Speaker Bios
Learn more about each speaker and the session they would be facilitating.
Meet The Speakers
Click on each image to read more about their background and speaking session.
Katrenia Yvette Reed Hughes
Dynamic organizational leadership scholar-practitioner who champions inclusive excellence and human-centered, high-impact project leadership at Purdue University Indianapolis.
Dr. Katrenia Reed Hughes is a tenured Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership at Purdue University Indianapolis and Director of Student Excellence in the Office of Student and Community Engagement. With more than two decades of experience in higher education and corporate organizational development, Dr. Reed Hughes brings a practitioner-scholar perspective to leadership, project management, and workforce development. Her work focuses on building high-performing, inclusive teams and helping individuals navigate complexity with clarity, purpose, and resilience. A former enterprise learning and development partner, Dr. Reed Hughes has led strategic initiatives across education, industry, and community sectors. She is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop facilitator, known for blending evidence-based frameworks with powerful storytelling. Dr. Reed Hughes holds a Doctor of Psychology and an MBA, and she is an active member of PMI, committed to advancing project leadership that is both human-centered and results-driven.
Session Abstract
Project Leadership in an AI-Enabled World: Balancing Technology, Judgement, and Trust
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As artificial intelligence reshapes how projects are planned, executed, and evaluated, project leaders must do more than adopt new tools. This session explores how AI is being integrated into modern project management practices, from planning and risk identification to communication and decision support, while reinforcing disciplined execution and clear accountability. At the same time, the presentation emphasizes the enduring importance of human-centered leadership—ethical decision-making, trust-building, and intentional stakeholder engagement in fast-moving environments. Attendees will leave with practical guidance for leveraging AI responsibly while strengthening the human capabilities that ultimately determine project success.
Hilary Blair
Transformational keynote speaker and CEO of ARTiculate: Real & Clear who empowers leaders to turn friction into growth through courageous communication and authentic executive presence.
Hilary Blair is a dynamic keynote speaker, transformational facilitator, and CEO & Co-Founder of ARTiculate: Real & Clear. She’s the creator of Fruitful Friction®, a framework that redefines tension as a catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and trust. Blending her background as a professional actor with deep expertise in communication and executive presence, Hilary helps leaders and teams stay in the conversation when it matters most. A featured TEDx speaker Hilary’s work inspires leaders to engage authentically, communicate courageously, and transform friction into traction for growth.
Session Abstract
Fruitful Friction: Staying in Conversation for Productive Outcomes
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High-performing projects are not free of tension—they manage it well. Fruitful Friction® reframes conflict as a catalyst for clarity, innovation, and stronger results. In complex project environments marked by cross-functional teams, shifting priorities, and evolving scope, leaders must know how to stay engaged in difficult conversations rather than avoid them. This session equips project managers with practical tools to navigate high-stakes moments with presence, emotional intelligence, and self-regulation, while inviting diverse perspectives and strengthening stakeholder communication. By reducing costly patterns of avoidance, misalignment, and escalation, participants will learn how to protect business value, accelerate decision-making, and transform friction into forward momentum that improves overall project outcomes.
Offiong Bassey
Founder of Bassante and a GTM and operating systems strategist who helps growth-stage companies scale with clarity, alignment, and AI-powered execution.
Offiong Bassey is the Founder and Principal of Bassante, where she helps growth‑stage and mid‑market companies build the GTM and operating systems that support scale. A Yale graduate and PMP, she brings more than 15 years of experience across Fortune 5 healthcare, Fortune 50 global tech, and Big Three consulting. Her work blends commercial strategy, operating model design, and AI‑native intelligence systems to help leaders achieve clarity, alignment, and disciplined execution across the seams. She has led global teams of more than 200 across operations, engineering, analytics, and GTM, and has architected intelligence systems that informed multibillion‑dollar revenue decisions. Offiong equips leaders to navigate complexity with clarity and build systems that scale.
Session Abstract
Operating Rhythm for the AI Era: Practical Tools PMs Can Use to Keep Teams Aligned
AI is changing how work moves. Project managers feel it first. Decisions are outpacing the systems meant to support them. Cross-functional complexity multiplies. Small misalignments that once stayed contained now compound across the system. The pressure to keep teams steady while everything accelerates is real, and it falls on PMs.
