Message from the President Happy August PMI MN Members! Although we still have a month left of summer, autumn is on the horizon! Last week I went on a bike ride with my family on one of the many beautiful trails we have in Prior Lake, MN and noticed some of the trees already changing colors to golden yellows and dusky oranges. It is a beautiful time of the year! My hope for all of you and your loved ones is that you were able to make some unforgettable memories this summer whether it be going swimming in your favorite lake, having social distancing get-togethers, or watching brilliant fireworks during the 4th of July. Patience is key as we all bond together and continue to make 2020 the best that it can be for ourselves and our families. PMI MN is here to help if you are trying to navigate a furlough or layoff. Below is information that I provided in my April message this year: Please know the PMI MN Chapter is here for each one of you. If you are undergoing challenges with a furlough, being laid off or other job transitions please reach out to me directly––as President, I work with Global and our Chapter Board to strive to relieve as much stress as possible for our members. To that end, our Chapter has several open volunteer opportunities that will keep you engaged, build your network and continue to advance your PM skills and knowledge. Additionally, PMI Global partners with our Chapter to offer a Hardship Provision: Hardship Provision: A hardship provision is available to any PMI member whose financial condition has changed drastically and sufficiently so that a member would have difficulty renewing their membership. A member must be in good standing for at least three previous years to qualify for the hardship provision. Under this provision, a member is granted a waiver for one year of PMI membership dues and one year of chapter dues for one chapter of which the applicant was a member of the previous year (if the applicant was a member of more than one chapter, they must choose one). The Hardship Provision may be granted for a maximum of two years for each member. To apply for consideration, send a letter explaining the nature of the hardship, along with this invoice, to the attention of Membership Processing prior to the membership expiration date. Please remember that any incorrect or untrue statements made by a member are in violation of the Project Management Institute Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and may lead to the initiation of an ethics complaint in accordance with the PMI Ethics Case Procedures. For information on how to apply, visit the PMI MN website. Our Committees have been focused on planning events for Quarter 4 that revolve around the latest and greatest in project management including disciplined agile, change management, resume building & job search and ways to get involved within our Chapter. Also, I am excited about the lineup of topics and speakers that the team has put together for our annual Professional Development Days in September! You can register and learn more about all our upcoming events at join-us.pmi-mn.org. I would like to announce our new PMI MN Director at Large, Marlaina Love! Marlaina will serve on the Board as Director at Large. Prior, she was our Chapter’s Professional Development Seminars Manager and currently works as Senior Project Management Consultant at Boom Lab. Aside from her work in our project management community, Marlaina is a makeup and nail art enthusiast and is intermediate in Chinese and Spanish. On behalf of the Board, I welcome Marlaina and look forward to collaborating to keep PMI MN valuable and instrumental in the PM profession. Next month I am thrilled to find out who our Board of Directors will be in 2021. Additionally, we have scheduled our annual strategic planning session for the end of October where our new team members, along with our veteran Board leaders will help put our 2021 plan into fruition. Please look for a membership survey in your inbox that will be coming out soon. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete and will provide our Operations Committee and Board valuable input regarding our 2021 plan. One of the questions asks for ideas about how we can continue to give back to our community, which is always one of the best and most important topics. Plus, it usually involves fun team building and networking! For those members who are new to your project management career or those who are looking to add project orchestration hours to your resume, I have been working with our President Elect, COO, Ruth Birkholz to put together a portfolio of 2021 projects that need execution. Please look for more information in my September newsletter and reach out to me if you are interested. Next, I would like to recognize our 3rd party PMI MN Chapter support teams. Our PMI MN Chapter could not be as successful as it is without the support of our Technology team and Executive Support team. I have asked each of them to provide highlights about themselves so you can get to know them better. Please see below and feel free to reach out and thank them personally. Meet our Executive Support Team | Jenny Wothe serves as the Executive Administrator for PMI MN and has worked at The Harrington Company since January 2018. Her responsibilities include working directly with the Board of Directors and Committee Chairs, managing PMI MN’s financials, and overseeing the office operations. Jenny graduated from South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Criminal Justice. Jenny has over 15 years of government and nonprofit experience involving constituent