PMI Baltimore Chapter

Dear PMI Baltimore Chapter Members,

It is my pleasure to have been chosen to serve as your VP of Programs. I have been associated with PMI Baltimore Chapter for the past 6 years. In 2005, I established our Columbia, MD meeting site and have served as Lead Director in Columbia since then. I am a firm believer that our primary mission in this Chapter is to reach out to our membership, where we live and work, with quality project management programs and educational opportunities. This year, in order to expand our offerings, we divided our programs into two groups managed and led by PMI Baltimore Chapter VPs. As VP, Programs, I am responsible for our monthly Site Meetings where we offer presentations on project management topics in conjunction with a meal and networking as well as 1-2 PDUs. John Kos, our VP, Education, manages our PMP Certification training as well as in-depth one and two day educational seminars within project management knowledge areas.

Our Site Meetings continue to be the lynchpin of our training/educational efforts. Last year, we hosted over 2000 participants in 70 Site meetings throughout Maryland. We currently offer monthly meetings, open to all members, in the following locations – Aberdeen, Annapolis, Columbia, Frederick, Fruitland, Hanover, Timonium, and Wallops Island. We also conduct virtual meetings for Unisys worldwide as well as on-site meetings restricted to personnel supporting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). We are in the process of establishing additional meeting sites at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (JHU APL) as well as the National Security Agency (NSA) for members that work in those locations and we are open to your suggestions for other locations where we can network and promote the project management discipline.

This year, we began a project to automate our registration process for meetings and seminars and have issued PMI Baltimore Chapter ID cards to all our members. While this project is still in flux, we have moved forward with registering PDUs for all of our members that attend PMI Baltimore sponsored events. When you register for an event on the PMI Baltimore website, be sure to provide your PMI and PMP number and we will automatically register your PDUs for you following attendance at the event. This is another benefit of membership in PMI Baltimore Chapter!

We are always looking for volunteers to assist us as Site Directors. These generous members give of their time to plan and execute our PMI meetings throughout Maryland. At the end of June, we will install two new Site Directors, Keith Thompson and Rob Hurley, to manage our PMI Meetings at the NASA facility on Wallops Island. Thanks to both of you for volunteering! If you are interested in assisting us, please contact our Director of Volunteers, Donna Anders.

If you have suggestions or recommendations, or just want to tell me how much you appreciate our Site Directors, feel free to contact me. See you at our next PMI Meeting!

Mike Berendt, PMP, RMP
VP of Programs
PMI Baltimore Chapter