Ambassadors

There are Ambassadors for Responsible Project Management are around the world.

José started lecturing in the Faculty of Engineering of Bilbao in 2001 and since 2009 he is the coordinator of the Engineering Projects section of the Faculty. He has been the coordinator of the Master and Doctorate programmes in Project Management. Current research is on Project Management and Sustainability.

“As an observer of the project management community I perceive that individuals require a broader vision than that normally taught in schools. Project Managers are important actors in the world and, as such, their commitment needs to be to their projects and to their impact. As a community, we have to cooperate and exchange ideas in that sense. The Responsible Project Management Manifesto provides a starting point for those experienced, and most important, for those now entering into the discipline. We are facing huge challenges and we need professionals with huge values.”

She had taken senior analyst, consultant and project manager roles in national programmes within IT, Power Generation, Management Systems Design companies. Working closely with PM professional bodies, she has been contributing as branch committee member, CDP trainer and judge. She has widely presented in conferences on Responsible PM education and Decision Making/Tradeoffs. Ramesh was the co-investigator and co-author of the book “Responsible Leadership in Projects: Insights into Ethical Decision Making” (sponsored and published by PMI).

“The World would be a much safer and nicer place to live in when it is run more ‘responsibly’ (evidences from critical projects all around us). This demands responsible professionals. Those who believe, act and react responsibly. ‘Becoming responsible’ do not happen overnight or easily. I am a firm believer that developing responsible professionals needs to start from very early days in life and should be thoroughly embedded in our education. Taking responsible actions could take extra time and efforts, demand constant tradeoffs, reflections and self-reflections, to say the least. After all, it’s worth whatever it takes!”

“Everything man made you see, is a result of a project. So everything good you see is a result of a project…as is everything bad. We live in a world of intended and unintended consequences” 

dr luca sabini, UK

Senior Lecturer at Hertfordshire University

“Passionate around the topic of ‘sustainability’ and with strong research focus on the role the Project Management profession has in developing a sustainable economy.”

Daniel Nicholls, UK

Research Manager at the Association for Project Management

Daniel currently heads up APM’s Research Programme which aims to advance the art, science, theory and practice of project management.  This includes: commissioning and developing research studies, having oversight of APM’s Research Fund, research promotion and dissemination, leading APM’s submissions and calls for evidence to government and other agencies and collaborating with other like-minded organisations to support APM’s wider influencing agenda. 

Prior to working for APM, Daniel, previously worked as a project practitioner leading projects for the University of Bedfordshire, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and GFirst – Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership.

“I have been pleased to support the RPM initiative from the outset.  We have seen from our own APM research (The Golden Thread, 2019) that there is increasing emphasis on professionalism including the skills, traits and competencies required of project professionals.  RPM creates a useful conversation and platform for us as a profession to build on these whilst exploring important issues such as sustainability, ethics, wellbeing amongst others whilst helping us to better understand how we might improve project delivery.”  

“I’ve been advocating a long-term, ‘triple bottom line’ view for project managers since the early 2000s, and have written about it in several co-authored books (Green Project Management, 2010 won PMI’s Cleland Award for Literature).  Stepping back, the reason for project managers to take that review is responsibility – expanded, considered, holistic responsibility.  So RPM is intertwined significantly with sustainability thinking.  The work RPM is doing aligns exactly with my research, my teaching, my philosophy that I’m trying to share with other project managers.  I think RPM brings this additional traction with academics and practicing project managers – and most importantly, with projects.”

“I believe that the RPM manifesto underlines the important values that all Project Managers should hold.  I also believes that in their role, Project Managers are perfectly placed to support their Clients and Project Sponsors in delivering change responsibly.”

He currently holds the chair of Project and Programme Management at LOI University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, is a visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg and a fellow at Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland. Gilbert is internationally engaged by several universities in programs on business administration, project management and information management and is a fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. He authored or edited 13 professional and academic books, published over 100 academic papers and is a frequent speaker on international conferences on project management. Gilbert is the GPM 2013 sustainability award recipient and an honorary fellow of the International Information Management Association.

