MEd., PMP, TEFL, AOP, ITIL, B.A.A, RIMS-CRMP

Ellie Braham is a highly-experienced project leader with many years of experience in senior project leadership positions at IBM, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, eHealth Ontario, and other large organizations. Her experience in program and project management, vendor management, and IT service delivery have led her to Director-level positions overseeing large teams and initiatives.

Extensively trained in adult education, Ellie has a Masters in Education (with a specialty in Adult Teaching and Learning) from the University of Ottawa along with a certificate in adult education from Durham College. She is also a PMI-Accredited Training Provider (ATP instructor), who has passed an assessment by the Project Management Institute to be able to teach PMI’s PMP Exam Preparation Course. She has taught project management-related topics as a professor at Humber College and as a lecturer at Durham College, Ryerson University and triOS College. Ellie is a popular speaker at events for PMI and Ryerson University.

With an additional specialty in risk management, Ellie has a Certificate in Risk Management (Banking, Corporate, Finance, and Securities Law) from York University and is a Certified Risk Management Professional by the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS). She has also earned her Accredited Outsourcing Practitioner professional designation.
A stellar performer, Ellie has received numerous awards from CIBC and IBM including the Women of Color Rising Star Award issued by STEM.

Ellie gives back to the PM community through her volunteer efforts. She is a Senior Consultant on PMI’s Standards Consensus Committee (SCC), reviewing and providing feedback on the evolution of PMI standards, and she mentors students from Humber College, Ryerson University, and York University. Ellie has also volunteered for Junior Achievement, mentoring youth who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs.

PhD, PMP, ITIL Foundation, Cert.APM

Dr. Hamid Faridani is a Senior Training and Consulting Associate with Procept Associates Ltd. His experience is in managing information technology projects, spending 23 years managing projects for IBM Canada. He led the development of IBM products at the IBM Toronto Lab. As part of IBM Global Services, Hamid delivered projects across insurance, banking, retail and government sectors. He specialized in consulting on troubled engagements, ensuring success of large, high risk projects, establishing trusted customer relationships and ensuring high client satisfaction. As Service Delivery Manager he was responsible for all aspects of software testing engagement including pricing and contract negotiations, project staffing, delivery management and engagement completion. Hamid provided project management leadership to the IBM PM community and was dedicated to helping develop the profession and mentoring other project managers in their career and professional goals.

As an IBM Risk Manager, he was responsible for ensuring that a large portfolio of IT engagements were following documented solution delivery process steps. Hamid ensured that any potential exposures to successful proposal and delivery were identified and addressed. He identified risk areas and recommended workable containment plans, reviewed project plans and recommended changes in plans and resourcing to cover any omissions. He ensured that the scope and responsibilities were well-defined and documented. Hamid mentored other project managers in managing complex, high risk engagements. He also performed PM reviews as part of consulting engagement for external customers.

Hamid holds a PhD in electrical engineering from University of California. Prior to joining IBM, he spent over 10 years as an academic, teaching and conducting research at electrical engineering departments at universities in US, Iran and Canada. His last academic position was Associate Professor at University of Windsor.

Hamid is one of the founders of the first Systems Engineering departments in Iran. As department head, he led the establishment of the department, development of the curriculum and the hiring of faculty members.

Hamid started teaching project management (PM) courses as part of IBM Global Campus and later he joined PM certificate programs at University of Toronto and Ryerson University. After retiring from IBM, Hamid expanded his work at U of T and Ryerson, developing a number of new courses and conducting workshops for corporate customers. Hamid has been a frequent presenter at Project Management Institute chapter meetings. He has published over thirty papers in international journals and has refereed conferences on systems engineering, risk management, estimation and control theory.

BSc, MBA, PMP, PEng

Peter Monkhouse’s career is built on over 40 years of project and leadership experience. Currently, Peter is focused on helping professionals who support organizations to listen to their customers, deliver value, and execute strategy. Throughout his career, he has actively led projects and project managers in the areas of education, consulting, engineering, information technology, health, and organizational change. In a recent role, he successfully coached, mentored and worked with project managers across six continents. In addition, Peter teaches project management courses at Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Calgary, along with many of Procept's corporate and government clients.

