Message from the President Welcome PMI Minnesota and Outreach Community!
Along with the changing of the seasons, and the colors on the beautiful trees here in the upper Midwest, the month of October always welcomes change for PMI Minnesota as well. This is the time of year we look forward to transitions, renewal, and what’s on the horizon for 2022 – such an exciting time of the year!
The end of October will see us saying goodbye to our Managed Service Administrator, The Harrington Company, or as we have all come to know them as, “The Jenny’s”! Jenny Wothe, Executive Administrator, and Jenny Howard, Executive Marketing Administrator, have worked to support PMI Minnesota and our Outreach Communities since 2018. We would like to thank the Harrington Company for supporting our organization, whether it was service for the Board and Operational Committees, or being helpful to our members on our behalf, PMI Minnesota has appreciated Harrington’s support and wish them well in their future endeavors. On a similar note, we are excited to announce that after an extensive RFP invitation, review and approval process, (results were presented to and voted on by the PMI MN Board of Directors), we will be expanding our existing Chapter IT relationship with TrimaxSecure to include Managed Service Administration services. Congratulations to TrimaxSecure on being selected as our new Managed Service Administrator partner!
October is significant time of year for our PMI Minnesota organization for many other reasons as well! Here are a few other things we would like our members to know about! - We recently held our election process for our Board of Directors for 2022 – congratulations to those who were elected into their new positions! We will be welcoming onto the Board of Directors starting in January 2022. We appreciate them stepping up for service into a leadership position with PMI Minnesota!
- President-Elect: Michael O’Connor PMP®, PgMP®, PfMP® (expected in 2021), IPMA-B, CPD, MPM, CIPM, CPRM, NPDP, CQE, CQA, CBA, CSSGB, CQT, CMI, CLSGB, CPEM, CBPA, CPP, CAAPD, CPM, DRM GB, DRM BB, CPMM, MCTP, QMS, LCM, CSM, CSPO, AHMC, DASM (expected 2021) WPS
- Director of Finance: Kimberly Berger, PMP®, PMI-ACP®, A-CSM, DASM, MBA
- Director At Large: Mike Mohn, PMP®
- Director At Large: Ken Schacher, PMP®
- We have had several of our long-term Operations Committee Chairs step out of their roles, and provide opportunities for their Vice Chairs to provide leadership of their committees in 2022. What a wonderful opportunity to learn, grow, and provide programs and services for members! We thank them all for their time, efforts, and the difference they have made during their time with us. The best way to make sure you connect with the current leader of our Operational Committees is to find them here: https://pmi-mn.org/operations-committee .
- Our Board of Directors and Operations Committee held our Annual Strategic Planning Session this month. It was a great session with a wonderful, interactive discussion amongst the leadership team about how we can be the most valuable organization for our members. As a nonprofit specifically by and for our members, we want to make sure we are creating programs and services to engage each and everyone of you! Whether through volunteering, networking, meeting content to learn and grow in your career, certifications, or giving back through mentoring – we want you to be able to find a way to be an active PMI Minnesota member! If you are unsure of how you can engage with PMI Minnesota, please e-mail President@pmi-mn.org .
We have so much happening within PMI Minnesota and our Outreach Communities, and there is still time left in 2021 to meet your goals, engage with us through certification courses, breakfast and dinner meetings, and volunteer opportunities. If you haven’t gotten involved yet, and participated with PMI Minnesota with the great things that are going on – now is the time! Let us know you would like to join us and we will help you succeed!
Sincerely, Ruth Birkholz, MMIS, PMP® PMI MN President, CEO |
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Board Member Spotlight | Sara Swanson, PMP®, PMI-ACP®, CSM®
 | Sara Swanson has been a PMI member since 2007 she is a PMP® and PMI-ACP®. Sara is currently serving as Past President and Board Liaison for the IT Committee team, for the PMI MN Chapter. Sara’s prior PMI MN roles include President, CEO/2020, President Elect, COO/2019, Director at Large/2018, as well as multiple positions within the Professional Development Committee. In her newest volunteer opportunity, Sara accepted a role for PMI Global as Region 2 Mentor. In this new position, Sara will provide advice, guidance, and leadership to 21 PMI Chapters within Region 2. Region Mentors work with PMI Global Chapter Engagement staff, and PMI chapters, to ensure collaboration and best practice sharing, by working with the chapter leaders to develop their leadership capabilities, and ensure member value delivery, growing membership community and supporting career development, while also aligning to PMI strategy. She will represent the interests of the PMI chapter leaders to PMI in multiple areas and help maintain a balanced perspective.
Sara is passionate about positivity, professionalism, inclusion, collaboration, teamwork, celebrating successes/having fun, and ensuring that decisions are made in the best interest of the PMI MN Chapter and its members. She has worked closely with PMI Global on creation of best practices for PMI MN that allow the Chapter and its Board to be productive, strategic, and focused.
Sara is currently a Principal Consultant, Program Manager at RBA Consulting. She has 22 years in Information Technology and Project/Program Management. Her most recent Enterprise Level Programs include migrating Union Pacific Railroad and Allina Health (during the COVID pandemic) to Microsoft 365, and orchestrating a E-Commerce re-platform to Sitecore Commerce for Caleres Shoes (Caleres owns 15 different footwear brands including Famous Footwear).