Misalignment doesn’t start with AI. It starts with the seams AI exposes. This session offers a practical, non-technical framework for making AI adoption coherent. We’ll work through the fundamentals: a shared understanding of what’s true, operating rhythms that reduce noise, governance with clear ownership, and decision-ready insight that keeps work moving. Organizational examples and a collaborative activity will reveal how this plays out in your context.
You’ll leave with the clarity to lead with both precision and presence as the horizon shifts and the stakes rise.
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Michael Harshbarger
Enterprise program leader who guides complex, AI-enabled modernization efforts with a calm, systems-level approach that helps organizations lead through change with clarity and credibility.
Michael Harshbarger is a program and project leader with deep experience guiding enterprise-scale delivery at the intersection of technology, leadership, and organizational change. Over his career, he has led complex modernization initiatives, advised Fortune 100 organizations, and helped teams navigate ambiguity where funding models, architecture, delivery capacity, and customer impact collide. Michael works extensively with AI as a leadership and delivery tool, applying it to planning, analysis, decision support, and instructional design—while also teaching leaders where AI falls short and human judgment is essential. His perspective is grounded not in theory, but in real-world program leadership under pressure. Known for his calm, systems-level approach, Michael helps leaders see the whole enterprise, make better tradeoffs, and lead credibly as AI reshapes how project work gets done
Session Abstract
“I Asked an AI to Run My Project. Here’s What It Got Wrong.”
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What happens when you put an AI in the hot seat in front of a live audience and ask it the questions project managers face every day? The answers are fast, structured, and impressively confident. They’re also missing something essential.
In this session, we’ll do exactly that live, on stage, with real questions from the room. Together, we’ll examine where AI delivers genuine value, where it falls short, and what those gaps reveal about what project leadership actually requires.
You’ll leave with more than a perspective. You’ll leave with M.O.R.E. A four-part framework built around Mindset, Outcomes, Realization, and Elevation. This is designed to help project professionals at every level put empathy-driven leadership into practice starting Monday morning.
This is not a session about whether AI belongs in project management. It does. This is a session about what belongs to you.
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David Otey
Engaging speaker, coach, and author who blends analytical rigor with highly interactive training to drive practical personal and professional growth.
Speaker, coach, trainer, and author David P. Otey has helped thousands of people on three continents in their quest for personal and professional growth. A former engineer, Otey understands how to reach and move the quantitative/analytical mind. He is known for his highly interactive programs, both in-person and on-line, that give his participants confidence and practical results.
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Otey holds a BA in Radio-Television-Film and Physics from Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas, USA) and both an MA in Communication and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. A native of Texas, he currently resides in the Denver area.
Session Abstract
The Art and Science of Connecting: A New Paradigm for Technical Presentations
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Technical expertise alone is no longer enough to move ideas forward—connection is what drives influence. This session explores a new paradigm for technical presentations that blends analytical rigor with human-centered storytelling. Participants will learn how to translate complex concepts into clear, compelling messages that resonate with diverse audiences, from engineers to executives. By combining structure, data, narrative, and delivery techniques, this talk reframes presentations not as information dumps, but as strategic opportunities to build trust, inspire action, and create lasting impact.
Lisa DiTullio
Project Management Consultant | Trainer | Coach | Author | Speaker
With over 30 years of experience in project management, Lisa DiTullio specializes in building PMOs and instilling a project management culture within organizations. She is an author, regular industry blogger, PMI® PMTraining™ instructor, and an internationally recognized speaker known for her impactful storytelling and practical insights.
Session Abstract
Confidence Without Certainty: How Leaders Show Up When the Path Isn’t Clear
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In today’s fast-moving environments, leaders are often expected to act without complete information. This session explores how to lead with confidence, even when uncertainty is high.
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You’ll gain practical strategies to communicate clearly, build trust, and guide your team forward—even when the path isn’t fully defined.
Eric Foss
Executive consultant who aligns strategy with business value delivery by embedding pragmatic, people-centered agility that drives measurable outcomes and leadership alignment.
