Welcome New Volunteers
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.
Lorraine Gleeson, Director of Events
Kate Kruszynski, Assistant Director of Events
Kate has been in the commercial Interior Architecture industry for over 13 years, and in that time she has developed a robust and diverse portfolio. Her attention is currently directed on higher education projects across the region. Kate's desire to dig further into the business side of the industry led to the exploration of PMI and the PMP. She has discovered a new passion in learning about various project management methodologies, including Agile, to more productively and efficiently approach the life cycles of projects. The potential to inspire team members through a trackable framework instilled an “Aha!” moment in her career and an excitement to support PMI and other local PM groups.
In her spare time she enjoys traveling to new countries, playing tennis, and always working on learning foreign languages.
Arlene Coleman, PMI-ACP, Director of Speaker Acquisition
Arlene Coleman, Director of Speak Acquisition, PMI-ACP, SSM, ICP-BAF, LSS Greenbelt, has been engaged in all aspects in planning and delivering strategic projects across the US and internationally for over 20 years. She started her career in business and system internal controls and accounting with an endless curiosity to learn how processes, people and efficient solutions contribute to a successful and reliable bottom line. She has served as a Project Manager, Product Owner, Business Analyst, and Consultant working with executives, developers, field operations and end users to connect the dots together for improved results.
Debbie Flinders, Assistant Director of Speaker Acquisition
Jason Pompel, PMP, Web Admin 2
Liz Lockhart Asst. VP of Outreach
Liz is an Agile Leader and Project Manager, with experience in service operations, Agile PMO design, organizational development and change management. Liz believes in bringing your whole self to work and focusing on servant leadership to facilitate positive team outcomes. Liz finds joy in unlocking the future potential of others through learning and development. She loves learning new methodologies and seeing how similar techniques are applied across various industries. On most Saturdays, Liz can be found floating the river on a warm Portland day or taking the MAX over to the Oregon Zoo to say "hi" to the sea otters.
Lily Fitzpatrick, Assistant Director of Tech Support
Trisha Bennett, PMP, Assistant VP of Professional Development
Trisha is an experienced consultant who is skilled at building structure and organizing teams around a common purpose or goal as well as helping clients to identify a clear path forward in ambiguous situations. In addition to her ability to communicate at multiple levels, Trisha enjoys providing support, coaching and developing individuals through change; she also thrives in facilitating leaders through the decision-making process. With over 10 years experience, Trisha's area of expertise is program and project management. She also has 11+ years experience working with companies in the healthcare industry as well as additional experience spanning multiple industries including insurance, retail, and education. While trained in Lean and Six Sigma methodologies, Trisha also has experience in SDLC, Agile, and Waterfall methodologies. She holds B.A. in supply chain logistics and business management from Portland State University and is a certified Project Management Professional.
Sireesha Akula, PMP, VP of Professional Development
Sireesha (Siri) Akula is currently an Engineering Manager at Intel Corporation leading a team of hand selected rock star engineers to bring flagship Ethernet products to market. She is an accomplished grateful leader in validation and customer management with 14+ years of industry experience backed by a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and PMP certification.
Siri regularly applies engineering principles for problem-solving, process design and optimization in all projects and teams. Leads with truth and transparency advocating for grateful and inclusive culture to build trust and form effective teams in the organization. Uses project management fundamentals to lead teams on complex projects to meet project goals and flex with rapidly changing environments.
Her leadership and service spans multiple non-profit organizations including the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Speakeasy Toastmasters, Beaverton School District and Washington County Community Gardens. She is very involved with SWE and served on almost all the board positions and was Past President of Columbia River SWE section. She is currently helping Columbia River section as Nominating Chair to build leadership pipeline and also serving as a Leadership Coach to five professional sections in the society.
In her spare time, Siri loves to cook, garden, and spend time outdoors with family and friends. Very excited to be part of PMI leadership and looking forward to thrill PMI Portland chapter members with their most sought after professional development events.
Meei Lum, PMP, Asst Director of Association Outreach
Jahzeel Ormeno, PMP, Director of Workshops
Jahzeel Ormeno is currently a Project Manager at Liberty Mutual Insurance leading countrywide strategic projects in the Business Lines Underwriting Operation. She is a leader with extensive insurance, process improvement and problem-solving expertise and a talented executive coach. Through her career, she has consistently exceeded customer’s expectations to achieve strategic and operational targets. She has designed and executed value-chain analytical approach to implement and sustain effective management systems. Jahzeel serves as a Board Member for EasterSeals of Oregon and teaches at Portland Community College as a Business Adjunct Professor.