Next to his academic work, Gilbert is advising organizations as part of the enable2change network of experts. His professional experience spans three decades, in which he has been responsible for numerous projects, groups and departments. Gilbert’s societal engagements include many years of board memberships in several educational and academic organizations, acting as board representative for higher education at IPMA Netherlands, several editorial roles at academic journals and serving over 25 years as reserve officer in the Dutch Army.

“The increased projectification of society calls for project managers to take responsibility for their projects and the impacts these create. Responsible Project Management is therefore the logical next step in the professionalization of project management and refers to the values project managers stand for. Responsible Project Management implies a societal perspective of construction and change projects and addresses the role of projects in the sustainable development of humanity.”

An active Project Manager and Community Volunteer for more than a decade, he has served as Committee Member & Mentor at PMO Global Alliance, Ambassador at Island Innovation, Committee Member at Chamber of Commerce, PMI Assessment Tester, Member at Red Cross, Football Liaison Manager at CONCACAF (“FIFA”), and Mentor at Big Brothers Big Sisters.  He has also participated in STEM supporting the IET’s vision to inspire young engineers across the globe.

“I combine my heart-based life lessons to overcome social, environmental and economic context that increasingly presents challenges to achieving successful project outcomes. My view is that a blend of Project Management and Technology can be fun. Therefore, sharing my resilient background with the "Responsible Project Management" will drive change across the islands, boost project management best practices, and encourage individuals for the evolution of beneficial outcomes and sustainable communities, in these sensitive times of Covid19.”  

Himanshu is Charter President of Rotary Club of Stratford and past Assistant Governor for Rotary in London. Himanshu is currently setting up a Leprosy Control Program in India which will focus on active case finding and raising awareness about Leprosy. He is founder of East London Community Heroes Awards. He is Vice Chair of Institute of Water conservation (an NGO in India) which promotes water conservation through rainwater harvesting and optimal usage and recharge of subsurface water bodies. In the near future, he hopes to set up a program to tackle the problem of homelessness in London and UK.

Additionally, he is director of outreach for Project Management Institute, UK, & Vice Chair for Newham Chamber of Commerce (fastest growing business district in UK). He is current chair of Barking & Dagenham Faith Forum. He is a trustee on Barking & Ilford United (Alms-houses) Charity (an over 300-year old charity) and Vice Chair of Governing Body of Gascoigne Primary School (Britain’s largest primary school).

“Projects in these times need to responsible, sustainable and should keep the communities they affect in centre. I am therefore excited about RPM and the manifesto and hope to be a small part of this mission.”

Emma has a particular focus on collaboration, reminding us that we should be human first and change champions second. She is involved extensively with a number of organisations; notably the Association for Project Management, Project Management Institute, AEIPRO, Project Management Without Borders, Project Managers Against Poverty, and PM4Change. Emma-Ruth organises Wellingtone’s two flagship annual events; the FuturePMO conference and Project Management Day of Service.

Magnus is a true believer of "going above and beyond" venturing as an entrepreneur by running his own consultancy firm, Societor, being a co-founder of an Online event-management firm, www.event-interactive.com, while also being a co-developer in a local company that is innovating a digital product to improve risk management in the Swedish Industrial and Construction sectors, DIRI Safety Solutions. As a member of the IPMA Project Excellence assessors’ pool, he uses the combination of a long experience in education with the assessor training to help organisations develop their projects and project capability.

“To make Responsible Project Management have a real impact in society, I firmly believe that the academic world, the world of Project Managers and the world of business must come together in conversation. To achieve true responsible projects, we must have a holistic approach and be willing to go "above and beyond", while advocating projects for the collective sustainable development of the society.”

She cooperates with Business Schools and Executive Education Centres in a number of Universities in the UK and abroad (Spain, China, UAE). Over the past 8 years she has been involved in teaching Sustainability and Social Responsibility in Business. She has introduced reflection upon ethics in all her teaching across the world.

Alicia holds a first in International Business and an MBA from the university of Manchester. She is a Senior Fellow of the Academy of Higher Education. Her passion for education led to a PGCert in Higher Education recently. As a senior business manager specialised in cross cultural projects, she worked for eight years in the energy sector in Spain, and then in strategic consulting in the UK and Brazil before setting up her own management consultancy business. She has 25+ years of experience in management consulting, advising organisations on organisational improvement through process and projects deployment.

