PMFORUM Breaking News
Breaking News in the Project Management World
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
IPMA Chair Adesh Jain Delivers Closing Keynote at Texas Conference
Reported by David Pells and Nelson Soucek in Plano, TX, USA
Mr. Adesh Jain, current chair of the board of delegates of the International Project Management Association (IPMA), delivered the closing keynote address at the 1st UTD Project Management Symposium on 6 August 2007 in Plano, Texas. The Symposium was the first in a series of annual project management conferences planned by the Graduate Program in Project Management in the School of Management’s Executive Education Center at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). The 2007 symposium was co-sponsored by the Dallas Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and PMForum, Inc.
Mr. Jain’s presentation was entitled, “Project Thinking – The Key to Nurturing Leadership”. His talk was about project leadership as the “backbone of bringing organizational transformation through the undertaking of projects.”
According to Adesh, “Projects imply change and change threatens the status quo, as it give the perception of adverse impact on the operational framework of the system. Project thinking is the essence of leading. It is the key gradient for transforming the collective thinking of a group of people and for transforming the ways we manage change.”
According to one attendee, “I would like to thank you for having selected Adesh Jain as the ending keynote speaker at the UTD symposium. I would call his speech as a fitting finale to the grand event. I was really amazed by the contrasts he drew b/w project and operational thinking.”
Mr. Adesh Jain, , M. Eng, CPP, MPD, is also Director Incharge of the Centre for Excellence in Project Management Ltd. (India), President of PM Guru, Inc. (USA), and Honorary President of Project Management Associates (PMA - India). Mr. Jain is the immediate past president and current Chair of the Council of Delegates of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He is also a vice president and president-elect of the International Construction Project Management Association.
Adesh’s career includes 40 years of project management-oriented work, including projects and positions in US and Indian industry. He has been conferred with 7 major awards in India, including a Fellowship and the 'Gem of India' award, and the Distinguished Contribution Award from PMI® in 1997. Adesh is President of PMA, India since 1993, Vice President of IPMA from 1999 – 2004, and IPMA President during 2005. He is currently IPMA Chair through 2008. One of the most widely recognized leaders in the field of project management, Mr. Jain has traveled extensively, spoken at numerous PM conferences and events, and trained more than 50,000 people worldwide.
He has actively supported the rapidly growing PM profession in China since 1999, is honorary chairman of the China Project Management Committee, and gave a keynote presentation in the Great Hall of China in 2001. Mr. Jain received his bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and a masters degree in control systems from Carlton University in Ottawa, Canada. He was named an honorary Fellow of IPMA in October 2006.
As Adesh was representing IPMA at the conference, he presented an overview of IPMA and the associations approach to project management certifications and professional collaboration. A copy of Mr. Jain’s presentation can be found at http://som.utdallas.edu/project/project-symp.htm or at www.pmforum.org/library/presentations/.
The 1st UTD Project Management Symposium was held on Monday 6 August 2007, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., at the Plano Convention Center in Plano, Texas, USA. The 1 day symposium also included keynote speeches in the morning by Professor Alain Bensoussan, PhD, Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the International Center for Decision and Risk Analysis (ICDRiA) at UTD and former Chair of the European Space Agency, and Karen Tate, Director-at-Large and member of the Board of Directors of the Project Management Institute (PMI®).
The Symposium also featured 24 professional presentations and discussions in the following tracks:
Track 1 – Program & Portfolio Management
Track 2 – Project Management: Critical Organization Success Factor
Track 3 – Software Development & Agile Project Management
Track 4 – PM for Product Development, including small projects
Track 5 – The Role of Project Management in Corporate Governance
Track 6 – Project Management in the Global Economy
Other conference features included a vendor exhibition, book signings, coffee breaks for networking and lunch in the vendors’ exhibition area. The Plano Centre is a full-service, state-of-the-art, conference and convention center. The conference was sponsored by the Graduate Program in Project Management in the School of Management’s Executive Education Center at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), (http://som.utdallas.edu/project/); along with the PMI Dallas Chapter (www.pmidallas.org/index.phtml); and PMForum, Inc. (www.pmforum.org). A 2nd UTD Project Management Symposium has now been announced for August 4-5, 2008 and is expected to be twice as large as this first year’s event.
Mr. Jain’s presentation was entitled, “Project Thinking – The Key to Nurturing Leadership”. His talk was about project leadership as the “backbone of bringing organizational transformation through the undertaking of projects.”
According to Adesh, “Projects imply change and change threatens the status quo, as it give the perception of adverse impact on the operational framework of the system. Project thinking is the essence of leading. It is the key gradient for transforming the collective thinking of a group of people and for transforming the ways we manage change.”
According to one attendee, “I would like to thank you for having selected Adesh Jain as the ending keynote speaker at the UTD symposium. I would call his speech as a fitting finale to the grand event. I was really amazed by the contrasts he drew b/w project and operational thinking.”
Adesh’s career includes 40 years of project management-oriented work, including projects and positions in US and Indian industry. He has been conferred with 7 major awards in India, including a Fellowship and the 'Gem of India' award, and the Distinguished Contribution Award from PMI® in 1997. Adesh is President of PMA, India since 1993, Vice President of IPMA from 1999 – 2004, and IPMA President during 2005. He is currently IPMA Chair through 2008. One of the most widely recognized leaders in the field of project management, Mr. Jain has traveled extensively, spoken at numerous PM conferences and events, and trained more than 50,000 people worldwide.
He has actively supported the rapidly growing PM profession in China since 1999, is honorary chairman of the China Project Management Committee, and gave a keynote presentation in the Great Hall of China in 2001. Mr. Jain received his bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and a masters degree in control systems from Carlton University in Ottawa, Canada. He was named an honorary Fellow of IPMA in October 2006.
As Adesh was representing IPMA at the conference, he presented an overview of IPMA and the associations approach to project management certifications and professional collaboration. A copy of Mr. Jain’s presentation can be found at http://som.utdallas.edu/project/project-symp.htm or at www.pmforum.org/library/presentations/.
The 1st UTD Project Management Symposium was held on Monday 6 August 2007, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., at the Plano Convention Center in Plano, Texas, USA. The 1 day symposium also included keynote speeches in the morning by Professor Alain Bensoussan, PhD, Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the International Center for Decision and Risk Analysis (ICDRiA) at UTD and former Chair of the European Space Agency, and Karen Tate, Director-at-Large and member of the Board of Directors of the Project Management Institute (PMI®).
The Symposium also featured 24 professional presentations and discussions in the following tracks:
Track 1 – Program & Portfolio Management
Track 2 – Project Management: Critical Organization Success Factor
Track 3 – Software Development & Agile Project Management
Track 4 – PM for Product Development, including small projects
Track 5 – The Role of Project Management in Corporate Governance
Track 6 – Project Management in the Global Economy
Other conference features included a vendor exhibition, book signings, coffee breaks for networking and lunch in the vendors’ exhibition area. The Plano Centre is a full-service, state-of-the-art, conference and convention center. The conference was sponsored by the Graduate Program in Project Management in the School of Management’s Executive Education Center at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), (http://som.utdallas.edu/project/); along with the PMI Dallas Chapter (www.pmidallas.org/index.phtml); and PMForum, Inc. (www.pmforum.org). A 2nd UTD Project Management Symposium has now been announced for August 4-5, 2008 and is expected to be twice as large as this first year’s event.