In her spare time, Jahzeel enjoys spending time with her family. Jahzeel is looking forward to be a part of the PMI leadership team that supports chapter members with their most sought-after professional development events.
Julie Chu, PMP, Asst VP of Volunteer Management
Rachel Crane, PMP, Director of Social Media
Angie Eastman-Aytes, Asst Director of Military Liaison - Strategic Marketing
Liz Lockhart, PMP-ACP, Assistant VP of Outreach
Rakesh Semenchalam, Director of Toastmasters Club
Rakesh Semenchalam is dedicated to giving back to the community. As an electrical engineer, Rakesh has worked in the semi-conductor industry for over 15 years.Recently, he pursued his passion for project management and lean implementation by earning an MBA from Portland State University, and has performed supply chain and strategic sourcing roles in several fields. As a life-long learner, Rakesh is grateful for the opportunity to serve PMI locally.He looks forward to improving skills and meeting new people. Spare time finds Rakesh engaged in soccer: watching, playing, and coaching his daughter and son
Jackie Felix, CAPM, Director of Academic Outreach
Jackie has been a PMI Member since 2019. As the Director of Academic Outreach, she will promote the value and opportunities of PMI through outreach to community educational entities.
Jackie holds certifications as a Certified Associate of Project Management (CAPM) and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB). She is currently working towards her PMP and Black Belt certifications.
Jackie has over 10 years of experience in healthcare and is a lifelong learner and strong believer in creating opportunities for community members to elevate themselves.
When not working, you can find Jackie jogging a few miles so she can eat more pizza, checking out thrift stores for hours or giving treats to her chickens because they demand it.
Paul Mai, MBA, PMP, Asst VP of Marketing Communications
Paul has over 15 years of mid-level to senior-level project/product management experiences working at LaCie Limited and Seagate Technology in collaborating with teams and accountable for meeting project’s goals, roadmaps, budgets, schedules, scopes, resources, compliance, quality, and close-out or complete end-of-life cycle. His experience includes software and hardware development, implementation, maintenance of large-scale projects, systems, and enterprise solutions on global projects and multinational environments.
In the past, he served as Chair and President for the Asian Youth Leadership Conference from 2004 to 2010. The non-profit organization’s mission is to help Asian American youth rise above the obstacles before them and achieve their potential by promoting education, instilling self-confidence, and developing leadership skills. Click here to see his AAYLC bio.
He has been a member of the PMI Portland Chapter since 2016 and received his MBA degree at Concordia University Portland in June 2018 and PMP certification (# 2240117) on August 23, 2018. Paul believes in giving back to the community and marks his return to volunteer service with the PMI Portland Chapter
Krystal Salmon, PMP, Director of Content Strategy
Krystal Salmon joined as the Director of Content Strategy in February 2019. Professionally, she spent 10 years in project management related to digital ad sales in roles at Microsoft and Yahoo. She is excited to bring her experience and ideas to the Marketing & Communications team under Kelley Duron.
Gary Marx, PMP, Assistant VP of Operations
Gary Marx has been a PMP since 2010 and has an extensive background in operations, planning and project management from 24 years as an officer in the USAF, 4 years as a US Army civilian and currently working at Bonneville Power Administration in Vancouver WA as a technical training manager.
Gary recently took a personality profile test called E-CHP found at www.equilibria.com. He is primarily a "Thinker" and "Doer" though he also has significant aspects of being a "Socializer" and "Relater" too.
In 2013, Gary joined Portland's PMI chapter. He is now eager to give back to the project management community in his new role as Assistant VP of Operations.
Akilah Johnson, Annual Conference Sponsor Lead
Victoria Thai, Annual Conference Customer Experience Lead
Tim Booher, PMP, Annual Conference Speaker Lead
Abdullah Mansoor, PMP, PgMP, Assistant Director of Workshops
Melody Fisher, PMP, PMI-ACP, Director of PMP Certification
Joe Tobias, Director of Association Outreach
Stephen Fellin, PMP, Director of Registration
Vighnesh Umapathy, PMP, Director of Government Outreach
