While PMI has been a global organization for many years, it is widely recognized that the organization has been North America-centric. Chapters, members and partners on the other side of the world have felt that their suggestions or cries for help had become a mere whisper by the time they reached those listening from PMI’s global headquarters near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the U.S. To help address this challenge, and to ensure that PMI is prepared to serve areas of the world where project management is growing and developing fastest, the organization needed to redouble its efforts to fully serve stakeholders around the world.
2019 marked a sea change for PMI’s global footprint. We have now divided the globe into eight business regions, and also have many of these regional leaders spearheading industry-specific Working Groups for greater reach and focus. These regional leaders also represent the Chapters in their respective regions in order for us to get closer to the needs of our customers.
This year, PMI President & CEO Sunil racked up more than 455 hours (that's nearly 19 straight days!) of airtime traveling to engage with PMI chapters, members, and stakeholders around the globe.
PMI Regions and 2019 Regional Managing Directors
Global Chapter Growth Through the Years
To better serve our global audience, we also took a number of other important steps during 2019 to advance PMI’s expanding global outlook.
- Opened additional offices in London and Changdu, China to better serve stakeholders in Europe and in our fastest-growing country in Asia.
- Piloted programs for stakeholders in India and Brazil to transact in their local currencies.
- Forged an expanded partnership with Pearson Vue to offer additional test centers around the world, as well as to offer new, robust local language test options for candidates.

PMI collaborated with the Ministry of Science and Technology of China to develop Development Report of Project Management in China (1999-2019).
As a tribute to the 20th anniversary of introduction of PMI’s credentials in mainland China, the report summarizes the achievements of project management professional development in the past 20 years, the application of the PMBOK Guide in various industries in China, and contributions to promoting China’s economic and social development.

PM professionals attending the PMI China Congress 2019.

PMI leadership appearing with the Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, on stage at the PMI India National Conference.
From left to right: Sriram Santhana Gopalan, Chapter President of PMI Pearl City Chapter, Hyderabad; Randy Black, Chair of the 2019 PMI Board of Directors; Naidu; Joseph Cahill, PMI Chief Operating Officer; Tejas Sura, 2019 PMI Board of Directors; and Komal Mathur, Conference Director and General Secretary, PMI Pearl City Chapter, Hyderabad.
Global Executive Council
The PMI Global Executive Council – an exclusive partner network of elite organizations driving the future of project management – has grown to include more than 90 members in more than 20 countries across 9 regions.
Global Executive Council Meeting – Zurich 2019
Key takeaways from PMI's Global Executive Council Meeting
The Council delivered three major accomplishments in 2019:
1. Welcomed 11 new members.
2. Successfully implemented co-creation efforts between PMI and Council members, resulting in the development of Baseline.
This product is aimed at making project management more accessible to non-traditional project managers. The effort involved an extensive team effort collaboration between PMI and members of the Council.
3. Brought together Council members for two in-person meetings held in Zurich, Switzerland and Ottawa, Canada.
Members came together to share ideas and insights on the future of the profession and work itself.
2019 Award Highlights

2019 PMI Project of the Year Award Winner
E190-E2 Program Development
Embraer
Embraer built a heritage out of challenging the impossible, starting with the dream of producing airplanes in a country that did not even manufacture bicycles. This passion was passed from generation to generation and 50 years later, The E2 team has proven that it is possible to dream big and develop a new and high-tech commercial jet, outperforming even with a short schedule, a tight budget and a benchmark spec.
2019 PMI Project of the Year Award Winner - Embraer
E190-E2 Program Development

2019 PMI Project of the Year Finalist
AZUR Project
Société de Transport de Montréal
“We believe that our project is a finalist for the Project of the Year Award because of the impressive results that we achieved and our strategy based on using best project management practices for the PMBOK. Being a finalist for this award is a great honor for STM. It will allow us to share our experiences with our peers and showcase our results on an international level.”
2019 Project of the Year finalists from Société de transport de Montréal – from left, Guy Déry, Pierre Vézina, and Pascal Bernatchez.

2019 PMI Project of the Year Finalist
Bassein Development Project
L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Ltd
“The Bassein Development Project was a prized project for L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) and a matter of pride and testimony to LTHE’s prowess in the execution of large, complex projects ahead of schedule -- setting benchmarks in keeping with its stated mission of ‘Execution par Excellence."
2019 Project of the Year finalists from L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Ltd - from left, Kaustuv Bagchi, Subramian Sarma, Satish Palekar, and R. Sathyanarayanan.

2019 PMO of the Year Award Winner
Fannie Mae
A mere eight years young, the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) at Fannie Mae started by bringing responsible standards, methodologies, and processes to the projects being completed at the organization. While they were successful in doing that, they now are the sought-out advisors and informers for the data and information that supports strategic decisions.
2019 PMO of the Year Award Winner: Fannie Mae

2019 PMO of the Year Award Finalist
Global Technology PMO
McDonald's Corporation
In December 2016, McDonald’s established the Global Technology PMO (GTPMO) to support the strategic initiative of deploying Mobile Order and Pay capabilities to over 20,000 restaurants by the end of 2017.
PMI leadership congratulating the 2019 PMO of the Year finalists – McDonald’s. From left, PMI 2019 Board Chair Randy Black, Amy Martin, Scott Badskey, and PMI President & CEO Sunil Prashara.

2019 PMO of the Year Award Finalist
Project Management Office
Saudi Aramco
In 2010, Saudi Aramco established a Project Management Office to replace a former Project Support and Control Department. Since its inception, the PMO has dealt with a large project portfolio -- averaging around 200 projects a year. By enhancing up-front planning and the definition and clarification of stakeholder’s roles and responsibilities, Saudi Aramco projects have seen an improvement of 26% in project process governance, which in-turn reduced the overall project cycle time by 22%.
PMI leadership congratulating the 2019 PMO of the Year finalists from Saudi Aramco. From left, PMI 2019 Board Chair Randy Black, Abdulah Seflan, Badr Burshaid, Nabeel Ibrahim, and PMI President & CEO Sunil Prashara.
PMI Fellows
The PMI Fellow Award is PMI’s highest and most prestigious individual award, recognizing and honoring PMI members who have made sustained and significant contributions to the project management profession and the Institute for more than a decade.
Newly Inducted PMI Fellows

Dr. Al Zeitoun
Dr. Zeitoun is a business optimization, enterprise digital transformation, and operational performance excellence leader with global experiences in strategy execution.
He served as the Executive Director for Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, UAE, where he created its strategy execution framework, transformation benefits, and program discipline for delivering on the $40B complex country energy mission roadmap.
Al served on the PMI Global Board of Directors 2007, 2014-2016, and 2018.
“PMI is the source and resource for enabling project professionals’ success worldwide…
The profession will set the tone for how organizations excel in operating under tomorrow’s accelerating pace and complexity. Governments and corporations worldwide will be a sponge for experimenting with the dynamic roadmaps project management could bring."

Ricardo Triana
Well known to PMI and the project management community, Ricardo served on the PMI Global Board of Directors for 2010-2015 and its Global Chairman in 2014. In the last three years, Ricardo has served as a member (2016) and chairman of the PMI Board of Directors Nomination Committee (2017 and 2018).
Ricardo has managed and consulted on projects and programs in diverse industries for private and government organizations across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
In March of 2020, Ricardo joined us as our new Latin America Managing Director.