Sara’s Leadership Philosophy: - Lead by example
- Show empathy, respect, compassion and care for all team members and all human beings
- Remain calm and clear headed in difficult situations. Gather all data and facts before jumping to conclusions, or making major decisions, that could impact multiple people and/or an organization
- Transparency and open communication; communicate a clear vision. Guide teams towards the vision by clearly communicating short- and longer-term goals
- Have passion for mentoring, and sharing lessons learned to help develop and nurture emerging leaders. Help people become the best that they can be
Sara has 5 awesome children (Althea, Jamison, Cooper, Trace, Morgen) ranging in ages from 26 to 12, 1 very awesome Grandson (Carter) who is 6 and started Kindergarten this year, and 1 dog Poe. She enjoys watching all her children and grandson in their activities and spending additional family time together watching movies, boating on the lakes by their home, going on bike rides, traveling, making meals together, volunteering for the community, and attending Church. Sara also enjoys continuing to learn and grow professionally and personally, working out, and practicing meditation. Sara and her husband Jason started their own Garage Door company, Apex Garage Doors, at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and she has been able to apply her many years of project management experience to run her own business. Go Project Managers and Change Makers! |
Professional Development Days 2021!
On September 27 and 28, 2021, PMI-MN held its Professional Development Days (PDD) event. Just like last year, this event was virtual, which allowed PMI members from all over the world to attend and learn from experts, network with their peers, earn PDUs, and much more.
We want to send a big thank you to our sponsor, Boston Scientific, all our speakers, all the attendees, and all of our PMI-MN volunteers. Without your contributions, this event would not have been possible. We hope you all gained valuable lessons from the event and look forward to seeing you next year. Hopefully, in person.
Remember, those who registered for the event have access to all the sessions for the next 3 months. This will allow you to learn and earn all the PDUs at your own pace.
Once again, thank you for a successful PDD 2021 event!!
Project Management Skills For Life - Basics October 30 | 11:00 AM - 12:50 PM |
Just about everything in life is a project. Learning the Project Management skill sets & tools early will prepare youth for life success! After the course, the teenagers would leave knowing how to: - Create and follow a plan; - Break big jobs into smaller tasks; - Prioritize activities; - Create a backup plan… “Plan B”; - Get the job DONE, and Celebrate Success! This class satisfies BSA Venturing Pathfinder 'Project Management' requirements. - IN-PERSON class at St. Paul College. For participants 13 years of age and up.
- ** Wearing a MASK is required.
- ** SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION DUE 15 DAYS PRIOR TO CLASS (i.e. 10/15/21.) **
- REGISTRATION CLOSES on 10/28/21.
- No Minimum participant count. Maximum thirty (30).
PMP Certification Prep Course November 1 - 5 | 9:00 AM - 8:45 PM | Virtual | Credit Hours:35
Are you considering the PMP certification this year? Join us for a prep course where instructor Barbee Davis will walk you through the updated PMP materials and what to expect when taking the exam. The PMP continues to be the “gold star” certification for project managers. Currently about 6% of all project managers carry the PMP certification. Join the exclusive club and start prepping for your PMP. This year PMI (Project Management Institute) introduced a new PMP exam that draws from both Agile and traditional waterfall. The exam is notoriously difficult and a PMP Exam prep class will help you feel more confident as you prepare. Barbee Davis is a certified Approved Training Provider by PMI and has years of experience in teaching PMP exam prep and focuses on how to make the material “stick” for participants. She is a celebrated author, sought after speaker at national and international conferences and is a regular contributor on projectmanagement.com.
Understanding Agile Transformation in A NEW World November 13 | 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM | Virtual | PDUs:4
20% Discount off for the Upcoming Agile Workshop to all PMI MN Volunteers!!
Join us at PMI and get plugged-in, as Certified Agile Coach and Agile Transformation Expert Practitioner, Dawn Nicole McIIwain, leads PMI Members through this exclusive workshop that will provide an introduction to Agile Transformation, The Market, The Mindset and How To Lead Your Teams Through Transformation.
The Enterprise Agile Transformation Services Market is one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. and predicted to be a $18 Billion dollar market by 2026 as organizations of every size, scale and sector share a growing need to deliver products to customers faster, sleeker and smarter.
This means Project Managers, ScrumMasters and those certified in Agile, will need to understand the many moving parts of Enterprise Agile Transformations, their role within this journey and how to effectively lead and support their teams before, during and after Agile Transformation. Through this workshop participants will: - Discover The Size, Scope & Opportunities of The Agile Transformation Services Market
- Learn Key Strategies for Motivating Agile Mindsets
- Find Out Pro-Tips for Leading Your Teams Through Transformation (5-Hats of Agile Leadership)
Participants will get: - Downloadable participant guide
- Interactive knowledge checks
- End of day Knowledge quiz
- Attendance Certification
- 4 PDU's: Leadership
The price for this workshop goes up Nov 1st. Please register and book your seats at the earliest to receive the best rate!!
