Abhijit has been a PMI member for over 17 years and started to volunteer for the PMI Phoenix chapter from 2016 onwards. He is currently the Director of Volunteer Management in the membership team.  He plays a very key role in ensuring the chapter new members and volunteers get the best experience when they apply for a volunteer position. He does the first round of interaction with all those who apply to be a chapter volunteer. He is also a judge for STEM projects at PV Schools Science and Engineering Fair (PVSEF).

Abhijit started his career as a hands-on IT developer almost 3 decades ago and then moved into IT project management. Managed IT projects in Middle East, Japan, and US.  He has experience in Finance, Healthcare, Travel, Utilities and State Government Projects. He is currently driving Data Governance across the Business Unit for a large finance company in the valley.

When asked about the most memorable experience on his Project Management Journey, he says “All projects are unique, one of my projects was of Legal Nature with a tight timeline. We were the first project in the company to adopt Agile Methodology. We reduced the timeline by over 13 months and were able to meet all the requirements and passed the audits. We were very creative in our approach.”

When asked about the future of Project Management Profession, his views are that “The Project Management profession is changing very rapidly. The PM is expected to be a leader and lead the team from the front. The PM is expected to be on top of the latest trends, understand technology and provide creative solutions, besides taking care of the traditional responsibilities.”

The most rewarding part of his volunteer journey has been that he gets to interact with professionals from various Industries. He encourages members who are not yet volunteers to take a leap of faith as it will be a rich experience and provides access to a wider network of very creative individuals.

We did a rapid-fire round of question and answer with Abhijit: -

HIDDEN TALENT: Ardent hiker

FAVORITE DESTINATION: India

GUILTY PLEASURE:  Single Malt

PASSIONATE ABOUT: Data Governance and Technology

BUSINESS ADVICE/PHILOSOPHY:  Attitude determines altitude.

READING:  Anything management related

HEROES:  Many

PROUDEST MOMENT (CAREER):  achieving PMP, PgMP and ACP

PROUDEST MOMENT (PERSONAL):  Son picked by USNA, USAF and US Coast Guard Academies after high school.

WHAT INSPIRES / DRIVES YOU? The next goal

WHAT’S THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT YOU THAT WE WOULDN’T LEARN FROM YOUR RESUME - Risk taker.

HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR COLLEAGUES WOULD DESCRIBE TO YOU? Amicable

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU DO BEFORE YOU DIE? Skydive

WHAT ARE SOME CAUSES YOU CARE ABOUT? Childhood cancer and trafficking

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR PERSONAL MOTTO?  Live life to the fullest

Manish grew up in India and graduated in business management. His career journey took him to various continents from Australia to Europe to finally North America. His initial career was in IT technology building and support software products, an interest in people and outcome of the technology initiatives brought him to a Project manager role. He got his PMP in 2010, followed by his PgMP in 2016.

When asked about challenges he faced when he moved into the PM role – he says the key challenges were about working across multiple functional teams and ensuring everyone is aligned with the focus and directions of projects and programs and that the team is humming like one unit and not multiple small teams working in silos. I have seen the journey from very waterfall-oriented stages of a project to more nebulous ways of Agile, where the focus is on sprint and PI planning and not so much about the stages and hard dates.

The profession has gone through an interesting overhaul, where the role of a Project management professional has evolved from being the one to “track “and “govern “to more about “Leading “and “helping “through servant-leadership mindset in recent times.

He enjoys the challenge of delivering value through execution framework involving Projects, Programs, and strategic initiatives, especially as the outcomes are time bound and measurable in most cases – which helps to see first-hand how an initiative helped a client or a business challenge being resolved.

He became a PMI Phoenix chapter volunteer during 2020 – started with the Corporate Outreach and Ambassador team. The ambition was to have PMI PHX chapter increase its footprint in the corporate landscape of the valley , however the pandemic made it very hard to have any in-person meeting or gathering to generate real interest , as most companies were grappling with the fallout of the pandemic on their balance sheet as well as employees .  In his most recent stint as a volunteer, he has been part of the membership team and helped ensure blog posts like these are created as well as helped organize the monthly networking events which started during the fall of 2023.

His advice to new members is that volunteering is a fantastic opportunity to connect with volunteers and professionals who have diverse backgrounds and perspectives on everything related to Project Management and more. Don’t hold back if you want to give back to the profession and to the community of these amazing human beings who are making such a big difference in the world.

In his own words “It’s amazing to see the diversity of our profession, various industries from software to semiconductor to construction which employs amazing professionals like us and the challenges each industry faces which are solved by the profession of Project management.”

On the personal front, he is married and has two kids with his wife Tina and a dog named Uno. He loves to play tennis when it is not too hot (anything below 110°) and travel to novel places whenever possible.

Alex started his professional career in healthcare in Houston as an intern, where he got to be part of a big project at a large oncology practice and interacted with Doctors, Administrators, Nurses, and other cross functional teams. This ultimately led to a job there as a Contracting and Credentialing Coordinator. He moved from Houston to Phoenix and got an opportunity with a government subcontractor in the healthcare space. There he helped the organization oversee program compliance for a national hospital patient satisfaction survey. He moved from being coordinator to a Project Manager and wanted to get the formal certification. He had a colleague who had recently got her PMP certification and helped him connect with the PMI PHX study group. He earned his PMP certification in July 2021.

The certification helped him land a new project management job with a tech start up in Scottsdale in early 2022. He credits the PMP certification for removing barriers to entry for such a role and believes it helped him to get the job he is currently at. He is grateful for the support provided by Marrisa Atkins, Bob Gates, and Conrad “Skye” Sandoval for helping him in his PMP preparation. The knowledge of budgeting, scheduling, and Agile Project Management which he learned during PMP exam preparation helped him in his new job and positioned him to stay on top of project activities.

He became a volunteer at PMI Phoenix in 2021, as he was thankful for the support he received from the organization and wanted to give back and get involved. One initiative he volunteered for was the 2023 PMI Phoenix Chapter Arizona Project Management Summit. He liked the idea of meeting and working with other project managers of all professional backgrounds to discuss timely industry topics and share and learn from each other’s experience. It was lot of work, but it was quite rewarding for Alex, and he definitely recommends other chapter members to volunteer at events like these to learn new skills and expose themselves to challenges and rewards.

He is an enthusiastic fantasy football player, a Houston Astros fan and likes traveling and weightlifting in his spare time.

He believes PM skills are relevant to any kind of goal setting, whether it’s saving for a trip or getting in shape – all goals are more likely to be obtained using some PM skills. He feels this is a fantastic way to practice PM skills daily.

 His advice for chapter members who are thinking about volunteering is “There are a myriad of opportunities throughout the chapter. Whether you have an area of expertise you are looking to work in or want to branch out and try something new, you can find what you are looking for at PMI PHX.”

His favorite destination to travel is New Orleans, as it has a great combination of food, culture, history and fun and is like Paris. According to Alex it has the best food in the country.