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Breaking News in the Project Management World
Monday, August 25, 2008
Best PM Practices at ConocoPhillips to be Presented by Samar Walther at September ProMAC 2008 Conference in Anchorage
Samar Walther, Capital Projects Manager for ConocoPhillips Alaska, will deliver a keynote speech during the ProMAC 2008 International Project Management Conference in September. Ms. Walther's speech will be entitled "ConocoPhillips Project Management Best Practices." The ProMAC 2008 Project Management Conference, "Project Management Leading Managerial Revolutions", will be held at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, Alaska during September 15-18, 2008. This conference follows previous successful ProMAC conferences in Singapore, Japan, and Australia.
Samar (Summer) Walther is Capital Projects Manager for ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc., USA. In this role, Samar is accountable for a Long Range Plan (LRP) capital projects portfolio of approximately $3.0 billion and an annual spend range of $400MM to 900MM. She leads an organization of about 120 employees and contract personnel. She also ensures Project Management best practices & processes, enterprise project management systems and tools, and robust resource management is implemented on all capital projects to facilitate project delivery and excellence.
Samar has over 21 years of experience in the industry and has worked in multiple locations in North America supporting Canadian, US, and international sites. She began her career with Dow Chemical in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. She held several roles including process engineering, process control, operations representative, commissioning / start-up leader of a mega project, and plant production leader for an ethylene plant. She transferred to Houston in 1995 and held Project Management/Services roles.
Samar joined ConocoPhillips in 2006 as director of project services in the Downstream Technology Project Management and Services group in support of major and small project development and execution. After the integration of Upstream and Downstream Project Services organizations, Samar assumed the role of Manager of Functional Excellence within Project Services, Project Development group. Her responsibilities included training & development, quality assurance and control, work process, standards and procedures stewardship, project staffing and home room, capital project technology initiatives, document and engineering data management, construction and commissioning/handover functional excellence, networks of excellence, consulting services to all major capital projects, benchmarking, and integration/ synergy opportunities. She has lead the Alaska Capital Projects Organization since 2007.
Samar holds a Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Houston in Texas. Samar is a certified Black Belt in both MAIC [Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control] and DFSS [Design for Six Sigma] processes. She is also a registered professional engineer with APEGGA (The Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta).
According to her abstract, delivering a $3.0 billion portfolio of capital projects requires real-world application of project management cornerstones: design basis, execution plan and controlling the project cost and schedule. Samar will review current and upcoming projects in the Alaska and ConocoPhillips global portfolios. In addition, she will also review the project management systems that enable her organization to deliver projects that meet expectations for safety, quality, cost effectiveness and on-time delivery. The ConocoPhillips Alaska Capital Project Organization is at the forefront of developing and following the ConocoPhillips standards for project delivery - and implementing emerging best practices in risk assessment and contingency, portfolio management and reporting.
The ProMAC 2008 conference will serve as an important forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences to revolutionize today’s project management knowledge and techniques for the future. Special plenary sessions featuring top executives and government officials will be held to exchange their practices and plans. Numerous paper presentations and workshops will be held. For details, visit http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/promac/.
The ProMAC 2008 conference host and lead sponsor is the Masters of Science program in Project Management (MSPM) at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Other sponsors include the PMI Anchorage Alaska Chapter, the Society of Project Management (Japan), Asia Pacific International College (Australia), Alaska Communications Systems (ACS), Alaska Airlines, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company , ASRC Energy Systems, British Petroleum (BP), ConocoPhillips, CH2MHill, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Hawk Consultants LLC, NANA Development Corporation, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), and the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The general conference co-chairs are Dr. Jang Ra, University of Alaska Anchorage, USA (Chair); Prof. Ali Jaafari, Asia Pacific International College, Australia; Dr. Osamu Ohno, Society of Project Management, Japan; and Prof. Khim Teck Yeo, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The Project Manager is Danny Elmore, University of Alaska Anchorage. For more information, visit http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/promac/.
Samar has over 21 years of experience in the industry and has worked in multiple locations in North America supporting Canadian, US, and international sites. She began her career with Dow Chemical in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. She held several roles including process engineering, process control, operations representative, commissioning / start-up leader of a mega project, and plant production leader for an ethylene plant. She transferred to Houston in 1995 and held Project Management/Services roles.
Samar joined ConocoPhillips in 2006 as director of project services in the Downstream Technology Project Management and Services group in support of major and small project development and execution. After the integration of Upstream and Downstream Project Services organizations, Samar assumed the role of Manager of Functional Excellence within Project Services, Project Development group. Her responsibilities included training & development, quality assurance and control, work process, standards and procedures stewardship, project staffing and home room, capital project technology initiatives, document and engineering data management, construction and commissioning/handover functional excellence, networks of excellence, consulting services to all major capital projects, benchmarking, and integration/ synergy opportunities. She has lead the Alaska Capital Projects Organization since 2007.
Samar holds a Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Houston in Texas. Samar is a certified Black Belt in both MAIC [Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control] and DFSS [Design for Six Sigma] processes. She is also a registered professional engineer with APEGGA (The Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta).
According to her abstract, delivering a $3.0 billion portfolio of capital projects requires real-world application of project management cornerstones: design basis, execution plan and controlling the project cost and schedule. Samar will review current and upcoming projects in the Alaska and ConocoPhillips global portfolios. In addition, she will also review the project management systems that enable her organization to deliver projects that meet expectations for safety, quality, cost effectiveness and on-time delivery. The ConocoPhillips Alaska Capital Project Organization is at the forefront of developing and following the ConocoPhillips standards for project delivery - and implementing emerging best practices in risk assessment and contingency, portfolio management and reporting.
The ProMAC 2008 conference will serve as an important forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences to revolutionize today’s project management knowledge and techniques for the future. Special plenary sessions featuring top executives and government officials will be held to exchange their practices and plans. Numerous paper presentations and workshops will be held. For details, visit http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/promac/.
The ProMAC 2008 conference host and lead sponsor is the Masters of Science program in Project Management (MSPM) at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Other sponsors include the PMI Anchorage Alaska Chapter, the Society of Project Management (Japan), Asia Pacific International College (Australia), Alaska Communications Systems (ACS), Alaska Airlines, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company , ASRC Energy Systems, British Petroleum (BP), ConocoPhillips, CH2MHill, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Hawk Consultants LLC, NANA Development Corporation, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), and the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The general conference co-chairs are Dr. Jang Ra, University of Alaska Anchorage, USA (Chair); Prof. Ali Jaafari, Asia Pacific International College, Australia; Dr. Osamu Ohno, Society of Project Management, Japan; and Prof. Khim Teck Yeo, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The Project Manager is Danny Elmore, University of Alaska Anchorage. For more information, visit http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/promac/.
