Chapter MeetingPanel Discussion: The Importance of Obtaining a Certification
About the Program:We are fortunate to have some of our finest certified project managers presenting overviews in a panel presentation format. This panel will consist of PMP certified instructors who are also members of our local Mid-Missouri PMI Chapter. They along with other certified PMP chapter members attending the meeting will be available to answer your questions about the importance of obtaining a certification and how it relates to your profession. This chapter meeting is intended for individuals who are considering becoming a certified project manager or who would like to receive the basic academic discipline. Gain valuable insight and receive reassurance when you hear some of the common fears and experiences that others have encountered. Panelists:Upcoming Related Events:Don't wait to sign up for the upcoming PMP workshops!!! The workshops provide positive reinforcement for those who like to work through the materials and quickly complete the exam successfully. For those who want to experience the academic discipline of managing tasks more effectively, this is a perfect opportunity for you to introduce yourself to the basic concepts. The local Mid Missouri chapter has acquired the workshop materials that will be tailored to meet your busy schedules. The workshop materials were created by Cyndi Snyder, President of the Orange County Chapter, and are legally marketed by a Time-to-Profit company. PMI chapters in San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Moscow, Russia have used the workshop materials. The material is revised and updated twice each year to reflect input from instructors in the chapters and feedback from students, particularly those who have taken and passed the PMP exam. Cyndi and other commercial instructors in both on-site and public classroom offerings also use the materials. To date, the materials have been used for about 300 students, 11 more in a public commercial offering in Moscow this week, and 11 more next week at Motorola in San Diego. The workshop materials strive to cover everything on the examination but conveniently leave out project management topics that are not covered on the exam. Frank Schoenhardt, PMP Senior Project Manager/Information Technology Solutions Consultant, Rose International, Inc. Frank has over 25 plus years experience working with public and private organizations in a technical and managerial capacity. He is a PMI certified Project Management Professional (PMP) currently serving as a Senior Project Manager for Rose International Inc, Jefferson City, Missouri Office. Frank has both an undergraduate and masters degree in Business Administration. In his current role with Rose International, Frank is responsible for developing high level business process analysis, creating detailed project plans including resource requirements and cost modeling, administering change management processes, determining project priorities, reporting project status to Rose and client's executive management, and providing overall leadership for designated related project activities for the Rose firm in the Jefferson City office. His prior experience has included management of the Year 2000 renovations, participated and managed major statewide clinical and financial software installations and is an active member of the Mid-Missouri PMI chapter and a board member within the MoSNIP organization. Lucy Watts, PMP Ms. Watts has 18 years experience in information technology. She has 7 years in project management. Her experience has been in the development of large, complex application systems in both the private and public sector. She has experience in managing both application development and technical support. Lucy started her career with Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). Her accomplishments while working for SBC included tuning databases and resolving database problems in procurement, personnel, and financial systems, writing and publishing procedures for setting up and controlling database security, and completing other database administrator tasks. Lucy lead a team in evaluating several database management systems on the mainframe and Unix platforms. The results of this evaluation were used to set strategic database direction for the corporation. She was the lead DBA for the rewrite of the billing system. Her last accomplishment with SBC was the completion of a plan to build a data warehouse and putting a team together to complete the plan. Lucy joined the Tier Technologies, Inc. team in 1996 as a consultant. She has been leading and managing teams at the State of Missouri. Her accomplishments at the State of Missouri include leading teams to successfully complete analysis, design, construction, and implementation of a transportation management system for the Missouri Department of Transportation and a system for managing financial assistance to needy families for the Missouri Department of Social Services. Lucy worked with the Missouri Department of Corrections to develop a plan for the rewrite of the Inmate Tracking System. She managed a team to complete analysis for the Department of Natural Resources' Total Maximum Daily Load project. In addition to completing the analysis, an implementation plan was developed to implement a software solution needed to meet the goals and objectives of the department in this business area. As a part of a two person team, she completed the analysis of the current processes related to a Driving While Intoxicated Arrest through disposition in the State of Missouri. From this analysis an implementation plan was developed for implementing a web services solution to track the events. Lucy has a Bachelor of Science in Computers and Mathematics, a Masters in Information Management, and is a certified project manager. She is a member of the Project Management Institute. Faye Zumwalt, PMP Faye works as a Project Manager for the Department of Health and Senior Services, responsible for four teams of Computer Information Technologists developing and maintaining non-integrated applications for small, medium, and web-based platforms and maintaining applications on the mainframe platform. These applications include Vital Records, Organ Donor Registry, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and several other nutrition-related applications. She has an AAS degree in Computers and Data Processing, a BS in Management with Emphasis on MIS Management, and a MS of Public Administration. Her career spans more than 23 years; of that time, 20 years have been spent in IT and over 10 years in project management. Most of her career has been dedicated to supporting the State of Missouri, either as a state employee or a consultant to the State. Faye has served the PMI Mid-Missouri Chapter as a founder, VP of Programs and Professional Development, VP of Administration, and is currently serving as chapter president. Frank Cox Mr. Cox is a project management specialist in the Missouri Department of Corrections, an organization of 11,000 employees that manage 90,000 offenders. Currently he is advising on the planning of, and is scheduling, a department wide Microsoft NT to Microsoft 2000 migration that includes four major sub-projects. He also presently is providing assistance on a departmental AS/400 Office Vision migration project that is deadline constrained. Frank also advises on a special superintendent task force that has been assembled to accomplish two key objectives in support of the DOC primary mission. Frank has two undergraduate degrees and earned a master of science degree in information and communication sciences at Ball State University in Indiana. From 1994 to 1997 he worked as the university's voice, data, and imaging technology labs manager. Later he was selected and served as an instructor on the graduate faculty, and also was selected and served as an associate in the university's Applied Research Institute. He obtained and integrated $2.5 million in high-tech grants from corporate partners, designed theory based curricula and hands-on IT, IS, and telecom labs, and taught advanced courses in organizational communication, data communications, and telecommunications. He also consulted to the American Automobile Association of Indiana on Frame Relay technologies, and to the McDonald's Corporation headquarters campus on network security and disaster recovery. From 1974 to 1994, Frank served in the U.S. Army. As a paratrooper in the mid to late '70s, he participated in rapid deployments and sensitive allied airborne operations in Scandinavia, Central and Southern Europe. In the '80s as a military journalist he reported on activities in Europe, the Mediterranean, and Central America. In 1990, Frank was selected as the Army military journalist of the year. He wrapped up his uniformed career as First Sergeant of the accredited Defense Information School. In his current position Frank has managed the planning, scheduling, risks, and cost performance of SAM II HR and finance system migration and integration projects. He has also advised on an AS/400 JD Edwards to SAM II interface project for a statewide profit center, and tracked a point-of-sale system IT equipment rollout covering 25 adult institutions. He also designed and applied a formal earn value management system to track and correct contractor performance, and he tracked a multi-million portfolio of outsourced application development projects. After normal working hours during the last two years he also helped establish the PMI Mid-Missouri Chapter, which was chartered by PMI in June 2000. Frank is married and has a daughter and two sons. He enjoys spending as much free time as possible with his family. |