PMFORUM Breaking News

PMForum is pleased to announce that Alan Harpham, Chairman of The APM Group and Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM) in the UK, has joined the PM Ambassadors^TM Speakers Bureau. Based in Bedford, UK and with over 40 years of professional experience, Alan advises organizations and speaks on project management throughout the UK and Western Europe. He has now announced his availability to speak at project management events worldwide.

Alan Harpham, BSc MBA FAPM FCMC, describes himself as being on his 4th career, as what Charles Handy calls ‘a portfolio manager. Alan is an independent management consultant, focused on programme management, project management and executive coaching – individuals and teams. Alan is also the Chairman of The APM Group, an Accreditation, Registration and Examination Certification Body for key elements of Best Practice in programme and project management, ITIL, and Change Management. The APM Group works with its main partners - the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), The Stationery Office and the Chartered Management Institute - to develop a wide range of activities that broaden the application of Best Practice.

Alan is also chairman of Workplace Ministry Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire (see www.workplaceministry.org.uk). He is a Board Member of The International Center for Spirit at Work and also on the selection committee of the International Spirit at Work Awards (see www.spiritatwork.org). He is chairman of Cranfield University’s Science & Engineering Ethics Committee and also chairs the SPD Research Ethics Committee (medical).

Alan was co-owner and a founding director of P5 – the Power of Projects, a consultancy specialising in the application of project and programme management in owner/client organisations. He is also a former trustee of a number of charitable organisations including MODEM, and The Friends of the Bedford Child Development Centre. He was a founding member of the Jury for the IPMA International Project Management Awards and continued as such until 2006.

Alan Harpham is a former Managing Director and senior consultant of Nichols Associates (now part of The Nichols Group), one of the UK’s leading consultancies in project and change management. He was previously an early Director of Cranfield University’s MSc in Project Management and started his own project management consultancy. Alan’s early career was as an engineer and line manager with John Laing. Alan is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM) in the UK.

Alan has been extensively involved in:

• Providing strategic advice and direction to organisations in the private and voluntary sectors.


• Project Management assignments to review and develop strategies on behalf of owner/client companies for major capital projects and other strategic initiatives.


• Consulting assignments with many owner/client companies to help them review and develop the way in which they programme and project manage their own capital investment programmes. This has included developing and implementing many ‘Project Improvement Programmes’; creating programmes of related ‘soft’ projects to change the investment management culture of the company concerned. Alan has also worked with a number of suppliers and contractors to enhance their marketing and project management performance.


• Personal development and Executive coaching programmes for over 100 major clients in many diverse sectors, including: aerospace, construction, financial services, health care, IS/IT, manufacturing, transportation and utilities. He was also an assistant in the St Alban’s Diocese ‘Voluntary Self-Assisted Appraisal Scheme for Clergy’ for a number of years, a past Chairman of the Board of the St Alban’s Ministerial Training Scheme and past co-chair of the St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course and is a voluntary Mentor to CE’s of Charities with the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants.


• He has presented and written on – change management, inspirational leadership, managing successful programmes, management by projects, the Politics and politics of projects, managing cultural differences, the Project Context, Maturity Models, Life-work integration, Spirit at Work, Why would a businessman study theology?, and many other topics.

Alan’s personal interests include spirit in work (he is an editorial advisor of MODEM’s e-zine ‘Spirit in Work’), he was founding chairman of MODEM (see www.modem.uk.com), and a former Steward of Spirit in Business (www.spiritinbusiness.org). He likes hill walking, scrambling, international traveling, good food and company, and watching rugby.

Potential Presentation Subjects (others available)

• Change management,





• Inspirational leadership,


• Managing successful programmes,


• Management by projects,


• Politics and politics of projects,


• Managing cultural differences,


• The Project Context,


• Maturity Models,


• Life-work integration,


• Spirit at Work,


• Why would a businessman study theology?

For information on Alan’s availability, please contact ambassadors@pmforum.com or editor@pmforum.org.

The PM Ambassadors^TM Speakers Bureau was introduced by PMForum in 2007 as a service for project management leaders and meeting planners worldwide. The program offers leading project management authorities, experts and leaders who are available to speak at conferences, meetings and seminars worldwide. PM Ambassadors^TM include globally-recognized project management professional experts; authors of PM textbooks; former presidents and chairs of PM professional societies; experienced project managers and PM professionals; and retired executives of project and program-oriented organizations.

PM Ambassadors^TM are available to speak at project management conferences, meetings, seminars and workshops, and at corporate events. Interested meeting organizers and planners can contact ambassadors@pmforum.com for more information. Background information about individual speakers, availability and potential presentation topics can be found at http://www.pmforum.org/ambassadors/ambassadors.htm.

Established in 1995, www.pmforum.org was the world’s first website devoted to professional project management and is one of the world’s most popular sources of project management news and information. PMForum is a company formed to operate and administer the pmforum.org website. PMForum also produces the monthly online PM World Today eJournal where articles, case studies, papers and viewpoints by leading PM authorities from around the world can be found; free subscriptions are available at www.pmworldtoday.net.