ProDevDay 2026 Details - Together, We Achieve M.O.R.E.

Activating Organizational Strategic Plans for all Stakeholders with Project Management

Every organization needs a solid Strategic Plan. While strategic plans are often crafted and implemented at the executive level, how are stakeholders across the organization tracking progress towards the multi-year, cross-departmental goals, objectives, and strategies? This session will review techniques organizations can leverage towards tracking their strategic plan progress and project management frameworks they can implement to empower and activate stakeholders across the organization, regardless of level.

1 PDU · Business Acumen · Code: 00655ZX4PP

ABOUT JENNIFER

Jennifer is an executive leader with over 10 years of experience architecting Business Transformation, Enterprise Digital Infrastructure, Business Process Improvement, Portfolio and Program management (PMP certified), and Learning & Development initiatives. She partners with leaders in aligning business processes to organizational strategic plans, scaling program management, and empowering executive leaders through technology-forward and human-centric approaches. Jennifer leads change management initiatives across an organization and within cross-functional teams, leveraging collaboration and data to inform impactful decision-making. She has industry experience in professional services/consulting firms and government/education agencies. Jennifer is passionate about developing and aligning people, processes and systems.

Achieving MORE with AI: From PMI-CPMAI Certification to Real Impact

Moderated by Jason Duigou

AI is no longer a future trend—it's becoming part of how projects are planned, managed, and delivered. But what does successful adoption actually look like?

Hear from a panel of PMI-CPMAI certified project professionals as they share practical lessons from the field, discuss emerging AI trends, and explore how project leaders can responsibly integrate AI into their organizations. From productivity gains and governance to change management and ethical considerations, this interactive discussion goes beyond the headlines to focus on what really matters.

Whether you're just beginning your AI journey or already experimenting with new tools, you'll gain practical insights you can immediately apply to your work and leave with a clearer vision of where project management is headed next.

1 PDU · Ways of Working · Code: 0065ABLKLH

Achieving MORE with AI: From PMI-CPMAI Certification to Real Impact

Moderated by Jason Duigou

AI is no longer a future trend—it's becoming part of how projects are planned, managed, and delivered. But what does successful adoption actually look like?

Hear from a panel of PMI-CPMAI certified project professionals as they share practical lessons from the field, discuss emerging AI trends, and explore how project leaders can responsibly integrate AI into their organizations. From productivity gains and governance to change management and ethical considerations, this interactive discussion goes beyond the headlines to focus on what really matters.

Whether you're just beginning your AI journey or already experimenting with new tools, you'll gain practical insights you can immediately apply to your work and leave with a clearer vision of where project management is headed next.

1 PDU · Ways of Working · Code: 0065ABLKLH

Achieving MORE with AI: From PMI-CPMAI Certification to Real Impact

Moderated by Jason Duigou

AI is no longer a future trend—it's becoming part of how projects are planned, managed, and delivered. But what does successful adoption actually look like?

Hear from a panel of PMI-CPMAI certified project professionals as they share practical lessons from the field, discuss emerging AI trends, and explore how project leaders can responsibly integrate AI into their organizations. From productivity gains and governance to change management and ethical considerations, this interactive discussion goes beyond the headlines to focus on what really matters.

Whether you're just beginning your AI journey or already experimenting with new tools, you'll gain practical insights you can immediately apply to your work and leave with a clearer vision of where project management is headed next.

1 PDU · Ways of Working · Code: 0065ABLKLH

How To Be A Trusted Advisor - 101 ft

The session centers around earning trust through empathy, active listening, and a client-first approach—moving beyond transactional relationships to forge lasting partnerships.

1 PDU · Power Skills · Code: 00656IJHU7

ABOUT TERESA

Teresa Conroy-Roth is a trusted advisor to executives and technology leaders, known for helping organizations strengthen leadership, build strategic relationships, and successfully navigate change. With a career spanning education, technology consulting, and executive advisory, she has a unique ability to translate complex technology and business challenges into clear, actionable strategies.

Recognized for her relationship-driven approach, Teresa focuses on helping leaders build trust, align technology with business outcomes, and lead with clarity in times of transformation.