“As project managers we influence change and therefore we influence people. As practitioners and educators, it is our responsibility to reflect and act upon the consequences that these changes bring to the environment and the society.”

He obtained his PhD in Project Management from Bournemouth University. Nanthagopan is the founder and the first coordinator of the Project Management (PM) degree programme at the Faculty of Business Studies. This PM degree programme is the pioneering undergraduate programme in Sri Lanka. 

Nanthagopan has 20 years of experience in teaching and consulting in Business and Project Management. He has served as a consultant in more than fifteen projects of national and international organisations.

“Project Management is becoming a key competency at all levels of employees and in any type of organization, therefore creating responsible project management professionals around the world will make a great contribution to the UN’s sustainable development goals. I am very pleased to be on this RPM team to achieve this higher mission”.

“Responsible Project Management, for me, is how we influence our stakeholders and sponsors to become more aware of the conservation of energy (being aware of the impact of changing from one form to another) thus balancing short and long-term gains, which should be a win for people, the planet and profit.”

Steve has a Master of Arts in Manpower specialising in the sociology and psychology of organisations, and has worked in the automotive, print aerospace, defence, insurance and I.T. industries as a project manager and consultant.

He is an internationally acknowledged expert on Earned Value Project Management. Most recently on the newly published ISO standards for EVM and WBS. Currently working on an ISO EVM Implementation Guide. He works with government, national and international bodies and academia as a subject matter expert as well as on matters of governance. Also was one of the authors of Agile Portfolios with ABC. He is Chief examiner for EVM and Planning with APMG.

Now in its 26th year, Steve curates and chairs his own highly regarded EVA conferences. Also curates the PMI UK's major Synergy event now in its 10th year. He was Chairman and led the Association for Project Management to their award of Royal Charter.

With his Guild of Educators hat on he is working with OECD and the City of London to introduce Fusion Skills internationally to children aged 7-70+ He is a visiting lecturer at Warwick WMG, Cranfield University and University College London as well as the Moscow School of Economics.

Steve is currently helping Responsible Project Management come into being as a more ethical conscientious approach to the benefits and impacts of projects. He is championing Circular Economies and Sustainability to combat Climate Change.

His life-long passion for all kinds of music is almost matched by his continued appreciation of silence.

She became an ambassador for Responsible Project Management whilst leading the Project Management Skills module, which focused on situating mostly international postgraduate students’ career development stories in aspects of project management futures through engagement with professionalism, competencies and RPM.

As an Associate Professor, Ros has championed RPM to colleagues and her students through recognised innovative approaches to learning, teaching and assessment, including tasking students to ‘take over’ workshops and to create and share digital artefacts about RPM.

Since taking voluntary redundancy from DMU in 2022, Ros is progressing her freelance work which is motivated by a passion for ‘responsibly developing confidence, capabilities & change’ in individuals and organisations.  She continues to teach project management as a part-time Teaching Associate in the Institute of Business, Industry and Leadership at the University of Cumbria in the UK.

“Have you heard about RPM,… Responsible Project Management?, I ask colleagues and my students.  Most tend to initially say ‘no’.  Since I started to work with Dr Karen Thompson in 2020, many more people from around the world now know about the RPM manifesto and how RPM interlinks with the UN Sustainability Goals. The more I can share the work of our RPM movement, the more chance that we have of collectively influencing the global project management discourse and sustainable actions of others.”

Brendan has held a range of senior academic positions at UK universities including Principal Lecturer, Field Leader and Head of Department, and he led the establishment of MSc Project Management courses to fulfil the need for project management capability and skills including at the University of East London prior to the 2012 Olympics, and in South Wales to coincide with the delivery of the Ryder Cup. 

He has been a consultant to professional bodies including the Association for Project Management as Lead Verifier for the Registered Project Professional (RPP) designation, which was the precursor to APM’s Chartered Project Professional standard, and as Chief Examiner for the inception of the Project Professional Qualification (PPQ). He is also a regular contributor to the British Computer Society’s Project Management Specialist Group (PROMS-G) as a speaker and facilitator.  

