We are thrilled to announce our 2026 Annual Conference speakers!
Keynote Speaker: Sarah Parsons
Sarah Parsons, MBA, PMP, ICF-ACC, is a transformation strategist and executive coach with more than 20 years of experience leading enterprise change across global brands including Nike and adidas.
She partners with Excelerate to support complex cross-functional transformation initiatives while also leading her independent coaching and advisory practice. Sarah specializes in helping leaders bring clarity to competing priorities, align stakeholders around meaningful outcomes, and build execution systems that work in high-ambiguity environments.
Her work focuses on the critical layer “before the software” — ensuring strategy, ownership, and decision-making clarity are in place before tools and processes are introduced. She is known for translating ambiguity into structure and helping teams move from conversation to measurable progress.
Keynote Title: Leading the Response Zoo: Decoding Stakeholder Behavior in Complex Change
Summary: Stakeholder resistance is only part of the story. In complex transformations (restructures, system implementations, agile shifts) project leaders encounter a wide spectrum of behavioral responses. Some are vocal. Some are silent. Some attempt to lead the narrative. Others withdraw. Misreading these responses often creates friction, stalled momentum, and unnecessary escalation.
Building on Prosci’s foundational “Resistance Zoo,” this session expands the lens to the full Response Zoo: a practical framework for decoding stakeholder behavior and proactively leading through it.
Participants will learn how to:
- Identify dynamic response patterns early
- Differentiate influence-driven behavior from avoidance or protection
- Tailor engagement strategies by response type
- Convert high-friction stakeholders into strategic allies
Blending enterprise transformation experience with applied stakeholder strategy, this session equips project professionals with practical tools to lead human dynamics with the same rigor they apply to scope, schedule, and risk.
Speaker: Jahzeel A. Ormeno, PSPO, PMP, CPCU, MBA
Jahzeel A. Ormeno, PSPO, PMP, CPCU, MBA is a transformation leader, consultant, and problem-solver who believes business doesn’t have to be complicated to be powerful. For over 15 years, she has helped organizations turn strategy into results — aligning vision, people, and process so teams can focus on what really matters. She's led teams across the U.S., Latin America, and Europe, guiding organizations through change with structure, flexibility, and a global perspective.
Session Title: Lean-Driven Project Management: Bringing Efficiency, Value & Flow to Your Projects
Summary: This interactive workshop is designed for project managers, team leads, process improvement practitioners, and organizational change agents who want to deepen how they integrate project management frameworks with Lean thinking—creating a hybrid approach that drives speed, value, flow and stakeholder satisfaction. Participants will leave with practical tools, a mindset shift, and actionable next-steps to apply Lean principles in the context of project delivery―not just process improvement.
Speaker: Jana Hodgins
Jana Hodgins is a speaker and strategist delivering systematic alignment to drive clarity, momentum, and sustainable business outcomes. She simplifies complex challenges into actionable strategy across tech and partnerships through continuous discovery, inclusive collaboration, and hacking team dynamics with healthy relationship patterns.
Session Title: The Architecture of Collaboration: Why Your Methodology Doesn't Matter (But Your Systems Do)
Summary: We spend an inordinate amount of time debating Agile versus Waterfall, often missing the fundamental issue: neither framework solves for the human element of high-pressure delivery. When teams struggle, it is rarely because they chose the wrong project management tool. Misalignment and missed expectations are because teams lack the relational infrastructure to support it.
Drawing on leadership in strategic partnerships and product development, this talk will explore how we can treat project frameworks not as rigid doctrines, but as social systems. We will move beyond the methodology wars to discuss how to build psychological safety, establish clear boundaries between cross-functional teams, and create flow regardless of the delivery model. Attendees will learn how to diagnose the human bottlenecks in their projects and shift their focus from managing tasks to managing the connective tissue of their organization.
More Speaker Info Coming Soon!