Status to Strategy: Turning Program Management into a Decision Engine for Transformation

In today’s transformation-heavy environment, project and program management offices (PMOs) are at a critical inflection point: continue operating as status-reporting functions or evolve into strategic engines that drive clarity, capacity, and connection across the enterprise.

This session explores how to reposition program management from passive tracking to active decision enablement. Drawing from real-world transformation leadership experience across complex portfolios that have included ERP integration, AI modernization, digital commerce, and growth initiatives. This session will demonstrate how to build a decision centric governance model that accelerates execution and aligns stakeholders at every level.

Attendees will learn how to replace traditional status reporting with actionable insights, implement structured decision frameworks within executive forums, and create transparency across financials, dependencies, and ownership. The session will also address one of the most common barriers to transformation success: lack of clarity in ownership and fragmented decision-making across global and regional teams.

By integrating strategic alignment, financial visibility, and clear accountability into program management practices, leaders can unlock greater organizational capacity and foster stronger cross-functional connection.

1 PDU · Business Acumen · Code: 0065ZWKPCY

ABOUT KARA

Kara Heckaman is the Head of Strategic Program Management for North America at dormakaba, where she leads enterprise transformation initiatives focused on driving clarity, alignment, and execution across complex portfolios. With a background in enterprise PMO leadership, M&A integration, and operational transformation, Kara specializes in connecting strategy to execution through decision-driven governance and cross-functional alignment.

She has led large-scale initiatives spanning ERP transformations, digital commerce, and order automation, consistently improving visibility, accelerating decision-making, and delivering measurable business outcomes. Prior to dormakaba, Kara served as Senior Director of the Enterprise PMO at Lippert Components, where she oversaw strategic programs and transformation efforts across the aftermarket business.

Kara is passionate about elevating program management from coordination to strategic leadership, enabling organizations to achieve more clarity, capacity, and connection in today’s dynamic environment.

Respect the Spec: The Foundation Your Team Needs Before AI Can Deliver

AI-powered development tools are changing how software gets built. Agentic AI can write code, scaffold features, and accelerate delivery timelines in ways that were impossible two years ago. But there's a problem most teams haven't solved yet: business context is scattered across conversations, documents, and people's heads. That fragmentation already causes misalignment between stakeholders and development teams. Add AI agents into the mix and it gets worse, fast.

This session introduces a practical, repeatable framework for writing plain-English specifications that capture and organize business context into a single source of truth that serves human teams and AI-powered tools equally well. Drawing from 12+ years of building software products and hands-on experience integrating agentic AI into real delivery workflows, Dustin Rea shares the spec-driven approach he uses as a fractional CTO to get entire organizations aligned before a single line of code gets written.

Attendees will learn how to structure specifications that consolidate scattered business context into something detailed enough for an AI agent to execute, readable enough for any stakeholder to validate, and iterative enough to get stronger with every development cycle. The session includes real before-and-after examples showing how the same project performs when business context lives in people's heads versus a structured spec.

Whether your team is already experimenting with AI tools or just starting to explore them, you'll leave with a framework that solves the alignment problem today and makes your team AI-ready tomorrow.

1 PDU · Ways of Working · Code: 0065ZGO51O

ABOUT DUSTIN

Dustin Rea is a fractional CTO, founder coach, and builder who helps non-technical founders and product owners build software products that actually ship. With 12+ years of experience across agency, startup, and enterprise environments, he specializes in spec-driven development, translating business goals into structured technical plans before code gets written.

His practice at dustinrea.com focuses on B2B SaaS products, working with domain experts and product owners who need senior technical leadership without the overhead of a full-time hire.

Project Management Is Not Enough: Lead Change in High-Stakes Environments

Today’s project managers are expected to deliver more than timelines, budgets, and status reports. They are expected to lead change, influence stakeholders, navigate resistance, and deliver outcomes in environments filled with competing priorities, limited resources, and organizational fatigue. The reality is that many projects do not fail because of poor schedules or inadequate tools, they fail because people do not adopt the change.

