One-on-One with Ken Loewen from Our Silver Sponsor, Advisicon

PMI Portland’s sponsors are important community partners. Each sponsor has a unique role to play in Portland’s growing project management ecosystem. PMI Portland is pleased to highlight our sponsors’ contributions to our organization.

By Kerry K. Sharp

Question: Tell us about your organization.

Ken Lowen: Advisicon is an end-to-end project consultancy, founded about 25 years ago in Portland, OR, and still based here. Our founder, Tim Runcie, is still serving as the president of Advisicon. We help organizations optimize their processes in project management through a combination of training consulting and technology deployment.

Question: What makes your organization unique?

Ken: I think one of the things that really tends to make Advision unique is our deep emphasis on the craft of project management. Many organizations, I think every organization, does project management. They may not necessarily call it project management and respect it as project management, but, they are focused on the dictionary definition the we in PMI understand it as project management, the application of inputs, tools, and techniques to result in outputs in a temporary timeframe. So, helping an organization get good at that is really important. We do that through a methodology which respects that you have to have that combination of sustainable results and the constative training.

Question: You have been a sponsor for a while. Thank you! I’ve seen you at the Chapter meetings. How long have you been a sponsor?

Ken: I know for a fact this is a second consecutive year. I know, before that, that we have provided trainers and speakers at various events.

Question: What made Advisicon take that step to become a sponsor?

Ken: A big part of it was the targeted role at the annual conference.

Question: How has being a sponsor enriched your organization?

Ken: I think that we have really enjoyed the opportunity to have a visible presence at the annual conference, maybe a storefront (as much as anything) where we can interact with the conference attendees and learn more about what their situations, opportunities, and needs are with regard to improving our craft of project management.

Question: Why would you suggest to another organization that they become a sponsor?

Ken: Well, I think that organizations that recognize the value that PMI offers to their project managers and, in turn, those project managers strengthen their own organizations. Those project managers offer value to their companies and to the community.

Question: I noticed that you have been walking around talking to some of the other vendors. Does it give you an opportunity to build vendor relationships and maybe build some partnerships?

Ken: We definitely value our partnerships with many of the other vendors, some who are sponsors and many who are not. As a key element of what Advisicon is, we are a training organization. So, partnering with educational institutions is a very natural fit for us. We work as either as subject matter experts for them in project management-related training or in technology deployments. We also benefit from collaborating to leverage their facilities to deliver material to their student body.

About the Author

Kerry K. Sharp, CAPM

Kerry has a background in IT and software testing. She is an experienced software testing manager, document manager, and technical editor/writer. Kerry holds a B.A. in Digital Technical and Culture from Washington State University Vancouver and a B.A. in Humanities from Marylhurst University. She achieved a CAPM in August 2016. Her passions include baking, cooking, technical writing, process development/improvement, and spending time with her teenage nieces.