Past Event – 2019

Please note: Agenda and speakers are subject to change.

Steve Leybourne – Boston University

Professor

Steve Leybourne is a Professor at Boston University, where he teaches innovation and entrepreneurship, and project and change management.  He joined BU in January 2009.  He received his PhD in 2002 from Cardiff University in the UK, and his research activities focus on the use and abuse of improvisational working practices and the use of bricolage, particularly in project-based work, creativity within projects, and the location of project management within the wider academic landscape.  He is an associate editor of Project Management Research & Practice.

Steve has presented at many PMI® Research Conferences and Academy of Management conferences, winning ‘best paper’ awards at AoM2006 and from the International Management Development Association in 2010.  He was also a Co-Chair and organiser of the International Research Network for Organizing by Projects (IRNOP) 2017 Conference in Boston, and has presented at the last four IRNOP conferences.  Steve was a senior manager for several international banking institutions in his ‘past’ life, and has been an academic for the last eighteen years.

Steve has published widely and in a variety of journals, including Journal of Change Management, International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, and the leading project management journals in the field, including the International Journal of Project Management, the International Journal for Managing Projects in Business, and the Project Management Journal.

His research papers can be downloaded HERE

Steve Butler – Dyson

Global Head of PMO

Steve is PMO Lead at Dyson and brings a wealth of knowledge across the PPM space having worked with companies including the FCA, Allen & Overy , the FT, HSBC, Credit Suisse, Orange, Vodafone, Gazprom, Zurich Insurance as well as the NHS over the last 25 years. A member of the core committee that created the current edition of the PMI Standard for Portfolio Management (as well as the previous edition), he is co-author of “The Handbook of Project Portfolio Management” as well as “Implementing Project Portfolio Management”. He is a former chair of the PMI UK Portfolio Management Forum, and sits on the panel reviewing applications for the PMI PfMP qualification, having been a core member of the team that created it. In addition, he has a fascination for the topic of complexity and will soon be completing his PhD, his dissertation being “complexity and its impact on strategy delivery using project portfolio management techniques”

Alan Chambers MBE

Former Royal Marine

The former Royal Marine (aka The Arctic Tractor) led the first unsupported UK expedition from Canada to the geographic North Pole. After taking disaffected British children to African classrooms with Channel 4, Alan showed us the method to making good with a new book: Lead Yourself To Success. In presentations he emphasises the need to question norms, build total trust and make decisions purely based on the facts. Alan also advocates leading from behind.

Jo Dourou – The Financial Times

PMO Manager

Jo Dourou is a young PMO Professional with experience in the professional services and media industries. Her fast career progression is a result of her ambition to turn an Admin Project Management Office to a data driven Enterprise Portfolio Management Office. In her most recent role as a PMO Manager for the FT she has focused on developing and implementing portfolio finance and risk management governance. These toolsets included scheduling, generation and analysis of financial data and integrating enterprise-wide systems.

Jo’s passion for data analysis and technology has steered her enthusiastically to the direction of processes automation and intelligent benefits realisation and financial analyses. She is a member of the Corporate IT Forum, the PMO Flashmob, BCS and the “Future Leaders” CITF Initiative.

Andy Murray – RSM UK

Partner

Andy is a Chartered Director and Management Consultant specialising in implementing strategic change through Project, Programme and Portfolio Management, with over 25 years of varied experience (public sector/private sector, SME/corporate, domestic/international).

Andy has a focus on project/programme governance and the treatment of inherent project/programme complexity. He has worked with Axelos, HM Treasury, Cabinet Office and the Association For Project Management (APM) in developing guidance on delivering successful projects/programmes, such as IUK Project Initiation Routemap, Directing Change, Co-Directing Change, PRINCE2® and P3M3®.

Andy is a sought-after speaker and was cited in the Sunday Telegraph’s business supplement as one of the most influential people in project management. Andy is a partner in RSM UK Consulting LLP, responsible for the Project and Programme service line and is also RSM’s Head of Infrastructure sector.

Ellen Jarrett – Ella’s Kitchen

Head of PMO

Ellen began life in project management within the charity sector on fundraising and awareness campaigns, before moving into PMO management.  She created the first Guide Dogs for the Blind PMO in 2015 before moving on to Ella’s Kitchen and setting up their unique ‘Smoothly’ team in 2017.

Ben Brownlee – BBC

Programme Assurance Director

Ben Brownlee is a Programme Assurance Director at the BBC, the world’s leading public service broadcaster. He leads oversight of major projects and change in the Revenue Management division, directing and assuring projects and programmes.

Ben has a Joint Honours degree in Management and Computer Science from Aston University and a post graduate professional diploma in Marketing from Cambridge Marketing College. He is a member of the Association for Project Management and a past Programme Committee member at the Major Projects Association. He guest lectures on project management at University College London and the London School of Economics.