This session focuses on the leadership side of project delivery and explores why technical project management skills alone are no longer enough in high-stakes environments. Attendees will learn how to lead through ambiguity, resistance, and organizational complexity while still delivering results.

Drawing on real-world experience across government, healthcare, and technology projects, this session will introduce practical strategies that project managers can immediately apply, including how to build stakeholder alignment, how to influence without formal authority, and how to integrate change management into everyday project delivery, not as a separate activity, but as part of how projects are led.

Participants will walk away with a clearer understanding of their role not just as project managers, but as change leaders who create clarity, build capacity in their teams, and strengthen connection across stakeholders. This session aligns with the theme “Together We Achieve M.O.R.E.” by demonstrating how successful project delivery is not just about process, it is about people, leadership, and the ability to move organizations forward together.

1 PDU · Power Skills · Code: 0065P2M2VR

ABOUT INDIA

India Brown, MBA, PMP, is the CEO of PMPHASE, a project and change management consulting firm that helps organizations successfully deliver complex initiatives and organizational transformations. With more than 30 years of experience across government, healthcare, and technology environments, she specializes in project delivery, change management, PMO development, and leadership training. India has led large-scale system implementations, organizational transformations, and strategic initiatives, and has trained thousands of professionals in project management and leadership practices. She is passionate about helping project managers grow into confident leaders who deliver results and drive meaningful change within their organizations.

From Chaos to Clarity: How to Align Teams and Execute What Matters Most

Many organizations don’t struggle with planning—they struggle with execution.

Despite having defined priorities, active projects, and capable teams, work often becomes fragmented, priorities compete, and leaders lack clear visibility into progress and risk. Project managers are often asked to deliver results while navigating shifting priorities and competing demands—and somewhere in the mix, the front line is left behind.

This session explores a practical approach to closing the gap between planning and execution by creating visibility, alignment, and daily accountability across teams.

Attendees will learn how improving visibility creates MORE clarity through better understanding of priorities, progress, and risk. We will explore how stronger alignment enables MORE capacity by reducing competing work, improving focus, and supporting more effective delivery. Finally, we will highlight how consistent, team-level accountability fosters MORE connection, ensuring frontline teams are engaged, informed, and actively contributing to outcomes.

Rather than introducing new tools or adding complexity, this session focuses on how to create a system that enables execution—helping project professionals move beyond tracking work to ensuring it gets done.

Participants will leave with a practical framework they can apply immediately to improve execution, increase alignment, and deliver more consistent results.

1 PDU · Ways of Working · Code: 0065XOQGDH

ABOUT MARK RYAN & TOM WEST

Mark Ryan and Tom West are leaders in continuous improvement and co-founders of The Green Dot Group, where they help organizations move from chaos to clarity through practical, system-based approaches. With deep experience in organizational transformation, they have supported teams across healthcare, manufacturing, and service industries. Their work focuses on making priorities visible, aligning teams, and creating structures that enable consistent execution. Known for their engaging and relatable style, Mark and Tom partner with teams to build confidence in their ideas, coach structured experimentation, and accelerate learning to drive meaningful progress toward organizational goals.

From Chaos to Clarity: How to Align Teams and Execute What Matters Most

Many organizations don’t struggle with planning—they struggle with execution.

Despite having defined priorities, active projects, and capable teams, work often becomes fragmented, priorities compete, and leaders lack clear visibility into progress and risk. Project managers are often asked to deliver results while navigating shifting priorities and competing demands—and somewhere in the mix, the front line is left behind.

This session explores a practical approach to closing the gap between planning and execution by creating visibility, alignment, and daily accountability across teams.

Attendees will learn how improving visibility creates MORE clarity through better understanding of priorities, progress, and risk. We will explore how stronger alignment enables MORE capacity by reducing competing work, improving focus, and supporting more effective delivery. Finally, we will highlight how consistent, team-level accountability fosters MORE connection, ensuring frontline teams are engaged, informed, and actively contributing to outcomes.

Rather than introducing new tools or adding complexity, this session focuses on how to create a system that enables execution—helping project professionals move beyond tracking work to ensuring it gets done.

