2025 ProDevDay
Event: 2025 Professional Development Day - Leadership in the Exponential Age
Date: October 24th at 7:30AM - 4PM CST
Location:
MCC South Campus
2909 Edward Babe Gomez Ave.
Omaha, NE 68107,
CENTER FOR ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
(CAM) Building, Conf. RM 102
Event Details:
Agenda
| Speaker | Speaker Bio | Talk |
|---|---|---|
|
Andy Noon, PhD |
Hi, I'm Andy Noon, PhD, and I founded Decatur Street Consulting to help make leadership a critical advantage for every organization. After 20+ years of building programs that identify, select, develop, and accelerate leadership, I've learned that the true differentiator of organizational excellence is extraordinary leadership. With the exponential age upon us, the value of extraordinary leadership will be even more evident. |
Leadership in the Exponential Age With the immense disruption facing business in the future, it will require a different type of leadership. In the session, we will discuss these new leadership characteristics and highlight ways leaders can lead their teams through these challenges. 1 PDUs |
|
Marissa Munch |
Marissa Munch is a seasoned Sr. Lead Program Manager in the Lumen transformation office with a proven track record of driving strategic initiatives and leading cross-functional teams to deliver impactful results. With 20+ years deep expertise in project & program management, focusing in the telecommunication industry, Marissa excels at navigating complex organizational landscapes, aligning business goals with execution, and fostering collaboration across departments. Her approach is grounded in clarity, accountability, and a relentless focus on outcomes. Known for her ability to lead with empathy and precision, Marissa is a trusted voice in program strategy, change management, and leadership development. She is passionate about mentoring emerging leaders and creating inclusive environments where innovation thrives. |
Human-Centered Change: Leading with ADKAR in an Exponential World When we talk about change, we often focus on systems, processes, and outcomes—but real transformation begins with people. That’s where the ADKAR model shines. ADKAR—Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement—is more than a framework; it’s a roadmap for guiding individuals through change. It helps us identify where someone is on their change journey and what support they need to move forward. Whether it’s building awareness of why change is necessary, fostering the desire to engage, equipping teams with the knowledge and ability to act, or reinforcing new behaviors to make change stick—ADKAR ensures we don’t just implement change, we embed it. Because when people change, organizations change. And that’s how we create lasting impact. PDU 1 |
|
Leslie Reimer |
Leslie Reimer is a transformation leader, executive coach, and organizational change strategist who believes the human side of change is the ultimate leadership superpower. With deep experience in technology-driven transformation and enterprise strategy, she helps organizations navigate disruption while enabling people to thrive.
As the head of Change Management at one of the nation’s largest trucking companies, Leslie has built high-performing teams, designed enterprise change strategies, and led cultural integrations across complex organizations.
Known for her ability to simplify complexity and unlock resilience in people and teams, Leslie speaks frequently on the future of work, leadership in times of uncertainty, and how embracing the human side of change can accelerate results.
|
The Human Side of Change: A Leadership Superpower In the exponential age, change is relentless—and no Gantt chart or status report can capture how people truly experience it. Projects succeed or fail not because of the plan, but because of how people adapt, engage, and move forward.
This interactive session will put you in the shoes of those experiencing change, giving you a firsthand look at the emotions, resistance, and breakthroughs that come with transition. Together, we’ll explore why the human side of change is often underestimated, and how leaders can turn it into their greatest advantage.
You’ll walk away with:
- A deeper understanding of the psychology behind change.
- Practical strategies to help people move from resistance to resilience.
- Tools to position empathy, adaptability, and communication as core leadership superpowers.
Come ready to participate, reflect, and strengthen your ability to lead people - not just projects - through what’s next.
1 PDU |
|
Phanel Petit |
Phanel Petit is a Strategic IT Portfolio Manager and Aviation Industry Expert with 15+ years of experience delivering enterprise technology solutions, optimizing operations, and leading cross-functional teams in public, private, and startup environments. His career bridges aviation operations, airport management, and enterprise IT project delivery, giving me a unique ability to integrate mission-critical operational needs with innovative technology solutions. |
Theory to Practice: Building a Generative AI Chatbot for Project Managers showing PMs, step by step, how a generative chatbot can be built in Azure AI Foundry for real project management use cases—moving beyond theory into hands-on understanding. 1 PDU |
|
Lesa Talich-Phillips |
As a Servant Leader for 20+ years, Lesa has been helping organizations transform highly complex systems by collaborating to create scalable practices for execution in creating an excellent customer experience. I am passionate about helping individuals, teams and leaders simplify their ways of working through coaching and applying proven SAFe, Lean, and DevOps principles. Making work visible, creating trust with transparency and using data to drive decisions fosters a culture of innovation and efficiency with the overall customer experience at all levels.