relations, program management and board and committee support. Prior to joining The Harrington Company, she worked as the Board Liaison for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. | | Jenny Howard is the Marketing Manager for PMI MN and has worked at The Harrington Company since January 2019. She manages our registration site and built our 2020 Professional Development Days conference site. Jenny works closely with PMI MN leadership to create content and marketing material for events. Additionally, she edits PMI MN’s monthly newsletter and eblasts. Jenny graduated last year from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science where she ran an on-campus food drive that collected over 750 nonperishable food donations for PRISM, a nonprofit aimed at helping homeless and hungry families. She has experience in community activism, governmental relations and has worked on several electoral campaigns. | Meet our Technology Support Team TrimaxSecure has been the technology partner of PMI Minnesota for more than six years, providing services and ensuring Chapter has an optimized IT infrastructure to best serve its members, volunteers, and partners. | Hakki Isik has been a member of the PMI MN Chapter since 2008. He served in different roles including as IT Chair and volunteer with Information Technology, Professional Development Days, Sponsorship and Volunteer Services. His team provides technical support to PMI MN members, volunteers and sponsors for the Chapter's website, e-mail and SharePoint, Volunteer and Speakers Database, and ongoing monthly communications like e-blasts and newsletters. Hakki holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, and Master of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Hakki is PMP certified, and has over 30 years of industry experience managing, implementing and providing technical solutions. | | Istem Korkmaz is the Solutions Specialist at TrimaxSecure since February 2020. Istem provides support to PMI MN members and business partners for Office 365, CRM, the chapter website and self-service volunteer portal. She manages the technical on-boarding process of new volunteers. Additionally, she handles reporting event PDUs to PMI. Istem is also responsible for the coordination and publication of monthly communications such as e-blasts and newsletters. Istem graduated from the Bosphorus University, Istanbul with a B.A. degree in Economics. She worked at PwC and Coca-Cola for 10 years as a financial analysis and decision support professional. She holds a M.S. degree in Big Data Analytics. Prior to joining TrimaxSecure, she worked as Decision Support Manager at Vodafone. |
Fall brings a beautiful transformation of not only the weather and environment, but also a change within ourselves and our lives. We can all work together as a PMI MN community to support and build each other up. Project Management is not about one person dictating a group of people, it is about being an integral part of a team that is doing what it needs to succeed (while having fun!). That is what our PMI MN Chapter is about; we are each unique and have a diverse skillset that contributes to all our Chapter’s accomplishments. We want to hear your voice and put plans into action to make sure positive changes allow our chapter and community to be the best it can be!
Sincerely, Sara Swanson, PMP®, PMI-ACP®, CSM® PMI MN President, CEO |
---|
| Subscribe to PDD 2020 to receive the latest news |
---|
|
---|
Fall brings thoughts of apple orchards, pumpkin patches, hot cocoa by the fire...and PMI MN Fall Events! We are kicking off our program events schedule in September and will host *virtual* breakfast and dinner speaker meetings each month through November. We have a wonderful range of topics covering all aspects of our certification PDU reporting triangle (Leadership, Technical, Strategic / Management, Diversity & Inclusion) coming your way. Topics range from... - Job searching and workplace tips for the virtual environment
- Operational Change Management (OCM)
- Disciplined Agile
- The Projectized Economy
- More to come!
We are excited to bring you a great lineup that you can enjoy with a cup of coffee and your bunny slippers! Sign-up now, and check back for future sessions.
Volunteer Opportunities Available for Short Term Projects! PMI MN often has the need for long-term, committee-based volunteers who work to support the operational efforts of the organization. We value and appreciate all of our committee volunteers and the phenomenal work that they do throughout the year to make the programs and services of PMI MN possible! Throughout the year, we have a need for short-term, project-based volunteers to supplement our committee efforts and we have a few exciting opportunities available. If you would like to volunteer with us, and have limited time to give, please consider some of the opportunities below: - Project Managers (X3)
- Initiation / Setup of 2021 Certification Providers (PMP, ACP, Disciplined Agile)
- Event Managers
- Professional Development Seminar Planning
- Outreach Lunch and Learn Administration
- Data Analysts
- Survey Results Analysis
- Action Plan Recommendations
Thank you for stepping up for PMI MN!
Meet Your 2021 PMI MN Board of Directors Candidates! We are identifying a strong slate of candidates for the PMI MN Board of Directors for 2021. All candidates will be invited to introduce themselves at the September 8th Breakfast Meeting and will be introduced on our website. This is your chance to get to meet and learn about each candidate. Get to know them before you cast your vote in September!