Participants will leave with a practical framework they can apply immediately to improve execution, increase alignment, and deliver more consistent results.

1 PDU · Ways of Working · Code: 0065XOQGDH

ABOUT MARK RYAN & TOM WEST

Mark Ryan and Tom West are leaders in continuous improvement and co-founders of The Green Dot Group, where they help organizations move from chaos to clarity through practical, system-based approaches. With deep experience in organizational transformation, they have supported teams across healthcare, manufacturing, and service industries. Their work focuses on making priorities visible, aligning teams, and creating structures that enable consistent execution. Known for their engaging and relatable style, Mark and Tom partner with teams to build confidence in their ideas, coach structured experimentation, and accelerate learning to drive meaningful progress toward organizational goals.

From Silos to Systems: Leading Product and Project Delivery in the Age of AI

Why does the discourse on AI focus disproportionately on personal productivity when the possibilities are so much better than answering a few emails faster? It's time for us to confidently lead the development of AI products that ethically accomplish astonishing things. Let's talk about how.

1 PDU · Business Acumen · Code: 0065DQS62L

ABOUT CHRIS

Since 2024 I have spoken to dozens of PMI and IIBA chapters, provided conference keynotes, and am now a PMI Global Training provider with a course in Leading AI-Enabled Product Development. I also speak at local tech & entrepreneurship meetups, civic groups, and church groups.

From Conversations to Completion: Using Emotional Intelligence to Strengthen Clarity, Ownership, and Follow-Through

Most project delays don’t come from a lack of skill—they come from conversations that never created true clarity, ownership, or follow-through.

In today’s fast-paced environments, project professionals must navigate competing priorities, multiple stakeholders, and constant change. While technical skills may initiate projects, it is emotional intelligence and communication that determine whether work progresses efficiently or stalls.

This session explores how emotional intelligence shows up in everyday project conversations and how to use it to create clarity, strengthen accountability, and improve follow-through across teams.

Using elements of the SHOW UPP™ framework, participants will gain practical strategies and language they can immediately apply to clarify expectations, navigate difficult or unclear conversations, and strengthen ownership without overextending themselves.

Attendees will leave with tools they can use right away to reduce rework, improve collaboration, and move projects forward with greater confidence and consistency.

This content can also be adapted for a keynote format to engage a broader audience while reinforcing the importance of clarity, communication, and accountability in driving project success.

1 PDU · Power Skills · Code: 0065WJZQZ3

ABOUT SONAL

Sonal Sheth Zawahri is a speaker, trainer, and emotional intelligence strategist who helps organizations strengthen how their leaders and teams communicate, collaborate, and follow through. Her work focuses on solving the challenges that slow teams down—unclear expectations, miscommunication, and gaps in ownership—so work moves forward with greater clarity and consistency.

She began her speaking career with the Project Management Institute and has delivered sessions for PMI audiences including PMICIC and PMI Chicagoland. Sonal has also partnered with organizations such as Roche, YMCA of Central Indiana, and LeaderFlow, delivering practical, high-impact programs that improve team performance and execution.

Through her SHOW UPP™ framework, she equips professionals with tools they can immediately apply to turn conversations into action and drive results.

Why PMOs Fail at Strategy Execution — and How to Fix It

Many organizations invest heavily in project management offices (PMOs) to improve delivery, yet they still struggle to execute strategy effectively. Projects move forward, teams stay busy, and status reports are produced, but leadership often finds that the project portfolio does not meaningfully advance the organization’s most important priorities.

This challenge is rarely caused by poor project management. More often, it results from a structural disconnect between strategy, governance, and execution.

This session explores why PMOs frequently struggle to translate strategic priorities into a focused and effective project portfolio. Using a practical model built around three organizational layers—Direction, Design, and Delivery—participants will learn how misalignment between strategic intent, organizational structures, and project execution systems creates friction that weakens strategy execution.

