Looking back at April 2020 when I took over as President of the Board at PMI SFBAC, I realize now, how different this past year was from all the years I’ve been involved with PMI. Everything went online pretty soon after the cancellation of in-person events due to the pandemic, people were confused in the beginning but we all adjusted fast to a new way of doing things. 

 

I cannot be more grateful for the great collaboration we’ve had and the resilience everyone showed, from volunteers at all positions to our members who increased participation at our online events. A new year with a lot of learnings from the past and a new perspective for our future is here.  

 

We will soon complete our Annual Planning with our strategy for 2021 which includes inputs from the following:

PMI strategy

Digital-first, Stakeholder Focus 

Extend PMI impact to Change Makers 

Support members through career lifecycle (5-75)

Our Ends (according to our members-owners)

Continually improve the standard of living 

Stability 

Community

Data Analysis and External environment

We are looking at how the pandemic has affected our members’ needs and engagement

Core Services Review, member demographics, lessons learned

We analyzed our results and decide what to keep doing, stop doing, improve doing

 

As we shared with 150 members who joined us at a great Member Appreciation event in August, we will be continuing this year to focus on: Connecting with our members and investing in our community, adapting to new challenges keeping an agile mindset, and offering great learning opportunities with workshops, courses, conferences and many volunteer opportunities for members who would like to learn on the job, in a safe and fun environment.  

 

I would like to acknowledge the hard work of our leaders who make the above possible:

• Our Board of Directors: (Dina Tasiou, President) - Lorena De Benedittis, Secretary - Zenaida Alejandrino, Treasurer - Stephanie Salazer, CGO - Tim Bombosch, Director at large - Tyrone Navarro, Director at large - Bessie Tam, Director at large - Raymond Chang, Director at large - Annette Thomas, Director at large

https://pmisfbac.org/board-of-directors

• Our outgoing CEO, Vijay Ratthinam, has been with our chapter for more than 1.5 years and has led our operations to successful outcomes.
• The executive team: Jelena Durovic, CFO – Prabhu Gopalan, COO – Larry Van Cantfort, VP IT – Nancy Chin Lam, VP Marcoms – Ashwani Sinha, VP Prof. Dev. – Ina Acuna, VP Sustainability.

https://pmisfbac.org/executive-team

• Our almost 60 volunteers without whom nothing would be possible!  

https://pmisfbac.org/operational-staff

 

I would also like to welcome:

Annette Thomas, the new Board Director who is our next generation Leader! She is representing the youth’s voice on our Board and plans to introduce programs that support and connect the young leaders with our Chapter.

 

Our incoming CEO, Prabhu Gopalan, previously held the position of our COO contributing many hours towards our success. He was selected after an extensive CEO search effort led by Raymond Chang, Board Director and Chair of the CEO Search Committee. Prabhu will take over as a CEO on April, 1st, 2021.

 

Last but not least, I would like to thank all of you, our members, for being part of this great community! Thank you for bringing and sharing with us your input, energy, knowledge, perspective, making PMI SF Bay Area a great place to be. 

 

We are still meeting online. We’ll need to maintain our patience until we can meet each other again in person, socialize, enjoy a meal together, enjoy the ideas and energy in the room. We have all missed this but we haven’t forgotten each other as we see so many of you online! 

 

I wish you all to have a great year, be resilient, healthy, productive, do things you enjoy, be with those you love, give back to your cause, and share happiness.

 

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. –  Winston Churchill

Dina Tasiou, MBA, PMP®, CSM

Board President PMI SFBAC

president@pmisfbac.org