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.
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.
Rasha Kroonen, PMP, Annual Conference Venue Lead
Rasha Kroonen is a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with a Master of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Rasha has over 16 years of experience in project management with extensive electrical transmission, transportation, and municipal project portfolios, as well as experience managing large and complex multi-cultural projects.
In her role as Senior Project Manager at Bonneville Power Administration, Rasha fosters an environment of teamwork and ensures that strategy is clearly defined while overseeing performance and maintaining morale. Her strong communication and client service skills enhance BPA’s process-driven management philosophy.
Rasha is an animal lover and nature enthusiast who enjoys practicing daily yoga.
Ted Dejony, Webmaster
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
Shannon Heizenrader, PMP, Assistant VP of Programs
Shannon is a project manager who channels her drive to impact the greater good into everything she does. She’s known for using her communication skills and compassion to build relationships and find innovative solutions. Shannon’s focus is healthcare, including senior care. In Shannon’s current position she is the project manager of strategic initiatives. In this role, she supports a variety of projects as well process improvement and standardization.
Within the chapter, Shannon has provided the name tags for many of the monthly chapter meetings as the Asst. Director of Registration from June 2017 to January 2019. Shannon volunteers her time with the chapter as she believes it is important to give back to her professional community.
Yolanda Karp, CAPM, Annual Conference Marketing Communication Lead
Sandra Jannsen, Annual Conference Customer Experience Lead
Jacob Zych, PMP, Annual Conference Registration Lead
Tim Booher, PMP, Annual Conference Speaker Lead
Omar Ordonez, PMP, Assistant Director of Mentoring
Abdullah Mansoor, PMP, PgMP, Assistant Director of Workshops
Melody Fisher, PMP, PMI-ACP, Director of PMP Certification
Sarah Foote, Assistant Director of Annual Conference
Wes Morgan, PMP, Assistant VP of Professional Development
Wes’s goal is positive social impact by increasing people’s capability and collaboration across academia,
government, business and nonprofit realms. His experience comes from project-based work using
influence rather than direct authority. He has built high-tech facilities, transformed organizations, added
cross-functional value, increased productivity, and changed mindsets. One constant is that problems are
not solved by money. Problems are solved by people. People are our community’s greatest asset. So,
Wes focuses on maximizing ROI – return on investment – in human capital.
Wes is a lifelong learner and relationship-builder. He gathers ideas and perspective by reading, asking
questions, listening, and observing. His formal education includes four university degrees – in applied
science, civil engineering, and business – from George Fox, OSU, Stanford, and Yale. His favorite way to
learn is by doing. One way to “do” just about anything effectively, is via projects. He is particularly drawn
to projects that partner social impact with coaching, practically developing both hard and human skills.
He is a big fan of community consulting projects at ODN, Lean Portland, and OpenIDEO.
Wes is delighted to support the VP of Professional Development in providing vision and continuity for
PMI Portland’s professional development portfolio – the team that organizes and leads educational
efforts, including certification, workshops, and mentoring.
Joe Tobias, Director of Association Outreach
Saied Hajarizadeh, PMP, Director of Distribution
Yolanda Karp, CAPM, Director of Social Media
Kelley Duron, VP of Marketing
Kelley Duron brings more than two decades’ experience managing projects for diverse industries including publishing, utilities, and education to the Marketing team. She has a deep background in communications and enjoys helping organizations “translate” broad, complex strategies and objectives into actionable tasks that employees and other stakeholders easily understand and buy into.
Kelley has led several multi-million-dollar Federal education grants, worked with local political campaigns and non-profits, and played critical roles in system updates and customer service improvement processes. She loves fiction writing, walking her dog, Jagger, and reliving her childhood through her two young grandkids.
Stephen Fellin, PMP, Director of Registration
Jennifer Whybra-Ucar, PMP, Assistant VP of Outreach
Julie Chu, PMP, Director of Volunteers
Kathryn Rosson, PMP, Assistant VP of Marketing
Everett Steele, Social Media Manager
Nitika Gupta, Director of Workshops
Daniel Obi, PMP, Director of Events
Aabha Barve, Assistant Director of Quality
Aabha is Assistant Director of Quality Control with PMI Portland Chapter. She moved to Portland in 2009, for her graduate studies in chemistry at Portland State University. After graduating with PhD, she worked at Intel Corp. as Process Engineer from 2015 to April 2018. At Intel, her focus was on module maintenance and process improvement. She also managed many process improvement related projects. She has received Lean Six Sigma Green Belt for process improvement from Intel Corp. In her spare time, she like to paint still life art, landscapes, seascapes etc.
Rakesh Semenchalem, Assistant Director of Volunteer Recognition
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.
Vighnesh Umapathy, PMP, Director of Government Outreach
Kevin Murphy, PMP, Director of Sponsor Programs