Direction represents the organization’s strategic priorities and leadership intent. Design reflects the governance structures, portfolio processes, and operating models meant to support those priorities. Delivery is the portfolio of projects and initiatives intended to execute them. When these layers are not aligned, PMOs often inherit portfolios that are fragmented, reactive, or disconnected from strategy.

This session will introduce practical ways PMOs can strengthen alignment across these layers, improve portfolio governance, and ensure that projects are clearly tied to organizational priorities.

Attendees will leave with actionable insights for improving portfolio decision-making, strengthening the strategic role of the PMO, and creating a clearer connection between strategy and project delivery.

1 PDU · Business Acumen · Code: 0065YCAFNR

ABOUT JUSTIN

Justin Honeycutt, PMP, is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Cornerstone Capability Consultants, where he advises organizations on improving strategy execution, portfolio governance, and operational alignment. He previously served as Global Director of IT Business Management at Cook Medical, where he led initiatives to strengthen portfolio management, operational governance, and enterprise delivery capabilities across global IT teams.

Justin also served in leadership roles with the State of Indiana, including OCIO and PMO Director, where he helped establish and mature project portfolio management practices across state agencies.

With more than 15 years of experience leading complex organizational and technology initiatives, Justin focuses on helping leaders and PMOs better connect strategy, governance, and delivery to improve outcomes and drive meaningful organizational impact.

AI That Doesn’t Change Requirements at 4pm Friday (Unlike Some People We Know)

We’ve all been there — the project is on track, the team is aligned, and then Friday afternoon hits. Sound familiar? What if AI could be the most reliable member of your project team?

In this session, we’ll cut through the hype and get practical. You’ll walk away knowing exactly how AI fits into your day-to-day PM workflow — from planning and scheduling to risk management and stakeholder reporting. No PhD required. No vendor pitch. Just real tools, real examples, and a few laughs along the way.

1 PDU · Ways of Working · Code: 0065IAYJOT

ABOUT GAURAV

Gaurav Wason, PMP is a project management veteran with 25 years of experience helping organizations actually deliver — not just plan. As CEO of Project Made Easy, he specializes in Microsoft project management platforms, AI-powered PPM solutions, and making technology work for real teams with real deadlines.

A sought-after speaker and trainer, Gaurav has a gift for turning complex concepts into practical takeaways — with enough humor to keep you awake after lunch. When not untangling project chaos, he is passionate about helping PMs work smarter, lead better, and yes — finally stop getting scope changes at 4pm Friday.

Strategic Communications for Project Success

The success of a project does not happen at completion. It happens long before or when the work is understood, trusted and adopted. One of the most effective ways to gain support – and enthusiasm – for a project is through strategic communications, public relations and crisis preparedness.

This session will explore and uncover how professionals in project management can move beyond managing tasks and timelines to delivering real organizational value for stakeholders. Attendees will learn how communication planning helps align expectations, surface risks early and prepares teams to navigate uncertainty, change and crises that will inevitably arise.

Grounded in the PMI Triangle, the discussion emphasizes essential power skills including communication, empathy, collaborative leadership and adaptability to strengthen stakeholder engagement and guide teams through change.

Attendees will gain practical strategies to ensure the value of a project is fully recognized, not just completed, making a project successful from start to finish.

1 PDU · Power Skills · Code: 0065M0NQWZ

ABOUT DEANA

Under Deana’s skilled leadership, Hirons is one of the largest advertising, public relations and digital agencies in Indiana.

Deana is best known for her work in crisis communications and issues management and routinely volunteers her time to train on these topics. Deana was a member of IBJ Media’s 2024 and 2025 Indiana 250 lists.

Deana chairs the Great Lakes WBC’s Indiana Advisory Council and the Central Indiana Women's Forum and is an active member of the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Indianapolis chapter. She received the Excellence in Engagement Award at the 2025 Great Lakes WBC Women’s Business Conference.

Deana serves on the board of the Crossroads of America Council Foundation, Indiana Conference for Women, Indiana Business Research Center, Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Indy Chamber, Central Indiana Women’s Business Center, Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, Madam Walker Legacy Center, OneZone Chamber of Commerce and Aspire Economic Development + Chamber Alliance.