Brendan grew up in Arizona, he graduated from Collins College in Tempe with a BA in Film and HDTV, after which he had an existing 15-year journey as a producer- shooting, producing and delivering films and content. His interest in Project Management was kindled during a lunch and learn session about PMO’s and how the PMO’s work – he was intrigued and spoke with the VP of PMO who said start here , and gave him a book - “Effective Project Management" by Robert Wysocki, , he really liked the book and the Project Management space and got his PMP a year later. He accepted his first job as a marketing project manager with a construction company where he manages multiple projects, within the marketing department of about ~18+ people. His work involves managing projects for marketing of various construction equipment and other materials. He is now expanding in process and workflow streamlining with the senior executives like CEO, COO within his organization.
When asked about challenges he faced when he moved into the PM role – he says the key challenges were about getting into the field and learning the lingo which team members speak (what we called the PM Jargon!) which he found quite new and challenging as his professional background had been mainly in film and content production till now, but once he learned the vocabulary it became so much easier to connect and march ahead in the existing realm of Project Management.
He really enjoys solving problems using processes and workflows. He loves creating solutions to problems, like simplification of a complex task and process or improving the efficiency of repetitive processes in a team’s day to day work.
He became a PMI Phoenix chapter volunteer during summer of 2023 , as he was seeking avenues to learn and experience new professional connections and was looking for networking opportunities , so he decided to apply and got the volunteer role in the marketing team , he got through the interview process with Cynthia Ford , who helped him explain the exciting opportunity and volunteer position . His key volunteer assignment was to organize the 45th anniversary celebration, which he projects managed – including aspects like the organization of the event, staffing and marketing amongst other activities. He loved the connection, experience, and camaraderie which came from managing the big event. It was a successful event, and everyone had a blast. As he was managing that project, he was connected with Danielle Lee, the marketing board member, who was looking for some help on her team – and he eventually ended up getting the role of Marketing Director in Danielle’s team.
His advice to new members is that volunteering is a great opportunity to learn other disciplines and aspects within Project Management, you can dip your toes in marketing, events, social good, accounting and will provide you flavor of each of these aspects. PMI is always looks for great people to volunteer! but also about finance, marketing, organization, event management and will provide you flavor of each of these aspects.
On the personal front, he has a fiancé, 4 dogs, and 2 birds! He also loves playing ice hockey - He says “Yes! there is hockey in the desert.”
