Mr. Lawrence V. (Larry) Suda has become an International Correspondent for PMForum in New York City, New York, USA. Larry Suda is also the CEO and Managing Partner of Palatine Group/Management Worlds, Inc. Larry sets the company’s overall strategic direction and leads initiatives to strengthen the company’s leadership in delivering blended learning solutions to clients. Larry, who founded the company in 1986, has over 30 years of project management consulting and training experience in the government and the private sector.

The Palatine Group/Management Worlds provides leadership in delivering world-class learning solutions and business consulting to clients. Guiding a multidisciplinary team of business and technology professionals, Larry has built a cadre of talented strategists, project managers, instructional designers and trainers, graphic designers and simulation developers, researchers, content specialists and film and video producers, as well as a core team of highly skilled consultants.

Collectively, Palatine Group/Management Worlds leverages world-class talent, expertise and experience to improve business performance through the use of learning technologies. The Project Leadership Simulation Experience ™ workshop is used by a wide range of clients in Global 500 corporations, public sector organizations and within executive education programs at leading business schools.

Larry Suda has designed and delivered world-class project and program leadership workshops using computer simulation to deliver real-life business challenges. He designed and implemented emerging/ best practices studies and forums linking public and private sector project managers for the purpose of sharing knowledge. Larry successfully designed and launched NASA APPL’s ASK Magazine (Academy Sharing Knowledge), an on-line story-based learning and case study journal of project success stories at NASA, NASA’s first e-Learning project management program “Return to Mars” and an enterprise-wide on-line performance center for various levels of NASA’s project management community. His workshop for NASA’s Academy of Program and Project Leadership is consistently NASA APPL’s highest rated.

The Palatine Group/Management Worlds received the prestigious Silver Award from International Design’s, I.D Journal, for a web-based interactive project management e-case study which was top honors along with BMW’s best selling Mini Cooper and Sony’s PlayStation. Larry also developed “Project Mirror” a Project Leadership Assessment and Development Center used at NASA to accelerate the career development of NASA’s project managers.

A recognized expert in his field, Larry is a frequent speaker at project management conferences around the world. His speaking engagements typically cover such topics as using simulations for training, project management competencies, business strategy, leadership and organizational culture. Larry is certified in various psychological and leadership instruments, and has been a member of PMI for over 25 years. He is also a member of ASAPM, American Society for Training Development, The International Simulation and Gaming Association, and the Association of Business Simulation and Experiential Learning.

Before founding Palatine Group/Management Worlds, Larry worked in the private and public sectors (Environmental Protection Agency) and was an assistant professor at the University of Maryland. He has also taught at the Universities of Iowa and Pittsburgh. Larry holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from the Graduate School of Wayne State University, a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University, and has completed post-graduate studies at the Universities of Michigan and Maryland. He is an adjunct professor at Drexel University teaching Global Project Leadership.

According to Wikipedia, New York City is a city in the state of New York and is the most populous city in the United States of America and among one of the most populous in the world. Its business, finance, trading, law, and media organizations are influential around the globe. The city is one of the world's most important cultural centers, with hundreds of museums, galleries, and performance venues. Home of the United Nations, the city is also one of the world's major venues for international diplomacy.

The city comprises five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. With 8.2 million residents and a land area of 321 square miles (830 km²), New York City has the highest population density of any major city in North America.The city's metropolitan area, with a population of 18.8 million, ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. New York City has been a dominant global financial center since World War II. It is also the birthplace of many American cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, abstract expressionism in painting, and hip hop in music. The city's cultural vitality has been fueled by immigration since its founding by Dutch colonists in 1625. In 2005, nearly 170 languages were spoken in the city and 36 percent of its population was foreign born.

The city was one of the sites of the September 11, 2001 attacks, when nearly 3,000 people died in the destruction of the World Trade Center. It was the worst terrorist attack ever to occur in the United States. The Freedom Tower is to be built on the site and is scheduled for completion in 2010.

New York City is a global hub of international business and commerce and is one of three "command centers" for the world economy (along with London and Tokyo). The New York metropolitan area had an estimated gross metropolitan product of $952.6 billion in 2005, the largest regional economy in the United States. The city's economy accounts for the majority of the economic activity in the states of New York and New Jersey.

The city is a major center for finance, insurance, real estate, media and the arts in the United States. Other important sectors include the city's television and film industry, second largest in the country after Hollywood; medical research and technology; non-profit institutions and universities; and fashion. Real estate is a major force in the city's economy. The total value of all New York City property was $802.4 billion in 2006.The Time Warner Center is the property with the highest-listed market value in the city, at $1.1 billion in 2006.

