Editor’s note: In late March, Mr. Gregory Balestrero visited Argentina in order to meet with regional leaders gathered at the PMI Region 13 Leadership Meeting. He also held an open meeting with members of the PMI Buenos Aires Chapter. During these days, Mr. Balestrero shared his viewpoints on the growth and trends of the Project Management Profession and specifically on the status of PMI and its actual strategy in Latin America. As always, Mr. Balestrero impressed attendees at these meetings with his knowledge and commitment to the Project Management profession. In a very generous way, he agreed to share his message through an interview with PMForum’s international correspondent in Argentina.

PM World Today: We first met in Chile some years ago, by then you shared with us your view of the growing trend of the Project Management Institute in Latin America. Much has happened since then. What is PMI’s actual status in the region?

Greg Balestrero: The growth of PMI in the region is evident. We went from 6000 members in 2006 to almost 13,000 members now. This is a 100% growth in less than 3 years that has led Latin America to represent 4.5% of PMI membership, instead of the 4% in 2006. There is also an important increase of Project Management Professionals (PMPs) here, increasing to 12,000 professionals. Some chapters such as Peru and Argentina have faced important growth, including the development of new regional communities or “branches” in smaller but important cities outside the capitals. The fact is that Latin America is providing services and goods to the world, and to do so it is incorporating international standards to its practices and this leads to the growth of the Profession.

PMWT: Last August at the Latin American Global Congress, PMI announced that a new strategic plan will be developed to answer the needs and characteristics of the region. So far, how does this plan define PMI strategy?

Balestrero: PMI researches each region of the world before defining its strategy in order to learn about its cultural values and business needs. In this manner we decide how to better propel the growth of PMI in each place. Since last year, we have been doing research on Latin America. So far we have seen that past Latin America Global Congresses had important participation from local professionals and a lower level of participation of attendees from other countries. For instance, the Global Congress in Brazil was impressive with 1,200 attendees, but over 900 were Brazilians.

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