Below are some of our talented PMI Portland Chapter volunteers. We'd love to feature you on this page! If you are interested in joining this illustrious group, growing your skills and your network, see the Volunteer Opportunities web page.
Kierra Young, Assistant Director of Jobs Program
Chris Champion, PMP, Director of Military Liaison
Chris is a recently separated Air Force pilot and newly PMP-certified project manager with over a decade of leadership experience in high-stakes military operations, compliance oversight, and strategic program management. He graduated from the US Air Force Academy with a Bachelor’s of Science in Military History, and is currently grabbing an MBA from Oklahoma State before figuring out what he wants to do when he grows up.
Joseph Tucker, Director of Technology
Joseph Tucker thrives at the intersection of creativity, technology, and leadership. With a background spanning healthcare, digital publishing, broadcast and streaming radio, and social media, he brings cross-industry experience and global perspective—having led teams across four U.S. states and three continents.
An entrepreneur at heart, Joseph built a million-user craft beer platform and successfully exited to a Fortune 500 company. His journey has taken him through nearly every seat on a tech team: UX/design, architecture, engineering, marketing, product, program, project management—even executive leadership.
He’s a published author, has completed marathons and triathlons, is a dog dad, and Oregon park saunterer. He’s passionate about mentoring, community service, and spending quality time as a husband and father. He's lived in California, Texas, Germany, and Oregon.
Current obsessions: leading AI-assisted development teams, perfecting homemade pizza, and learning every native tree in his corner of the Pacific Northwest.
Simar Waraich, Director of Academic Outreach
PJ Duckhorn, Assistant VP or Governance
Stephanie Stach, PMP,Assistant Director of Workshops
Stephanie Stach, PMP®, is a project manager excited to contribute to the PMI community and grow alongside its members.
Stephanie is driven by finding and sharing efficient ways of working and helping others improve their processes.
Currently, Stephanie works at Trimble, a global technology company where she leads a variety of projects, from data migration and software implementations for construction industry clients, to projects that enable the Professional Services department. Before Trimble, Stephanie managed projects ranging from the launch of a SaaS e-commerce platform for events to automating critical communications containing PII for clients in sectors like medical, financial, and utilities.
Stephanie is a lifelong learner and experience seeker, driven by curiosity and a desire to inspire others. She enjoys everything from running and gardening to organizing events and exploring new places, books, classes, and podcasts. Connecting with friends, often over coffee or a good beer, is a favorite pastime, as is time spent with her husband and two sweet dogs.
She's looking forward to making a meaningful impact while connecting with the PMI community.
Heather Wiscarson, PMP, PMI-RMP, Professional Developement Volunteer
Loie VanDenBergh, CAPM, Director of Newsletter
Emma Reuling, CAPM, Director of Analytics
Emma is a project management professional with expertise in stakeholder engagement, process optimization, and change management. She has led diverse projects across multiple industries, driving efficiency, improving retention, and enhancing client experiences. Passionate about relationship building, she believes strong connections are the foundation of both successful projects and meaningful collaboration.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Health Studies from Lewis & Clark College and holds a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification, along with the Google Project Management Certificate. As the Director of Marketing Analytics for PMI Portland, she leverages her expertise in data-driven decision-making and strategic planning to enhance member engagement and support key initiatives.
Outside of work, Emma enjoys cooking and baking, listening to audiobooks, paddleboarding, and exploring new restaurants.
David Edwards, PMP, Assistant VP of Finance
David Michael Edwards B.S., MBA, P.M.P. is a flexible, quality, and value driven servant leader with over twenty (20) years of experience is very large Fortune categorized and ranked organizations including Oregon Health and Science University (O.H.S.U.), Providence Medical System, The INTEL Corporation, and Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation. He thrives in metrics driven environments by effectively responding to perpetual changes and sustains constant Continuous Process Improvement (C.P.I.) by efficiently working with and effectively and efficiently communicating with vast cross-functional teams and stakeholders. Quality Control (Q.C.) and Quality Assurance (Q.A.) through C.P.I. is a habitual habit for David.
David is a long-time Portland, Oregon resident. Growing up and in Lake Oswego and developing in through the K-12 Outstanding school district. He earned a B.S. in Microbiology with a minor in Quantitative Chemistry from Oregon State University (O.S.U.). Immediately after college David pursued his childhood dream of being a United Airlines Boeing 747-400 Captain by attending professional pilot school at the nationally recognized Westwind School of Aeronautics, located in Phoenix, Arizona. He earned his instrument rating and completing his commercial pilot training. The terrorist events of 9-11-2001 immediately bankrupted the entire airline industry.
David pivoted to his college degree in Microbiology and started a lengthy and highly productive career in academic scientific research primarily at Oregon Health Science University (O.H.S.U.), with a two-year stint at Providence Cancer Center. His research focus was on immunology in the fields of autoimmunity, cancer, and virology resulting in several high-impact peer-reviewed scientific publications being publicly published. Moreover, his insightful work was pivotal in acquiring large National Institute of Health (N.I.H.) competitive grants being awarded.
David earned his Master in Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree with a High-Honors Distinction for a cumulative GPA of 3.934. During the COVID-19 pandemic David worked as a Manufacturing Technician at The INTEL Corporation learning the processes and culture of a Fortune company in 2020.
Next, David moved into Complex Oncology clinical trial operations in independently monitoring as a Clinical Research Associate (C.R.A.) at a Fortune 97 company, Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation.
David has always enjoyed contributing research, teams, and Project Management. The development, dynamics, and evolution of projects are very exciting and interesting to David. Moreover, David thrives in metrics driven environments and cultures where both servant leadership and ownership is acceptable, welcomed, embraced, and promoted.