My collaborative efforts have enabled the scaling of agile practices across the organization, with a focus on business agility. The mentorship provided to over 800 employees in Scaled Agile trainings represents a cornerstone of my approach, ensuring that the organization is well-equipped to meet the dynamic demands of the industry and maintain its competitive edge.
|
Lunch & Learn: Agile Agility in Action An interactive session exploring agility, Lean, and SAFe practices in scaling transformation through collaboration and servant leadership. 1 PDU |
|
Jesse DePriest |
Jesse is the Co-founder and principal consultant of 5L Performance Group and a Vistage Executive Coach. He and his team work with leaders across the Midwest to improve their businesses and teams using lean leadership principles and methods. Jesse was raised in a large family on a dairy farm in Alaska where he learned the values of grit, discipline, and commitment – and importance of working as a team and learning early how to lead through productive conflict. He has over 30 years of senior leadership experience in manufacturing and banking / service industries – and multiple functional areas – Engineering, Operations, Product Management, Executive Sales and Business Development, General Management, and Continuous Improvement. He holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Science in Operations Management, an MBA, and served in the US Army for eight years as an officer and helicopter pilot. Jesse is an ODN Omaha member and has taught Operational Excellence through Metro Community College, Midland University MBA, and served as ASQ-1302 Board Chair. |
Team Alignment is Fragile – How We Might Keep It from Breaking… Team alignment - collective understanding, commitment, and coordinated action to achieve a common, shared outcome - is fragile and begins to deteriorate as soon as 'the meeting' is over. Without strong, sustained alignment our work to execute strategy, innovate, problem solve and make improvements in our enterprise is likely going to fail, become fragmented, and leave people confused, frustrated and disengaged. It does NOT have to be this way! Leaders and their teams can apply a few simple, effective techniques to ensure team-alignment for the duration of the effort and truly make a significant impact on their results. 1 PDU |
|
Adriana Valdivia
Darren Holzinger
Whitney Hansen |
Adriana Valdivia was born in Bogotá, Colombia, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Architecture. She began her career as a construction project manager, gaining valuable experience before relocating to Omaha in 2001. Adriana later completed her Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. With over 20 years of experience, Adriana has successfully led projects across the construction, architectural, service, IT, and manufacturing industries. She earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2017 and currently serves as a Project Manager at Valmont Industries. Darren Holzinger is a Program Manager with over six years of project and program management experience as well as more than a decade leading process improvement and change initiatives in healthcare and telecommunications industries. He holds a bachelor's in Business Administration and a Master's of Management with a Leadership emphasis. Darren has managed merger and acquisition projects, application development, organization-wide system upgrades, as well as broadband and infrastructure construction projects across multiple regions. He is passionate about mentoring emerging project managers and sharing practical insights on leadership and professional growth. Whitney Hansen is an Engineering Project Manager and PMO Lead at Blueprint Engines, where she keeps complex projects moving, new product launches on track, and cross-functional teams aligned. She’s a strong advocate for mentorship and leadership in project management, believing that the best way to grow as a PM is by learning and collaborating together. |
Passing the Torch: Mentorship as the Critical Path to Leadership in Project Management This session explores mentorship as a professional development strategy, blending leadership, organizational learning, and business impact. 1 PDU |
|
Chris Johnson |
Chris Johnson is the Quality Assurance Testing Coordinator for Farm Credit Services of America. |
Enterprise Quality Assurance: Scaling Quality in Agile Organizations “Good, fast, cheap, choose two!” We’ve all had the project management triangle drilled into us, practically to death. But what if we didn’t have to choose only two? Let’s take an interactive journey through shapes and real-world examples to demonstrate how a comprehensive quality strategy can save you time, sharpen your project’s scope, and reduce costs. 1 PDU |
In today’s rapidly shifting landscape, project managers are often asked to lead through ambiguity, disruption, and constant change. The PMI Heartland ProDevDay 2025 brings together professionals from across industries to explore the skills, tools, and perspectives needed to not just survive—but thrive—as leaders in uncertain times.
This immersive one-day conference will feature thought-provoking keynotes, practical sessions, and interactive discussions across three core tracks:
PM Tricks & Tips: Everyday strategies, frameworks, and leadership hacks to boost effectiveness, sharpen decision-making, and enhance team engagement under pressure.
Change Management: Approaches to navigating resistance, fostering resilience, and leading stakeholders through transformations in volatile environments.
AI in Project Management & Lean Practices: Insights into how emerging technologies and streamlined methodologies can empower project leaders to balance innovation with stability, ensuring projects stay adaptive yet grounded.
Through a blend of real-world stories, actionable tools, and collaborative learning, attendees will walk away equipped to lead with confidence, adaptability, and foresight.
Conference Objectives
By the end of PMI Pro Dev Day 2025, participants will be able to:
1. Strengthen Adaptive Leadership Skills – Develop techniques to inspire and guide teams through uncertainty while maintaining clarity and alignment.
2. Apply Innovative Tools & Practices – Leverage AI, Lean methods, and project management best practices to increase efficiency and make smarter decisions under pressure.
3. Drive Meaningful Change with Resilience – Cultivate strategies to manage transformation, reduce resistance, and maintain momentum even in volatile environments.
It is no longer possible to register for this event