November Chapter Dinner November 17 | 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM | Virtual | PDUs:1
Join us for our Virtual November Chapter Dinner with speaker Tom Colosimo, Colosimo Career Consulting, Career Strategist. Join career strategists Tom Colosimo and Paul Larson as we discuss the challenges of job searching, networking, and career planning in the post-pandemic hybrid world of in-person and virtual communication that we all now live in. We'll start with some general questions and perspectives from Tom and Paul, and will then open up the meeting to questions from the attendees. Healthcare Executive Panel: Lessons from the Pandemic | PDU:1 | Strategic & Business This session features a panel discussion with 5 prominent healthcare executives, answering questions on what they learned and how they managed through the COVID-19 pandemic. The session focuses on the innovation opportunities presented by COVID-19 and underlying issues uncovered in the process. The panel features medical providers, technology leaders and clinical leaders from leading healthcare systems, and will be jointly moderated by Manish Kalra (Chief Operating Officer, PMI MN) and Brantlee Underhill (Global Managing Director, PMI).
Building & Maintaining Team Momentum During a Pandemic | PDU:1 | Leadership In the midst of a crisis where the way we work, communicate & collaborate has drastically changed, leading to some feeling isolated and disconnected, leaders have to get creative when it comes to motivating team momentum. While more meetings don't always mean closer teams, and less meetings may stifle connectivity, the right events and activities can build & motivate team momentum! By attending this session you will: Learn 5-virtual team activities you can do to add to more inclusive team fun! Discover easy to administer virtual team building events that get results! Find out how to use polls to your advantage to take team pulse checks!
Leading Without Authority | PDU:1 | Strategic & Business Behaving like a leader is important for everyone in the organization, no matter where they sit. Project Managers are perfectly positioned to do more than manage--you fill a critical leadership role in project success. This session will take you through traits, intentions, characteristics, and look into methods to drive change that can make you a great leader. You will learn tools of the trade that are critical to your professional success. We will touch on topics like: communication, facilitation, trust, motivation, empathy, change and transformation, managing conflict and stakeholders, and building teams.
Persuading the Bear: How to Influence Without Authority | PDU:1 | Leadership In this practical and insightful presentation, the audience will learn best practices for leading and influencing without authority, giving them the skills they need to effectively persuade others, lead diverse teams, and get projects done on time.
How to Generate Happiness & Love Using Portfolio Management | PDU:1 | Leadership Speaker Craig Kilford will share engaging stories from his experiences of creating successful enterprise project portfolio management ecosystems within various companies. Using real life examples, his interactive talk will discuss a rapid high-energy approach, the things that work great, the things to watch out for and how focusing on creativity and authenticity will help increase the overall happiness of leadership and portfolio teams by 48.8%.
Let's Really Talk Culture | PDU:1 | Leadership The type of culture that any work team, department or company develops is not from the words that are framed on the wall, titled: Our Vision. A culture takes shape by the attitudes and behaviors of its everyday people. In this session, you will build your skills to address tough issues, and learn the little things that make a big difference in keeping a healthy team culture.
New Members for the Month of September | Kathryn Nelson | Jill Schwartz | Srikanth Yanamandala | Morgan Root | Alexander Green | | Natalie Fitzpatrick | Shauna Zahn | Celia Ferrer | Ashley Vandenberghe | Emily Goetz | | Lindsey Guanella | Stephanie Chimeziri | Dana Kernik-Theisen | Michelle Hubanks | Mark Puchala Ii | | Deirdre Kennedy | Kristi Coley-Stephan | Nate Hanes | Venkata Satya Surya Boyanapalli | Alexandra Mower | | Megan Mattson-Fink | Holly Dollinger | Bill Nally | Paul Dingels | Bryan Stem | | Samantha Mcbain | Joe Hafften | Rebecca Hovsepian | Scott Erickson | Kelly Morrell | | Philip Rosenfield | Rose Yager | Callan Brown | Robyn Selby | Marissa Galan |
New PMP® Certifications for the Month of September | Joshua Anderson | Marissa Allshouse | Jennie Helhaas | Rose Yager | Racheal Rice | | Brea Michaelson | Matthew Fink | Hailey Lewis | Jennifer Wallace | Ryan Faith | | Sara Prigge | Daniel Botethi | Derek Pyle | Justin Anderson | Annie Carpenter | | Alissa Lemmons | Subor Freeman | | | | Ruth Birkholz, MMIS, PMP®, CISA, CRISC, CISM, CDPSE
President, CEO - 2021
| Aaron Kielhack, PMP®, CSM®, MSPM
Director of Governance/Secretary | Kimberly Berger, PMP®
Director of Finance | Manish Kalra, PMP®
President Elect, COO - 2021
| Jacque Ince, PMP®
Director at Large | Michael O'Connor, PhD
PMP®, PgMP®, IPMA-B, NPDP
Director at Large | Sara Swanson, PMP®, PMI-ACP®, CSM®
Past President - 2020 | Brandon L. Guthman
Director at Large | Matt Mehring, PMP®
Director at Large | |
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