“It’s not just arachnid superheroes that must understand the great power they wield and the huge responsibility they hold in helping to deliver better project objectives, outcomes and outputs in an optimised way. Project, change and transformation specialists at all levels must appreciate the impact they have on change initiatives, on people as intended beneficiaries, and on all inhabitants of this planet.  

“It’s time to take a stand and deliver sustainable change that matters: responsibly, effectively, collaboratively. RPM can be a powerful vehicle to help make a real difference.”

Dale Foong, UK

Originally from South Africa, Dale has spent most of his career based in the UK working on major projects, programmes and portfolios across various sectors.  

Whilst continuous education is important to him having obtained his Executive MBA, he is a firm believer that variation in depth and breadth of project experience plays an important role in effective project delivery. 

He has a passion for Project Controls and PMO, and in 2019 he co-founded the Project Chatter Podcast which he hosts as a way to "pay it forward" by making insight and information from industry experts freely available to contribute to the growth of the project community. 

He is a co-founder of the Project Connect Group which aims to connect project professionals through free networking nights breaking down paywalls and providing access to all; and he is a Panelist on the Delivery Experts. 

As a leader, he places high value in good communication, empathy and providing an environment for the team to reach their full potential. The servant-leadership style is one he enjoys employing the most. 

Other than project management, he has a keen interest in rugby and most other sports. He loves anything that he can borrow from sport to improve project delivery.

“Responsible Project Management is about being accountable for what we do and the way in which we do it. It is being aware about how our actions impact those around us and the environment. Often we reduce our contribution to the tasks we perform as part of our job, however if we accept that we are part of a global ecosystem that is intertwined in multiple, complex ways then it is difficult to argue that we cannot make a difference as individuals. The multiplier effect collectively becomes extremely powerful.”

Henrik Timm, Denmark

Henrik is a Business Unit (BU) Director of Project Management and Implementation in emagine / Peak Consulting Group. He is responsible for project management as an advisor and coach. As BU Director, he helps companies with large-scale implementation projects together with his team of dedicated consultants. Furthermore, he actively follow developments and trends in project management, contributing insights and reflections to the field.

Henrik has 25+ years of experience in managing complex projects and programs in both the private and public sectors. He is skilled in project tools and frameworks, steering committees, and hybrid methodologies. Very passionate about responsible project management, integrating sustainability in projects, and fostering engagement for continuous progression.

He has MSc Organization and Sociology, and several certification in project and program management. He is a very skilled assessor in the IPMA framework and the new hybrid project management framework Half Double. 

"When I saw the RPM framework, I thought from first site that here is a framework that many project managers and companies could have benefit from. The approach and tools are easy to start using and can create a visual view and understanding of how projects can connect to the sustainability purpose in the company’s strategy.”

In addition to his academic work, Shai is a qualified project manager with various professional certifications, including Project Management Professional (PMP), Scrum Master (CSM), PRINCE2 Practitioner, Green Project Manager (GPM), and Management & Business Educator (CMBE).

Before transitioning to academia, Shai held senior project and programme management positions in various capacities across different employers in the private sector. He owned a consulting firm that assisted organisations in improving their business results by strategically planning and implementing sustainable project, programme, and portfolio management cultures, processes, tools, and techniques. His clients ranged from private start-ups to national public authorities.

Shai is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management (FAPM), the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI). He has served as a committee and board member in several organisations and NGOs, such as the Project Management Institute (PMI-IL), APM Scotland Branch, and Engineers Without Borders (EWB-IL). His passion for sustainability is reflected in his interests, which revolve around the intersection of project management and the circular economy. 

"RPM should serve as an ethical beacon in higher education. As Scotland places Net Zero at the forefront of its efforts, the path to a sustainable future unfurls. We must equip our students with the right skills to become tomorrow’s business leaders. With RPM as the driving force, we can empower project professionals to be the architects of change with a holistic perspective, making them sustainability champions within their organizations. It's not solely about project management; it's about conducting themselves with passion and a selfless commitment to the consequences of change, ensuring a lasting legacy for both society and the environment."