The city's stock exchanges are among the most important in the world. The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ are the world's first and third largest stock exchanges, respectively, when measured by average daily trading volume and overall market capitalization. Many major corporations have headquarters in New York. New York is also unique among American cities for its large number of foreign corporations. One out of ten private sector jobs in the city is with a foreign company. Creative industries such as new media, advertising, design and architecture account for a growing share of employment. High-tech industries like bioscience, software development, game design, and Internet services are also growing; because of its position at the terminus of the transatlantic fiber optic trunk line, New York City is the leading Internet gateway in the United States. About 40 million foreign and American tourists visit New York City each year.

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States and the third most populous state in the USA. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and shares an international border with Canada. The state's five largest cities are New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse. New York is known for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States and its status as a transportation and manufacturing center. New York was forted by the Dutch at Albany in 1614 and colonized in 1624, at both Albany and Manhattan, before falling under English rule in 1664. About one third of all military engagements of the American Revolutionary War took place in New York, after which it became the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution in 1788.

New York covers 54,475 sq miles (141,089 sq kilometers). In size, New York ranks 27th compared with the other 50 states. While the state is best known for New York City's urban atmosphere, especially Manhattan's skyscrapers, most of the state is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. New York's Adirondack State Park is larger than any U.S. National Park outside of Alaska. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction.

New York's gross state product in 2005 was $963.5 billion, ranking third in size behind the larger states of California and Texas. If New York were an independent nation, it would rank as the 16th largest economy in the world. Its 2005 per capita personal income was $40,072, placing it fifth in the USA and eighth in the world. New York's agricultural outputs are dairy products, cattle and other livestock, vegetables, nursery stock, and apples. Its industrial outputs are printing and publishing, scientific instruments, electric equipment, machinery, chemical products, and tourism. Canada is an important economic partner for the state as 23% of the state's total worldwide exports went to Canada in 2004. As tourists, Canadians spent US$487 million in 2004 while visiting the state.

The United States of America (USA) is is a country in North America that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and shares land borders with Canada and Mexico and a sea border with Russia and The Bahamas. The United States is a federal republic, with its capital in Washington, D.C. The USA has been an independent and self governed democracy since 1776. American military, economic, cultural, and political influence increased throughout the 20th century.

According to Wikipedia, the USA has over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.5 million km2) and is the fourth largest country in the world by total area. It is the world's third most populous country with just over 300 million citizens.

With a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $12.485 trillion, the USA has the largest economiy in the world. The USA’s median household income of $43,318 is 8th highest. The largest sector in the United States economy is services, which employs roughly three quarters of the work force. The United States has vast economic, political, and military influence on a global scale, which makes its foreign policy a subject of great interest and discussion around the world. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and consulates around the country. The USA is a founding member of the United Nations (with a permanent seat on the Security Council), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and is a member of many other international organizations. (More information about New York City, the State of New York and the USA can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org).

Larry Suda lives in New York and can be contacted at lsuda@thepalatinegroup.com.

Peter Morris, PhD, well known project management author, educator, expert, researcher and professional leader in the United Kingdom (UK), has agreed to become a Global Advisor for PMForum. One of the most widely recognized figures in the project management profession in Great Britain and throughout the world, Dr. Morris is currently Professor of Construction and Project Management at University College London (www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk). He is also Executive Director of INDECO, a leading consultancy in the management of projects (www.indeco.co.uk).

Peter is also currently a Vice President and was previously Chairman of the Association for Project Management (APM), the professional body for project management in the UK. He was also previously Deputy Chairman of the International Project Management Association (IPMA), the Switzerland-based federation of national project management societies. He is a (Honorary) Fellow of APM, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has been a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) in the USA since 1976.

His research has largely been on the competencies required to develop and deliver projects and programs successfully. He is the principal proponent of ‘the management of projects’ perspective, and the co-editor of The Wiley Guide to Managing Projects (Wiley, 2005); author of The Management of Projects (Thomas Telford, 1994) and co-author of The Anatomy of Major Projects (John Wiley & Sons, 1987). He has also worked on the linkage between corporate and project strategy (co-author of Translating Corporate Strategy into Project Strategy (PMI, 2004)). He is the author of over 110 papers and was the recipient of the PMI 2005 Research Achievement Award. He is on the editorial boards of The International Journal of Project Management, the Project Management Journal, and the Journal of Project Management.