In his spare time David greatly enjoys spending time with his family, pets, enjoys traveling, watching sports, and various hobbies.
David lives with his family in Vancouver, Washington (U.S.A.).
Tommy Gill, PMP, Director of Corporate Outreach
Tommy has over 20 years’ experience at all levels of project management, building a career characterized by continuous progression, personal development, and mentorship. Starting as a Project Engineer, he developed his skills through formal Project Management training and eventually rose to lead and mentor a team of Project Managers as the Head of a regional PMO within a large multinational manufacturing organization.
With a strong people first approach, Tommy’s passion lies with Change Management and leading individuals with diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences through transformative changes.
Tommy moved to Portland 2 years ago and recently joined and volunteered for the PMI Portland Chapter. Outside of his professional endeavors, Tommy enjoys running and hiking, accompanied by his wife, Sinead.
Kara Sanders, PMP, Director of Association Outreach
Claire Varty, CAPM, Director of Content Strategy
Claire Varty is a Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM®) with a rich background in digital marketing, resource management, and stakeholder engagement. Claire brings over three years of marketing agency experience, where she coordinated projects for high-profile clients such as H&M, Power Footwear, New York Wine & Grape Foundation, and RGA Canada. Claire recently moved to Portland from Toronto, Canada, and is excited to immerse herself in the local project management community. She holds an Honours BA in Sociology, Equity Studies, and Writing from the University of Toronto, along with a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Relationship Marketing.
Outside the corporate realm, Claire's diverse interests and passions further enrich her professional life. With 14 years of ballet dancing, a love for home cooking, and a creative knack for sewing, she embodies discipline, creativity, and a commitment to continuous learning. Her curiosity is also reflected in her engagement with thought-provoking podcasts and articles, driving her introspection on societal norms, technology, and human connections.
With a professional philosophy centered on marketing with heart and soul, Claire believes in the importance of genuine customer respect and putting customers at the core of every decision. She is eager to connect with fellow professionals to discuss marketing strategies, project management insights, and share musings from the latest podcast episodes. Claire looks forward to exploring new horizons in the marketing landscape and engaging with the vibrant PMI Portland community.
Esha Srivastava, PMP, Director of Workshops
Esha Srivastava is a certified Project Management Professional(PMP®) with years of experience in Project and Program Management. She is a BTech. in Electronics and Communications and an MS. in Telecommunication & Network Engineering, with specialisation in Wireless Communications. She worked in many engineering roles in Ericsson and Intel, before she became an Engineering Program Manager, also at Intel. She is passionate about process improvement and Program Management in technical areas. Although she has been volunteering with many schools and non-profit organisations, this is her first volunteer role with PMI.
Esha is committed to continual growth, eagerly embracing challenges and expanding her knowledge on a daily basis.
In her leisure time, Esha loves to be with her husband and two young kids. Her hobbies include hiking in nature, listening to audiobooks/podcasts, gardening and traveling to new places. She is excited to be on the volunteer team in PMI Portland Chapter, as this will give her many chances to give back to her community and to expand her network.
Jodi Martel, PMP, Director of Sponsorship Marketing Development
Richard Zernickow, PMP, Director of Mentoring
Richard Zernickow has been a PMI Portland chapter member since 2017 and is an alumni of the mentorship program. He holds degrees in biomedical engineering, received his PMP certification in 2015, and has experience leading teams in various industries. Richard currently works at S2insight, providing product development consulting and project management training to medical device and life sciences companies. In his free time, he gets outdoors and enjoys running, biking, and paddling around the Pacific Northwest.
Isabella Baldez, Assistant Director of Technology
Paula (PJ) Duckhorn, Director of Annual Conference Registration
Jennifer Ellis, CAPM, Director of Annual Conference Finance
Jennifer comes to us with a variety experiences in management, project management and coordination, as well as practice management in a health care setting. She has a BS in chemistry, a MS in Bioresource engineering and is a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM).
In her spare time Jennifer enjoys baking, backyard bird watching, reading, and live performing art shows (theater, dance, story telling, etc). She can often be found planning an outing with friends or family and enjoys walking in her neighborhood and the occasional hike or bike ride. She lives with her husband and two teenage sons.
Paul Bunn, PMP, Director of Annual Conference Operations
Billy Shanks, CAPM, Director of Annual Conference
Elizabeth Reed, Director of Annual Conference Speakers
Naznin Akter, PMP, Assistant VP of Marketing Communications
Naznin Akter is a highly accomplished professional with a strong background in Electrical Engineering and Project Management. She holds a Ph.D. and MS degree in Electrical Engineering from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Florida International University. She is currently working as a TD Module and Integration Yield Engineer for Intel Corporation.
Naznin's commitment to professional development led her to obtain the Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI). Leveraging her engineering background, she seamlessly combines her technical prowess with her passion for project management. With over 3.5 years of experience in project management, Naznin firmly believes that engineers can excel as project managers and effectively bridge the gap between technical teams and project stakeholders. In her quest for continuous growth, Naznin has actively contributed to the South Florida PMI chapter as a Marketing Content Developer during her two years (2020-2021) of volunteer experience. Currently, she holds the esteemed position of Assistant VP of Marketing Communications in the Portland PMI Chapter. Through these roles, she has honed her communication and leadership skills, effectively drove marketing initiatives, and fostered strong professional relationships. Furthermore, Naznin's leadership abilities extend beyond PMI chapters. Within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), she holds multiple leadership positions. Her dedication to serving the engineering community and driving innovation has been widely recognized.
Naznin aspires to consistently push outside her comfort zone, embrace new challenges, and learn something new every day. She believes that by continuously improving her leadership and management skills, she can deliver exceptional results and inspire her teams to reach new heights.