In prior roles, Peter managed portfolios of continuing education certificates, co-founded a start-up, and led large teams and programs of over US$20 million per year implementing organizational change. In 2019 Peter co-authored the best-selling book, Gen P: New Generation of Product Owners Who Care about Customers.

Over the past 20 years, Peter has taught project management to over 6,000 students in a variety of ways, including classroom, online, and intensive formats. His vast industry experience allows him to use examples to bring project management to life.

Peter has been an active volunteer with PMI for over 20 years: serving on the PMI Board of Directors for six years (including as Chair of the 2012 PMI Board), serving on the PMI Educational Foundation Board of Directors for six years (including as Chair of the 2018 PMIEF Board), as past president of the PMI Toronto Chapter, and serving on several Member Advisory Groups (MAGs). Presently, Peter is on the Board of Directors of Project Managers Without Borders.

In the fall of 2007, Peter became Chair of the Canadian Mirror Committee for the ISO PC236, which led to the development of the standard ISO21500. He received his BSc (Engineering) from Queen’s University and his MBA from the University of Toronto. He obtained his Project Management Professional (PMP)® credential in 1999, and, in May 2008, he graduated from the PMI® Leadership Institute Master Class. In 2020, Peter became a PMI Authorized Training Partner Instructor.

MBA, PMP, PMI-PBA, PMI-ACP, Cert.APM, SMC, CMP

Ori Schibi has 27 years' experience providing practical new ways of managing projects and programs and effectively dealing with challenges around organizational change, strategy, business analysis and PMOs. His experience includes driving process efficiencies, software implementations, project recoveries, project management skills assessments and complex programs that stabilize business, create growth and value and lead sustainable change.

He has long and solid agile experience – including assessing organization's readiness for agile projects, helping organizations select the right lifecycle approach, aligning agile projects with corporate governance structures, coaching team members, leading agile transitions and adaptations and driving value through leading agile projects. Ori is well-versed in several agile methods, with focus on discipline agile delivery, and teaches for a variety of in-house clients, as well as for OPS, University of Toronto and the City of Toronto.

Ori has extensive experience working with small, mid-sized and large organization in diverse industries. The industries include: Aerospace, Construction/Contractors, Telecom, Financial Services, Hospitality, Pharmaceuticals and government agencies (Canada-all levels of government, US, the United Nations).

He is the author of the book Managing Stakeholder Expectations for Project Success (2013), as well as the book Effective PM-BA Role Collaboration (2015). He is also the co-author (with Kevin Aguanno), of the book Agile Business Analysis: Enabling Continuous Improvement of Requirements, Project Scope, and Agile Project Results (2018). His latest books is Effective Project and Change Sponsorship: Getting the Most from Your Strategic Investments (2020).

BAA, C.D., CM, CMP, PMP, PMP-ACP, Cert.APM, SMC, ADKAR, P.Log.

Reginald Scotland is an experienced program, project and change manager, business analyst, communications analyst, facilitator, mentor and coach with more than 25 years of experience. Reg is an engaging and sociable instructor. He leads adult learners in project management, and is co-developer and presenter of a popular webinar series on project management. He has designed and delivered courses on leadership, communications, numerous military subjects and skydiving. He presented at ProjectWorld 2011.

An experienced mentor and coach, Reg enjoys helping people to achieve new levels of personal and professional competence. His philosophy is that successful people are always learning, and that both the learner and facilitator roles often bring new insights and understandings to those involved. Reg holds a BAA in Journalism (Ryerson University) is a Project Management Professional (PMP) (Project Management Institute), a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) (Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Ontario) and is certified in Change Management methodology (Prosci ADKAR). He serves on the Boards of the Royal Canadian Military Institute, St. John Ambulance of York Region, and on the Toronto Executive of the Order of St. George.

He is a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian Army Reserve, with experience in leadership, emergency management, logistics, training, planning, and financial administration and management.