News Release

For Immediate Use

PMI New Zealand Announces 2011 Project Management Award Winners

Recipients honoured last night as part of 17th Annual National Project Management Conference

Auckland, New Zealand – July 7, 2011 – The New Zealand Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMINZ) last night announced the winners of its third annual Project Management Awards. The presentation occurred during a gala dinner at the 17th Annual National Project Management Conference, at the Langham Hotel in Auckland.

Winners of the six awards are:

• Project Manager of the Year – Rob Franklin of Lexel Project Services. Franklin was awarded for his depth of professionalism, high level of technical skills and the seamless execution of his duties as a project manager on a complex project. In addition, the judges were impressed with Franklin’s leadership capabilities.

• Project of the Year – Project Century, completed by Beca, led by project manager in charge Sue Bradley. This project was selected as project of the year because of the consistent application of best-practice professional project management by the entire project team. The judges were particularly impressed with the way the team responded to challenges throughout the project and applied knowledge from lessons learned not only to this project, but to ensure success of future projects.

• Research Achievement Award – Dr Kamrul Ashan of Auckland University of Technology, for complex research based on empirical analysis taken from a great number of projects across many different industries. PMINZ recognises that the findings from this research will benefit the international development of individual project management professionals, organisations and the profession’s body of knowledge.

• Emerging Project Manager of the Year – Alice Greer of New Zealand Customs Service. Greer was awarded for her commitment to professional development and consistent application of best practice, including her well- developed ‘soft’ project management skills.

• Public Sector Project of the Year – Aotea Square Redevelopment, completed by Auckland Council, led by project manager in charge Richard Cole. This project was awarded for excellent management of technical, physical and political components to deliver a successful project for the wider Auckland community.

• Outstanding Volunteer of the Year – Jerry Ball. Ball is a Fellow of PMINZ and has been acknowledged for his energy and commitment to the chapter. He has been appointed Director at Large for the chapter, a position which was created for him due to his wish to volunteer at both strategic and operational levels for the chapter. In completing his volunteering activities Ball not only shares his knowledge and wisdom of the project management profession with others, but also acts as a mentor.

Mark A. Langley, PMI President and CEO, who is in Auckland for the event, said the awards recognise outstanding achievements in the project management profession in New Zealand.

“The awards celebrate New Zealand project managers and researchers for their efforts in using professional project management to drive business results,” he said. “Recognising the success of our members helps foster the project management profession and the career development of the individual winners. Their organisations also benefit from increased project successes by being able to strategically link business objectives and project management principles, which ultimately influences the bottom line.”

Sean Whitaker, PMINZ president, says professional project management can mean the difference between success and failure of key business initiatives.

“Strong project management can mitigate risk, a critical consideration whether you’re a private organisation going through business change or part of government delivering new services to constituents,” he says. “The list of public sector recipients, such as Auckland Council and New Zealand Customs Service, proves the New Zealand government is ahead of the curve when identifying the benefits of project management in enhancing and improving organisational performance.”

PMINZ’s three-day annual conference concludes today. It was attended by more than 250 delegates from New Zealand’s leading organisations, including Fonterra, Datacom, IAG, Kordia, Auckland and Wellington Councils and Telecom New Zealand.

Previous award winners include the New Zealand Customs Service SmartGate project, Byron Ruff of Wellington City Council; Della Cole of Livestock Improvement and Dr Dirk Pons, Professor John Raine and Volker Wochele of the University of Canterbury.

About Project Management Institute (PMI)

PMI is the world’s largest project management member association, representing more than half a million practitioners in more than 185 countries. As a global thought leader and knowledge resource, PMI advances the profession through its global standards and credentials, collaborative chapters and virtual communities and academic research. When organizations invest in project management, supported by PMI, executives have confidence their important initiatives deliver expected results, greater business value and competitive advantage. Learn more at www.pmi.org.

ENDS

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