Dr. Morris has consulted widely, with clients including AstraZeneca, British Airways, British Gas, British Petroleum, Ericsson, FKI, Fujitsu, GSK, Land Securities, National Australia Bank, Pfizer, PowerGen, Shell, Skanska, Spirent and Unilever amongst others.

He was previously Professor of Engineering Project Management at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He was a main board director of Bovis Ltd., one of the UK’s leading international construction project management companies. He was also previously Executive Director of the Major Projects Association, a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, a senior consultant with Arthur D Little, a senior consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton, and an engineer with Sir Robert McAlpine.

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PMI CEO Balestrero Predicts Project Management
Center of Gravity to Move East

Reported from Dallas Texas, USA by David Pells and Nelson Soucek.

Immediately following his recent two week trip to China, Greg Balestrero, CEO of the Project Management Institute (PMI ®), predicted that “the center of excellence in complex project management is no longer here; it’s moving Eastward.” He made the statement during his closing keynote speech at the Professional Development Day seminar sponsored by the PMI Dallas Chapter on Saturday, 28 April.

 

According to Balestrero, “I returned on Friday from two weeks in China, visiting Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. The growth there is phenomenal, with projects everywhere and the commitment to project management education and certification is staggering, with thousands of Chinese engineering students enrolled in PM programs now. China will soon be the leader in managing large complex projects.”

Mr. Balestrero was traveling in China earlier in the month with several executives from Western corporations, along with Linda Vella, Chair of the PMI Board of Directors. Everywhere he went, he stated, “the Chinese are focused on results. It’s not about the process; it’s about results!”

Other comments during his speech included:

“The government of China establishes five year plans. Eight years ago, they said they would build 45,000 kilometers of new highway. That’s more highway than there is in the United States. They said they would do it in ten years, but they’re nearly there already.”

“In their latest five year plan, they said they would bring prosperity to Central China. The third most used word in that plan is “project”. That’s what China is about; it’s about projects. Projects are in two primary areas – construction and IT. It’s everywhere!”

“The Chinese have recognized that project management is indispensable for business results. Now their idea of business may be different, but they’re about projects and about results. And they achieve those results in ways that are remarkable!”

“I go to China two or three times a year now, which is not enough. Each time I visit, I am amazed at the change. The estimates of change are always underestimated. And the biggest change this time is the maturity of project management over the last 12 months. It’s improved markedly!”

“China is now one of the biggest engines of commerce and change in the entire world. They’re shaking us to our very roots. The world is changing around us. It’s very exciting, but it can also be very threatening at the same time.”

“The United States graduates about 60,000 engineers, technologists and scientists every year. China is graduating 600,000; India is graduating 300,000.”

“In 2004, China said ‘we need more project managers’. They decided to establish project management programs in all the engineering schools. They authorized 93 of them in the fall of 2004. There are 16,000 students in the program two years later.”

“Huawei, which is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, is a new kind of company in China. Founded in 1988, today it has a turnover of about $11 billion USD. Its revenues double about every year. So they’ll probably go up to $20-22 billion this year. They have 20,000 projects ongoing at any one time. 49% of their employees are in R&D, out of 63,000. Their life cycle for new products is less than 12 months. They have a goal to cut it in half.”

“China is very focused on results. They are very project focused. They have qualified 3,900 people to take the PMP exam. They have 2,700 PMPs in China. Three years ago they had none. They believe that project management is crucial!”

“The biggest problem that we have heard about from executives is the lack of qualified project management professions. We have heard this in China, in London and around the globe. I estimate the demand for PMPs to be in the order of 25 million worldwide.”

“The drive towards more transparency, accountability and integrity among corporations and executives has focused more attention on projects, project management, and, especially, on project controls. But this is a two-edged sword. It means that project managers and project management professionals are in the spotlight and must deliver results. Project management needs to get better!”

 

Greg Balestrero’s 45 minute presentation was the closing keynote speech for the PMI Dallas Chapter’s first annual Professional Development Day in Dallas, Texas, USA. (Greg Balestrero in photo receiving star award from Dwaraka Iyengar, PMI Dallas Chapter President.)

The day’s activities also included an opening keynote speech by Gopal Kapur, Founder & President of the Center for Project Management in California, a luncheon keynote address by former Dallas Cowboys’ star quarterback Roger Staubach, and 24 professional presentations over six tracks on PM related topics by local PM leaders and experts. Copies of presentations from the day can be found on the PMI Dallas Chapter’s website, at www.pmidallas.org.

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