Chapter Elections 2012 - Candidates
Answers received from BoD Candidates
Question: As a new board member what unique skills and ideas would you be bringing to help foster the further growth and development of the PMI Swiss chapter?Provided by Phillip Fu, PMP | Werner Boie | | I'm currently working in a big international company where only in the IT domain we have several thousands of employees working within well established and mature processes. And projects play a vital role in that organization; they are the main driver for changes. In my current role as program/project reviewer I have got an excellent insight in many projects and processes across the company. I got to know what issues or challenges in the project management are currently relevant and recurring from time to time. Just to mention some of them: budget cuts on running project, reorganizations with changing stakeholders, new even more demanding regulations, new security risks, compromised quality in outsourced/offshoring services and new design methodologies like MDD. Beyond that in big companies like ours the IT Governance and the social network are very important to run a project successfully. Based on that context I have the strong belief that I can help the chapter to focus on the right things in the future and to keep pace with new emerging trends in project management. |
| Sascha Wyss | | Having served already for 3 years as a board member and Vice Chairman of an association the same size as PMI Switzerland, I have a lot of experience and ideas how to improve our chapter. It all circles around two areas: The first one is that we will have to make PMI CH much more attractive for our members in offering benefits to them beyond organizing events. One example would be a forum so that also PMs who don't go to events can network and share experiences. The second area would be how we can structure our organization in a more efficient and professional way. I believe this is absolute vital given the enormous growth rate that we have. |
| Roch Schenk | | Our Chapter has reach a size where formal organization and processes are critical to ensure quality services to our members and continuous growth at the same time. I believe that, at this stage of our Chapter life cycle, improving our management system (processes and tools) is the foundation for further growth and this is where my ideas and skills can contribute the most.\nOur operation processes are essential to increase our Chapter maturity. We have started this year an initiative to map and formalize our processes and I believe this effort is to be continued. As I am used to do such exercises in my professional life, I believe my skills in that area will be very helpful to the Chapter.\nI believe we also need to better manage our Members Database so it can be used as input to define/re-fine the strategy for the Chapter growth (knowing our members but also our potential members is essential to better target our services or even create new services). This is the reason why I suggested to start an initiative to improve our Members Database capabilities and better align with/leverage PMI Global Database. |
| Velan Thangavelu | | I believe that the best way to grow and develop the chapter is to provide exactly what is required from our members. Having said that, it is not an easy task to manage multiple stakeholders with various interests and goals. The challenge would be to consolidate the requirements and go ahead with it. However I wish to say I could help in certain activities - encouraging networking, offering consultancies for project managers in need, showing the opportunities and helping present or future project managers in delivering their objectives.\nI have been working with the chapter for nearly 6 years wearing different hats - mainly in the area of Event management and Communications. I have also worked closely with the French Congress management committee. The knowledge of the chapter and its activities is a key factor that I believe will help me work closely with the chapter members. |
| Giovanni Lippi | | I have joined the PMI Switzerland Chapter in 2009 by directly joining the events team as a volunteer, and truly enjoyed being able to contribute to Chapter members? experience ever since. With most of my professional career spent in small companies (100 employees max), I have by necessity developed a wide spectrum view, and a mindset focused on the customer pushing me to be both detail- and goal-oriented. A profile such as mine can bring balance to the entire board, profiting from my experience in business/finance, but will also be of value specifically for the position I am pursuing. |
Question: Communication, leveraging on synergies and sharing best practices are crucial skills of a project manager. What would you do as a board member to apply these skills with respect to the other chapters around the globe?Provided by Phillip Fu, PMP | Werner Boie | | Sharing experiences, particularly best practices, is an excellent means to foster collaboration. It not only helps other people to solve difficult issues but it also gives the impression that the others have experienced similar things thus providing a common ground for future talks. On the other hand, our society evolves and so does project management evolve or adapt over time. As a consequence, it would be a bit naïve just to apply best practices across the globe without taking the different cultural aspects into account. But I think this just an interesting flavor which enriches project management work. From my point of view, in order to not simply prescribe best practices as a medicine I would always prefer to establish the root causes first and then would make careful recommendations. |
| Sascha Wyss | | In my opinion it is important, that we position PMI Switzerland as a portal for our members to the international project management community. To do this we have to expand our homepage and offer on one side collaboration tools but also much more content - be it links to other chapter sites or an international event calendar. But also in real life I could imagine to go new ways - why not coorganize some events with our neighboring chapters or at least share the presenters? For the board this means to be in constant contact with the other chapters. |
| Roch Schenk | | I will continue to invest and dedicate time to exchange with other chapter though all possible channels. This means attending and participating in ?Region 8? calls where all Western Europe chapters exchange on concerns and topics of interest, participating to ?Region 8? meetings to meet and exchange with Board Members from other chapters and share best practices (learning from other chapter, but also promoting our successes). Participation at the EMEA LIM (Leadership Institute Meeting) is also important to exchange with a broader range of Chapters and to leverage PMI Global services/initiative. This year I also attend the North America LIM, and it was extremely interesting and helpful to exchange with Chapter that are 2 to 3 times bigger and older than we are.\nIn addition to formal forum and exchange platform, developing and maintaining individual and less formal contacts is also important, particularly with our neighbor chapters with whom synergies are possible on various topics (for example France Sud Chapter, North Italy Chapter, Munich Chapters...) |
| Velan Thangavelu | | I have worked in the communication for the chapter and managed the Newsletter. I have also been the events director for the french region. I have also volunteered and worked for various other organizations. I feel that applying the best of breed approach is the best to deliver more value to our members. I am also a believer of the Swiss culture where various players in the same domain could co-exist harmoniously and I feel that the chapter will have to be working closely with not only other PMI Chapters but also with other similar organizations. With my skills in networking with various partners, I could bring in a lot of synergies and ensure best practices sharing among different organizations. I also believe that ensuring certain best practices and processes will automatically ensure the satisfaction of members and obviously the growth of the chapter. |
| Giovanni Lippi | | If you have experience, share it. If you don?t, go get it! Learning and sharing experience are really two subsequent steps in every aspect of our lives, and we see the first step with PMI members rightfully expecting to obtain something from being part of any PMI Chapter; as a board member I would ensure that valuable content keeps being proposed to members, also by improving exchange (of speakers and ideas) with other Chapters, starting with the neighboring ones. But sometimes you can find gold at home; our base keeps growing, and more member are holders of an experience of immense value, so I would support any effort aimed at sharing their experience easier. |
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