From 2010 to 2013 he led the BBC PMO’s corporate-level delivery and assurance of the corporation’s £2bn project portfolio. This included the Commonwealth Games, BBC London 2012, the Archive project and completion of the BBC’s new Headquarters in London, home to 6,000 staff, via a project called ‘W1’. The W1 project was the APM’s Programme of the Year for 2013.

Previously Ben was Head of Business Transformation at Oxford City Council, where he led a portfolio of 24 change and transformation projects, which modernised service delivery for customers and delivered better value for money. This transformation programme was Programme of the Year runner-up in the APM’s 2009 Awards.

Previous to Oxford City Council, Ben was a Consulting Director at Hitachi Consulting for 11 years where he managed projects in the public and private sectors.

He was Head of the Programme Management Office for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and led projects in the private sector across financial services. He started his career at 3M, before moving into the oil and gas sector carrying out consulting assignments and managing projects in the UK, US and Europe for BP Oil, BP Exploration, Chevron, Pennzoil and Shell.

James McMillan – Audeo Fortis

Founder & Chief Officer

James McMillan wasn’t always the founder of Audeo Fortis – providing strategic business advice to SMEs. After starting his career as a Chartered Accountant training with Baker Tilly, James blagged his way in to business process improvement at BT Group Plc, and later stumbled in to becoming a Head of HR PMO delivering people change to 34,000 people in BT’s Technology, Service and Operations division.

This unconventional career path has given him a unique view of how to cut through an organisation to ‘get stuff done’. A self-described grafter from the north, his direct approach and passion for simplicity are underpinned by the belief that ultimately people drive results, not processes.

Henrik Sonnenberg – Implement Consulting Group

Partner

Henrik Sonnenberg is a partner at Implement Consulting Group and part of the Strategic Innovation & Execution practice. His focus areas include strategic innovation and entrepreneurial and agile execution. In addition, he has worked extensively with Lean start-up, agile project/programme management as well as product/service development. Henrik is co-author of the book Lean Innovation, a discovery-driven innovation tool book/app, and author of several innovation articles.

Americo Pinto – PMO Global Alliance

Chair

Americo Pinto, PMP, is considered one of the main authorities in the PMO topic in Americas, having more than 20 years of experience as a Consultant, Executive, Researcher, International Speaker and Author. He is Chairman at PMO Global Alliance, Professor at many universities in Americas and Europe and columnist of the PM World Magazine. He is a Ph.D candidate at Rennes School of Business in France, and in 2011, he received the PMI Distinguished Contribution Award in Dallas, TX, for his contribution to the development of Project Management practices.

Florian Bay – Toasmasters International

District Director (CEO)

Florian Bay is the District Director (CEO), Toastmasters International in UK South. Toastmasters is the World’s largest organisation dedicated to public speaking and leadership training. Florian leads a team of 50 leaders looking after over 170 clubs and more than 5,000 members from London to Plymouth.

He became a Distinguished Toastmaster in July 2016 in just three years, and also holds a Public Speaking Diploma through the New Era Academy. During his career in the energy industry, spanning nuclear power station operations to corporate strategy, he observed first-hand the challenges that professionals in technical fields face with communicating their findings, plans or arguments to lay audiences.

In addition to his senior leadership role in Toastmasters, he delivers communication skills training and coaching through his business, Speak to Lead.

Gilbert Silvius – LOI University of Applied Sciences

Academic Lecturer, Researcher & Author

Gilbert Silvius (1963) is professor of project and programme management at LOI University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa and fellow at Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland. He is considered a leading expert in the field of sustainability in project management and is a frequent and inspirational speaker on project management and sustainability events.

As a practitioner, Gilbert has over 20 years’ experience in organisational change and IT projects and is a member of the international enable2change network of project management experts. He has published several books and numerous studies and articles. Gilbert holds a PhD degree in information sciences from Utrecht University and masters’ degrees in economics and business administration.

Alan Jackson – Low Level Waste Repository Ltd

Lead Programme Manager

I have been in the Nuclear industry for over 35 years and held various roles during this time ranging from an Apprentice Mechanical Fitter to my current position of having my own company. I have a Degree in Business Management and hold APM and MSP qualifications and I have used these to good effect in both the Nuclear Civil and Defence sectors.

The work that I enjoy most is about making a difference and introducing change in a technically challenging environment, it is really rewarding to develop individuals into a high performing team whilst delivering the Programme Outcomes and Project Outputs. Developing the team synergy, energy and momentum are the most fulfilling aspects of my work. I am currently delivering nuclear Programmes and Projects that contribute to improving security, reducing costs and consolidating Nuclear material in readiness for future treatment and disposal.

