects of performance, and specifying where innovation is necessary to achieve sustainable success.
• How the best performing organizations innovate, clarify what matters (strategize), then execute seamlessly.
• About the three key steps of strategy execution:
Organize: To differentiate your organization in the marketplace
Activate: To engage employees to execute seamlessly
Recalibrate: To consistently measure performance to expectations and adjust course as necessary
Al Faber/Baldrige Foundation
Al Faber was named President and CEO of the Baldrige Foundation in July 2014. The Mission of the Baldrige Foundation is to ensure the long-term financial growth and viability of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, and to support organizational performance excellence in the United States and throughout the world. Prior to joining the Foundation, Al served as President & CEO of The Partnership for Excellence (TPE).
Prior to that, Al served in federal and state government culminating in executive positions and leading more than 11,500 employees, with 65 major facilities, a 250 million dollar operating budget and real property exceeding $2.1 billion dollars. He has provided executive leadership, establishing policies, priorities and oversight of federal budgets, operations and training, personnel, logistical operations and infrastructure management to include numerous construction programs. He is driven to create winning organizational results with a deep sense of commitment to public service.

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by angishields

Emily Elmore USAF Pilot, Professional Speaker, Management Consultant
Emily Elmore is an Air Force pilot, author, and management consultant stationed at Naval Air Station Pensacola as a flight instructor and Chief of Academics and Simulator Operations.
After earning a Master of Engineering and certification in Lean, Six Sigma, and process improvement, Emily began offering data-driven management services. She later founded Elmore Johnson Consulting, specializing in team development and executive coaching.
Emily served 8 years active duty as a pilot; she is credited with over 300 combat hours in Operations Enduring Freedom and Resolute Support. In 2016 she suffered a catastrophic shoulder injury that required a full replacement. Subsequent nerve injury significantly limited her functional abilities, but afforded her the opportunity to focus on her family. She is a married mother of two, committed to growing relationships and coaching others through their own obstacles to become influential leaders in their career and community. 8 years of experience as an USAF pilot and officer; flight commander and instructor of 400+ students for FAA and ICAO airspace requirements and defense operations for multimillion dollar training program. CPI Green Belt that has led projects that reduce critical manning shortfalls and cost savings initiatives. Summa cum laude graduate of Master of Engineering with focus on project management across all spectrums of industry (finance, production, legal, marketing).
Professional speaker, passionate about empowering the community through training, motivation, and team development. Available for public engagements and private seminars; past topics include leadership, managing generational conflict, secrets of high functioning teams, work-life balance, communication, gender equality, and a women’s mentorship series.
Management consultant services are comprehensive and can be found in detail at ElmoreJohnson.com
Consult@elmorejohnson.com , 334-625-9032 , udemy.com/leadership-essentials-for-high-performance-teams/?couponcode=INTRO_RATE

| Michele A Kobielnik CPIW, LUTCF, FSS/Affiliated Insurance Pensacola |
– I can handle all of your life and health insurance needs whether you need individual, group or business insurance, or when you reach 65 and need coverage to supplement Medicare. With over 30 years experience, I can get you the coverage that best suits your needs.

Kolleen Edwards Chesley has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and spent the majority of her career as a financial advisor. In that role, Kolleen was responsible for finding her own clients and quickly learned the value of networking, networking, and even more networking. It was in 2004 and during her sales career that she, along with two other professional business women met for lunch with the purpose of helping to motivate each other after Hurricane Ivan had blown through our area and changed not only the physical landscape of the area, but also impacted the business landscape as well. Out of that lunch was born what is now a thriving not-for-profit organization for business women.
Kolleen currently serves full-time as the Founding Director of what was originally called Women’s Business Lunch and is now known as Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast. The organization advocates a culture of confidence building, lifelong learning, collaboration, empowering others and a spirit of charitable giving.
The mission of Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast is to promote, advance and improve women in business and the organization accomplishes these in a number of different ways.
Women in Leadership radio podcast show – sponsored by Pensacola Business Radio X. We hold monthly shows featuring local community leaders and other men and women in business. We engage our guests in conversational style in-depth interviews.
by Karen

