Rita Mulcahy, PMP
Project Management Entrepreneur

Rita Mulcahy, founder and president of RMC Project Management and one of the best known figures in project management professional community, passed away May 15, 2010 after a long struggle with breast cancer. She was 50. Rita is survived by her husband, Tim Mulcahy; daughter, Kerry, age 7, and son Conner, age 5.

Shortly after founding RMC Project Management in 1991, Rita quickly realized that in order for people to enhance their careers by becoming Certified Project Managers they would need an excellent PMP Exam Prep Study Guide. She wrote one. That Guide went on to become the world-wide industry standard for PMP Exam Preparation.

Rita was an internationally recognized expert on project management techniques, advanced project management theory, risk management and project management certification. Rita had over 15 years and US $2.5 billion worth of hands-on project experience, as well as over 10 best- selling project management resources to her credit.

She spoke to thousands of executives and project managers each year, and had a reputation for helping people to learn and to have fun while doing it. Rita's company, RMC Project Management grew into an industry leader helping tens of thousands of project managers become professionally certified. Today, RMC Project Management continues to offer hundreds of Project Management training products including: books, e-books, e-learning courses, instructor led courses, live on line courses, and a variety of kits and self study materials. The company continues to grow with divisions in publishing, warehousing, distribution, online books, and real estate. Rita had a love for the outdoors, the arts, theater, and skiing.  [1]

From her company’s website, we learn that Rita was the author of the following books and papers related to project management: [2]

• PM Crash Course™, 2007, a revolutionary book on real-world project management for people who are looking to get projects back on track, and who want easy-to-use tools that can make an immediate impact

• CAPM® Exam Prep, 2006, the complete guide to getting ready to take the CAPM® exam including review material, games, exercises and sample exams

• Risk Management, Tricks of the Trade® for Project Managers, 2003, this book is a must as the primary text for risk management courses and for those people who want a clear and effective way to apply risk management to their projects

  

• PMP® Exam Prep, 1999, 2001, and 2003, the complete guide to getting ready to take the PMP® exam including review material, games, exercises and sample exams

• PM FASTrack®, 2003, A PMP® Simulation computer software program designed to test one's knowledge of the PMP® exam and the PMBOK Guide®

• Hot Topics, 2002 and 2003, a book of flashcards to get ready for the PMP® and CAPM® exams

• Situational and Professional Responsibility Q&A, 2002, A book of 150 questions to get ready for the PMP® exam

• Project Management for the Business Professional, 2000, John Wiley and Sons (contracts chapter)

• Provided assistance for a number of chapters in the book Information Technology Project Management, 1999, by Kathy Schwalbe

Papers and Articles

• “What Every PM Needs to Know” – Presented at PMI® 2003, including a much-coveted encore presentation

• “What Makes a Project Manager Successful?” – 2003 – Denver, Loveland and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Bloomington, IL

• “What Makes a Project Manager Successful? – Part 2”, 2002 – Presented at PMI® '02 to standing room only crowds and a coveted encore presentation

• “Five Ways Sales Can Make Projects Successful”, 2000, to be presented at PMI® '00

• “More Creative Training Techniques”, 1999, presented at PMI® '99 including a second much coveted encore presentation

• “What Makes Projects Fail?”, 1999, presented at PMI® '99

• 10 Ways to Improve Your Ability to Manage Projects, 1999, Minnesota Technology Magazine

• “What Makes A Project Manager Successful?”, 1998, presented at PMI® '98 including a much-coveted encore presentation

• “Creative Training Techniques”, 1998, presented at PMI® '98

• “Tricks for Handling Contracts”, 1998, presented at PMI® '98

RMC Project Management won the 2004 PMI® Professional Development Product of the Year Award in the Corporate / Government / Association category for its SIRK-Kit Risk Analysis Kit. The official announcement was made on October 23rd at an awards ceremony preceding the North American PMI® Global Congress in Anaheim, California.

Rita stated that the award was a testament to her company's sharp focus on one common goal—to help project managers learn. "My company has worked hard to create products with significantly more content and value than other products in the marketplace," stated Mulcahy. "This award reinforces the fact that our efforts in this area have been successful."

In addition to the best-selling book Risk Management: Tricks of the Trade® for Project Managers, the SIRK-Kit Risk Analysis Kit from RMC includes a 6' x 6' Risk Chart used to sort and qualify risks, as well as ten (10) packages of Risk Notes, which are used to record risks and the relevant information about each.

Photo above: Rita Mulcahy accepting the PMI® Product of the Year Award from 2005 PMI® Chair Louis J. Mercken (left) and 2004 PMI® Chair Kenneth O. Hartley (right) at the PMI Global Congress 2004 – North America in Anaheim, California, USA.

People are afraid that risk management is too complex, so they simply don't do it—which leads to cost overruns, wasted effort and unhappy customers," noted Mulcahy. "We designed the SIRK-Kit with this in mind, hoping to make risk management easy and fun so it actually gets done on projects more often." [3]

According to a report on theicpm.com on 21 May, 2010:  Rita was diagnosed with Stage 4 Inflammatory Breast Cancer in September of 2005, just days before two scheduled speaking appearances at PMI Global Congress in Toronto, Ontario. Given only months to live, Rita spent the next five years privately fighting her disease with a continuous regimen of both Western and Holistic treatments. During that time she continued to work, authoring five more best-selling books—including one with Fortune 100 leader Cisco Press—and delivering classes and keynote speeches across the globe. She also spent a great deal of time growing her business, and over the last five years watched RMC expand its training and product distribution to nearly 50 regions worldwide.

After her diagnosis, Rita worked feverishly to build RMC into one of the fastest-growing training organizations in the industry. Today, her thriving company is filled with some of the most sought-after experts in the fields of instructional design and delivery, learning development, and educational technology. Going forward, the Management Team at RMC will continue to leverage Rita's marketing-leading methodologies and learning techniques to develop more award-winning products, classes and e-learning courses in Project Management and numerous other related disciplines. [3]

Rita Mulcahy was very well known throughout North America and worldwide, especially within the PMI community.  She will be missed by the many professionals who used her books and training courses to prepare for the PMP certification exam. 

We at PMForum express our condolences and sympathies to Rita’s family and friends.

Sources:

1. Obituary published in Star Tribune from May 18 to May 19,

2. http://www.rmcproject.com/about/rita.aspx

3. http://rmcproject.com/about/PR20051025

4. http://www.theicpm.com/certification/3538-breast-cancer-claims-the-life-of-rita-mulcahy-tragic-loss-to-the-world-of-project-management

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