Board Member Spotlight | Manish Kalra, PMP
|
Manish has been an active PMI MN member and volunteer since 2014. He is currently serving his second term on the PMI MN Board as Director of Finance where he manages financial planning and strategy to ensure proper reporting on budget performance. Prior to being elected onto the Board in 2018, Manish held several positions including Project Manager and Committee Chair of PMI MN’s Professional Development Committee. Manish works on fostering a culture of learning within the project management institution and strives to build a stronger, more resilient organization that can better support our members and the community. As a passionate, hands-on information technology professional, Manish has over 15 years of experience in leading all phases of diverse projects, programs and cross functional teams across the organizational and global spectrum. He is currently working as a Program Manager at Fairview Health Services. Manish is also a passionate Diversity champion and a vocal LGBTQ advocate within his organization and the community, serving on nonprofit boards in the Twin Cities. Due to his advocacy and community service Manish was awarded the prestigious Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal "Business of Pride Honoree" in 2019. Manish's approach to leadership is to: - Work to build a culture of self - Motivation and integrity within our institution
- Build accountability within committees to drive measurable results
- Listen to our members and adapt to changes as needed
|
Volunteer of the Month | Anastasia Ware
|
As a Professional Development Committee member, Anastasia is in charge of PMP Prep Certification classes and has been doing an incredible job this year. Although many new challenges have emerged this year due to COVID-19 and new processes implemented by PMI Global, Anastasia has worked vigorously to help our Chapter overcome them. Here are just a few of Anastasia’s accomplishments: - Helped navigate the transition from in-person PMP prep classes to virtual.
- Managed analysis on potential changes to our PMP exam preparation materials required for the upcoming PMBOK changes.
- Completed financial analysis to prepare a business case presentation to the Board of Directors which determined whether or not the Chapter will continue to offer exam preparation courses based on the new processes around the Authorized Training Partners (ATP) program implemented by PMI Global.
The business case allowed the Board of Directors to see the value we can provide to our members with the exam preparation courses, which will continue to improve our Chapter and our offerings to members. Additionally, on the North America Leaders call PMI Global asked PMI MN to present Anastasia’s business case regarding continuing the PMP Authorized Training Partners (ATP) program so other chapters could learn from her analysis and potentially reuse it. Thank you to Anastasia for all her time and significant work for our Chapter! Her enthusiasm to make a difference and improve our community by helping us balance our financial priorities and collaborating with our Board on crucial decisions is appreciated greatly! |
Professional Development Days 2020 September 28-29 | Virtual Join your peers at Professional Development Days 2020, the largest online gathering of project professionals and learning offered by PMI MN! Here’s your chance to discover the evolution of project management and where our industry’s future lies. Learn what’s trending in our profession, polish up on career skills, network with peers, and collect PDUs. Rewarding benefits for attending PDD: - Discover practical techniques for effective project management
- Achieve skills for adapting for the changing business landscape
- Network with project management professionals
- Strengthen existing relationships and create new opportunities
- Earn up to 18 PDUs to maintain certifications
- Learn from engaging keynote and endnote speakers
- Gain leadership skills from education sessions
Virtual September Chapter Breakfast September 8 | 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM | Virtual | PDUs:1-- Leadership Meet your PMI MN Election Candidates and discover how to land a job in the new normal! Join us for our Virtual Chapter Breakfast with speaker Chris Watson where you will discover tips for working in a virtual space, sharpen your skills for the job market, and learn about market conditions, LinkedIn, resumes and Tundra service offerings.
Organizational Change Management - A Roundtable Discussion September 15 | 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM | Virtual | PDUs:1-- Strategic & Business Connect with us online for our Virtual September Chapter Dinner! You're invited to OCM - a round table discussion with speakers Karyn Kroening, CSM, PMI-ACP and Manish Kalra on how business and technology can leverage change management to bring success in projects.
New Members for the Month of July | | | Phil Dreyer | | | | Jane Frazier | Ed Richardson | | Nicholas Poole | Janine A Miller | | | | Ferdinand Zoa | | | | Melanie M Harvey | | | | Preston Collins | | | | Syed Habibullah |
New PMP® Certifications for the Month of July Dan Prihoda | Heather Taylor | Kirsten Peterson | Dylan Neils | Neil Aymond | James Baecker | Hassan Olubodunin Idowu | Greg Stignani | Raghavendra Bodi | Katie Pelton | Charlotte Lum | Edmund Glasenapp | Tammy Holthaus | Peter Kozar | | | Sara Swanson, PMP®, PMI-ACP®, CSM® President, CEO - 2020 | Geraldine Marks, PMP® Director of Governance/Secretary | Manish Kalra, PMP® Director of Finance | Ruth Birkholz, PMP®, CISA, CRISC, CISM President Elect, COO - 2020 | Jacque Ince, PMP® Director at Large | Alisha Walter, PMP® Director at Large | Janice Pyka, MPM, MBA Past President - 2019 | Marlaina Love Director at Large | Michael O'Connor, PhD PMP®, PgMP®, IPMA-B, NPDP Director at Large | |
|