Eric Foss is an executive-level leader and consultant who bridges the gap between strategy and business value delivery. He embeds the business agility necessary to accelerate delivery of strategically aligned business outcomes. Eric’s people-centric approach centers around pragmatic delivery and intentional collaboration while recognizing and respecting participation, contribution, and perspectives at all levels. He drives leadership alignment and capabilities with a focus on implementation, interdependencies, realization of strategically aligned targeted benefits, and responsive data-driven decision making.
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Eric’s passion and professional focus is on the areas of strategic management and leadership, organizational design and dynamics, organizational change management, and collaboration. This together with his professional certifications in project management and portfolio management serve as a foundation for pragmatic application of best practices.
Session Abstract
Sparking Innovation: From Bright Ideas to Real Business Impact
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During this session we will balance Power Skills and Business Acumen to demystify what innovation really means and gain a new perspective on how innovation works with portfolio management to operationalize business value while navigating decision-making and building a pragmatic structure with the agility necessary to evolve ideas. Innovation isn’t just about the shiny object. It’s about taking the sparks of creativity and turning them into business value.
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Session Abstract
Joe Perzel
Seasoned program leader and international speaker who brings more than four decades of cross-industry experience to advancing project leadership, strategy, and organizational performance.
Joe Perzel has been leading projects of all sizes and managing staffs since 1982 in both a corporate and vendor capacity. He has a background in multiple industries such as healthcare, insurance, finance, government, manufacturing, non-profit and education. Presently Joe is Program Manager at Boston Scientific as well as Partner JPerzel Inc. Previously he has held leadership positions at AON, Surescripts, Cargill, Thomson Reuters, MN Workers Compensation Bureau and International Multifoods.
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Joe has been speaking since 2002 on topics ranging from project leadership, management, strategy, negotiations/sales. He has presented keynotes, chapter meetings and workshops internationally to multiple corporate, government and non-profit organizations, over 20 PMI chapters, PMBA Conferences, PMI Global and Region 2, BBC (Building Business Capability) conference, International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA) chapters, local and global Society for Quality (ASQ), Project Summit*Business Analyst World (PMBA), International Project Management Assoc. (IPMA) and the PMO Impact Summit.Â
Session Abstract
Leading Strategic Initiatives: Managing Innovation Through Organizational Change
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As project professionals we continually lead strategic efforts to improve our organization’s ability to deliver our goods or services. Most of the efforts require creative innovative thinking and the ability to manage cultural change to be successful and avoid the landmines always present in our world. This presentation will combine strategic concepts around managing innovative initiatives and how to plan for and deliver culture change management. This session is designed to spur creative thinking, demonstrate strategies for success as well as techniques for providing leadership in your organization – no matter what level you are presently at in your org chart. I will present content with real-life examples and utilize interactive exercises to emphasize the key points throughout the session. Think Win-Win, not Win-Lose
Brandon Conrad
Brandon Conrad is a leader on mind mapping in project management, helping teams visualize ideas and turn complex plans into clear, actionable outcomes.
Brandon Conrad from MatchWare Inc. Brandon has a degree in Economics and Psychology from the University of Kansas. Brandon has worked for MatchWare since 2005 as a product manager. In his time there he has focused on mind mapping software and how it relates to project management. Brandon has written articles and given presentations to multiple project management groups in the US and Europe about using mind mapping in project management. His articles have been published in multiple PMI publications.
Session Abstract
Evolution of the Prehistoric Sticky Note
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Tired of sticky notes and whiteboard sessions? Mind Mapping is used in requirements gathering sessions and the construction of the WBS. Mind mapping has traditionally been presented as a tool for planning and organization, an effective way to develop, organize, and present multiple facets of the project plan. Primarily used for the construction of the WBS, advanced uses of this technique also simplify the complex process of communicating the project plan. When Mind Mapping is coupled with technology it simplifies the process and enhances communication. During this presentation, I will explain the mind mapping theory and how that theory can be applied to BAs and PMs. I will also demonstrate best practice techniques in mind mapping and how it relates to technology. Participants will learn how to simplify the project life cycle and improve communication of a project plan.