E16 Warick Pond from ASU and Hussain Bandukwala from Parwaaz Consulting
In this episode of Project Management Office Hours, Joe Pusz, PMO Joe has a great discussion with special guests Warick Pond, Executive Director with Arizona State University and Hussain Bandukwala, Chief PMO Coach with Parwaaz Consulting.
Warick provided us an inside view of the impact and challenges of Project Management within Higher Education. We learned of the ASU Project Management Network, Training and Certifications offered at ASU, the Entrepreneurial mindset and skills expected with ASU PMs and the need to be successful in our era of Digital and Industry Disruption! A special Thank You to Warick and ASU for donating seats to ASU Project Management training to the Veterans in our Veterans Project Management Mentoring Program. Thank You Warick!
PMO Leaders don’t have many resources to turn to for advice and education to grow in their role. Hussain provided his perspective on how PMO Leaders can be successful by understand what to do first in this role, understanding why PMOs fail so often and what skills are necessary to succeed in this role. As a leader in our Industry, Hussain is hosting the PMO Virtual Summit, a collection of 20 Global PMO Leaders from October 15 – 18th. To learn more visit https://pmovirtualsummit.com
Tune in for upcoming shows with Project Management leaders discussing a wide range of current topics and events! Our next show will be October 18th.
Recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the country’s most innovative school, Arizona State University is where students and faculty work to develop, advance and lead innovations. ASU is where nationally ranked and internationally ranked programs prepare next-generation innovators to thrive while advancing pioneering research, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship and
economic development.
ASU’s nationally ranked programs inspire the top-qualified graduates and have positioned the university as a “top-tier” recruiting and hiring institution by more than 50 of the country’s top corporations, according to professional recruiters and rankings services around the world. ASU graduates more than 20,000 thinkers, innovators and master learners every year. Take a deeper look at how ASU is building the next generation of leaders.
The University Technology Office embraces its role as both an enabler and catalyst for advancing the vision and work of the New American University. We are a values-driven organization. Our commitments are reflected in all the work we do in pursuit of operational excellence, the experience and delight of our community, and our strategic and innovative initiatives.
Warick Pond is the Executive Director for the Strategic Implementation Office within ASU’s University Technology Office. He brings a wealth of experience in IT portfolio and project management from both higher education and industry. In his role at ASU, he works with diverse teams resulting in the successful implementation of the tools, techniques, and methodology being utilized to assess, prioritize, manage, and monitor the hundreds of active projects comprising the institution’s IT portfolio.
Driving strategic initiatives toward implementation at ASU, Warick focuses on valuable partnerships that result in student success. With twelve years in higher education and seven in the private market, Warick brings an unique perspective to building a PMO. His most notable programs include managing the technology efforts for Starbuck’s College Achievement Plan, and eAdvisor Tracking which won Information Weekly’s Top 500 Technology Innovators award. Warick oversees these efforts as well as leading a team of skilled IT professionals that strive in the mission to provide expert knowledge and value in project management.
Previous to ASU, Warick worked 7 years at the University of Utah as a portfolio manager. His efforts in establishing an integrated PMO that leveraged frameworks within portfolio, project and resource management in combination with strategic enterprise governance at the University of Utah & University of Utah Health Science Center has been highlighted in the publications, Taming Change with Portfolio Management (http://www.tamingchange.com) and A Compendium of PMO Case Studies (http://marketplace.pmi.org/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx? GMProduct=00101376101). His experience in adult instructional design in the laboratory science industry with ARUP Laboratories and business development with Staples, Inc., brings a unique view to how technology services impact business capabilities.
Warick is a Certified Project Management Professional as well as being Scrum Master Certified.
Connect with Warick on LinkedIn. 
Hussain Bandukwala is the Chief Coach at Parwaaz Consulting and helps PMO leaders succeed. Through coaching, workshops and other resources, Hussain arms aspiring and first-time Project Management Office (PMO) leaders with experiential learning and confidence to achieve PMO triumph systematically and effectively.
He also works with PMO leaders and executives at high-growth small- and mid- sized organizations to conquer their biggest challenges in meeting strategic goals, achieving operational efficiency, and delivering project value.
Hussain has led and facilitated the setup of PMOs at several companies and advised numerous PMO leaders throughout their own PMO setup journeys. He has authored several PMO-focused publications, teaches at LinkedIn Learning and speaks frequently on the subject.
Connect with Hussain on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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!
Project Management Office Hours is powered by The PMO SQUAD and TALAIA OpenPPM.
TALAIA OpenPPM is a 6 years old solution. TALAIA started in 2012 and is today present in more than 15 countries. TALAIA is a business line of the company SM2 Software and Service Management. SM2 is a 120 person company established more than 20 years ago. SM2 provides end to end solutions delivering projects and Consulting services, integration systems, outsourcing services, software products; helping to empower its customers with the latest IT Technology.
Sign up for a free 30-day trial and learn more about this PMBOK aligned solution.
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.
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.



On this follow-up deep dive episode of “Leader Dialogue”, Ben and Jennifer continue the innovation requirements discussion with John McDaniel, HCI Group’s SVP of Innovation and Technology, clarifying what it takes for organizations to get out ahead of emerging market trends, and to win.
Listen in to learn:
John McDaniel/Senior VP of Innovation and Technology with The HCI Group
With more than 35 years of experience as a healthcare CIO, consulting services executive, and as an executive with large healthcare solution companies, John McDaniel currently manages the CXO Innovation and Technology Solutions division at The HCI Group.
Prior to joining HCI, John worked as a National Practice Leader – US Healthcare for a large data storage and software organization. He was responsible for cultivating C-level executive relationships, understanding emerging requirements, and collaborating with development teams to ensure solutions that met market-driven operational, scalability and cost efficiency requirements.
As a CIO, John worked with St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center, McLaren Health Care Corporation, and The Emory Clinic, where he also served as Director of Medical Informatics for the Emory Healthcare System. He is a keynote speaker at National and Regional healthcare conferences and frequently presents at large, international healthcare events.
About SOAR Vision Group
The SOAR Vision Group mission is to: Align People with Purpose to Achieve Exceptional Results. SOAR provides best practice strategy execution, business process optimization services, and a structured organizational development approach for organizations to effectively implement the Baldrige Performance Excellence framework. For more information, contact SOAR Vision Group at (888) 294-3303 or visit soarvisiongroup.com.
About the Baldrige Foundation
The mission of the Baldrige Foundation is to ensure the long-term financial growth and viability of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, and to support organizational performance excellence in the United States and throughout the world. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is presented annually by the United States President to organizations that demonstrate quality and performance excellence. For more information, contact the Baldrige Foundation at (202) 559-9195 or visit baldrigefoundation.org.

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