Emma-Ruth Arnaz-Pemberton – Wellingtone

Director of Consulting Services

Emma-Ruth is a Project, Programme and Portfolio specialist with extensive experience in the change management industry and a particular focus on collaboration, PMO conception & strategy, method and capability development. As the Director of Consulting Services for Wellingtone Project Management, Emma-Ruth is responsible for all services within the PPM DNA ethos; including PMO implementation, project definition, and PMO metrics

She is currently chair of the APM’s PMO SIG, an APM Accredited Trainer, and involved in various project management charitable organisations. The PMO SIG aims to provide a collaborative open forum for PMO practitioners, and anyone with an interest in the role of PMOs, to get together, share ideas, offer support and advice to the PMO community, and to create valuable practice-oriented knowledge, which helps drive the PMO profession forward.

Baz Khinda – Wellingtone

Senior Microsoft PPM Consultant & Director

Baz is an experienced Microsoft PPM Consultant and a Director at Wellingtone, a leading Microsoft PPM Gold Partner. In addition to this he also works closely with the Microsoft UK Project team as a P-SSP where he is often tasked with helping organisations address their PPM pains and increase their project management maturity.

He has been directly involved in a significant number of implementations across an array of organisations that span both private and public sectors as well as numerous verticals. With his background, Baz is well versed in educating organisations on the benefits they can realise through Microsoft PPM.

Paulo Finuras, Ph.D – ISG – Lisbon Business & Economics School

Associate Professor

Paulo Finuras, Ph.D, is a Associate Professor at ISG -Lisbon Business & Economics School. He is also Executive Director of PF Lda. who is dedicated to Consulting and Training top Managers in the field of Cultural Differences Management, The Trust Factor in Leadership and Bioleadership. He is an Associate Partner of the Hofstede Insights in Finland since 1999. His research interests are Biopolitics, Cultural Differences, Trust in Organizations, Leadership, and Evolution.

Hayrne Salvanha – Banco Bradesco

ePMO SR Manager

Hayrne Salvanha is the ePMO SR Manager at Banco Bradesco. He has over 15 years’ experience in IT Business & Operations – working for large worldwide companies such as: Bradesco Bank S.A, EDS – Electronic Data System, an HP Company, GS1 Brazil.

Management of Strategic Projects & Programs.

Hayrne graduated in Engineering with an MBA in Business Management and Finance, specialising in Business Strategy, PMP, PMI-RMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, PMO-CP, SAFe and ITIL certified.

He currently acts as a member of Bradesco Corporate PMO, working in partnership with the strategic portfolio monitoring, consulting and institutional development teams.

Mário Soares – Jupiter Systems & Solutions

Software Project Manager

Mário Soares graduated from Lusiada University of Angola in Informatics. He has an MBA in Project Management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV-Brazil), ITIL, CAPM-PMI and Cisco Network Professional certifications.

Mário Soares has worked in companies such as Multirede and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He has been with Jupiter Systems & Solutions since 2017 and started his as an IT Infrastructure Coordinator. He currently works as a Software Project Manager for customers such as Ministry of Finance of Angola, London English School, Export Promotion Agency, Public Finance Technology and Communication Service and Private Investment.

Mário Soares is a member of PMI Angola and speaks at events such as Microsoft Azure Bootcamp. He is also a national reference in use of the best practices and tools of Project Management.

Jaka Borštnar – Triglav Group

Director of Project Porftolio and Change Management Department, PMP

Jaka Borštnar is the Director of Project Portfolio and Change Management Department in the Triglav Group and has more than a decade of experience in the insurance industry, having supervised and led various strategic projects, such as non-life insurance information system development and CRM implementation.

Since 2013, when he began his present job, he has reshaped the department, which includes leading of projects by professional project managers, project selection definition, implementing unified standards according to PMBOK® and aligning project management in the Triglav Group with its business strategy.

Jaka Borštnar completed the MBA studies and holds a Master’s Degree in Information and Computer Science and a Master’s Degree in Economics.

Marisa Silva – Wellingtone

PMO & PPM Consultant

Vince Hines – Wellingtone

Managing Director

Vince Hines is a leading expert in the field of Project Management with over 20 years of experience.  Vince has worked with organisations across the UK, USA (5 years) and Switzerland (1 year) helping them improve their use of formal project management tools and techniques.  Vince brings extensive real world project management experience to consulting & training engagements.  He has delivered customised training courses to 1,000’s of delegates.

Vince is a sought-after speaker, often appearing at APM & other project management industry events.  As well as being an accredited APM Trainer, Vince is also a Microsoft Technology Specialist and has helped a number of well-known organisations to plot their course to successfully deploy best in class Microsoft PPM solutions including Project Online.