ABOUT THE TALK

Project management offices come in many guises. Some are intended to house project protocols, standards and other resources, some serve as a centre of excellence, and others satisfy the full gambit of problem solver, standard setter, governance executor and purveyor of tangible business value. This identity crisis can often lead to differences in expectations, with project managers having one view of their value, and executives an entirely different perception of their role in the greater business.

In a quest to develop a common understanding of the value of the PMO, PMSA’s next Knowledge Series session we will look at the business benefits that can and should be derived from such a structure. This will have relevance whether you are running a PMO, seeking to enhance the project management maturity of your organisation by means of a formal structure, motivating for the establishment of such a structure, or find yourself trying to justify its existence and relevance.

TIME

07:30am - 08:15am - Registration and breakfast
08:15am - 08:30am - Welcome and introduction
08:30am - 09:00am - Research - Taryn van Olden
09:00am - 09:30am - Practice - Avonisha Parsotham
09:30am - 10:00am - Methodology - John Karageorgiou
10:00am - 10:30am - Q&A

CONTACT HOURS

Earn two contact hours for attending this event (Contact hours can be submitted towards professional development points)

COST

Members - R150 incl. VAT

Non-Members - R250 incl. VAT

PLEASE NOTE: Payment is required at least 48 hours prior to the event

OPINION POLL

Attendees are invited to make their contribution to the event topic through an online opinion poll. The purpose of the opinion poll is to establish the event topic’s relevance for the audience and to inform open dialogue. The results of the opinion poll will be shared at the event as well as in a paper review. Regardless of attendance at the event anyone within the given environment is invited to participate in the poll to contribute to knowledge resources and stand the chance to win a prize draw.

To participate in this poll please click here

SPONSORSHIP

There is an opportunity for companies to associate themselves with the knowledge series by contributing in one of the following ways:

Nominating expert presenters
Sponsoring one or more sessions of the series in return for ongoing exposure through various channels

If you are interested in collaboration opportunities please contact Dilshaan Duearte at events@projectmanagement.org.za

BANKING DETAILS

Nedbank Limited
Account name: PMISA
Branch: Nicolway
Account number: 1522079319
Reference: Invoice number

CANCELLATION POLICY

Please be aware that a 100% cancellation fee will be incurred for cancellations received later than midday Tuesday 8th July 2014

RSVP

Kindly note that RSVP is essential. Please follow the prompt above to register.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Taryn van Olden

Taryn van Olden is the Chief Executive Officer of Project Management South Africa (PMSA) since 2008. Her affiliation to this professional association dates back to 2002 at which time she was appointed to produce the first official PMSA publication for members of the association. Her role as editor and publisher saw her interact with global newsmakers and other thought leaders in the project management realm as she unpacked, probed and packaged the issues of the day for publication in ProjectNet. This extended into her management of the Biennial PMSA National conference. In her capacity as CEO, Taryn has introduced new and improved member benefits and income streams for PMSA and is actively engaged in promoting the professionalization of project management in South Africa. She regularly attends global project management events to grow PMSA’s relationship with a network of PM influencers and thought leaders and similarly focussed organisations.

Taryn’s background in terms of experience and qualifications includes strategic communication consulting, journalism, publishing and management in a wide range of industries and organisations.

She is an Accredited Business Communicator, a past board member of the International Association of Business Communicators, and a member of Project Management Institute (PMI) and The Institute of Directors South Africa (IoDSA).

Avonisha Parsotham

Currently Head of the Delivery PMO for Stanlib, Avonisha's career has included starting and managing three PMO’s, the first at Momentum, then at I-Net Bridge and now at Stanlib. She is a PMP, and holds a Hons BSc in Information Management and a PDBA (post graduate diploma in business administration).

Working in these demanding environments has fostered her hands on experience in business operations, business strategy, project and programme management as well as project portfolio management, whilst developing her ability to lead complex operational and strategic initiatives. Her core expertise allows her to perform well in fast-paced high pressure situations meeting multiple time and budget deadlines whilst managing cross-functional teams focused on internal as well as external client requirements.

Avonisha has extensive experience in building PMOs from the ground up.  Her solid leadership, interpersonal and communication skills, fuelled by a strong belief in mentorship and coaching has resulted in the creation of highly motivated, self-empowered teams with whom she has worked.

She has a number of honours and awards to her name, including a 2013 certificate of academic merit from GIBS (UP), top operations management student from BKS Engineering for 2013 and, as Momentum’s employee of the financial year a number of times, she received recognition for her ‘high performance accountability and feedback excellence’.

John Karageorgiou

John, who holds a BA Comms, MBA, ITL v3 and TOGAF v9 is an IT professional with Deloitte Consulting in Johannesburg. His core capabilities are centred on IT value management and bridging the gap between business and IT, involving managing multi-faceted projects across the public sector, manufacturing, financial services and utilities/energy.

His years of experience include business transformation initiatives, the design and implementation of business processes in the public sector, the establishment of a flexible business process management competency centre, developing world class IT operating models, project exposure to Six Sigma defect detection, analysis and control methodology DMAIC quality management and conducting detailed IT cost optimisation and application portfolio reviews across multiple industry sectors.
His diverse functional expertise includes business transformation and architecture, CIO advisor, IT operating model, IT strategy and information management, IT governance and IT value management.

The extent of his experience has been gleaned across a range of businesses amongst which are the Swaziland Revenue Authority (imports and exports), Standard Bank SA (CIB) (SAP core banking assessment), Edcon (IT cost reduction), the Lesotho Revenue Authority (managing the implementation of the LRA’s core revenue authority processes and BPM methodology) and Airports Company SA where he conducted an assessment of ACSA’s PMO capability and technology analysis.

John is an avid follower of the media, entertainment and gaming industry which forms an integral part of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications triad.