April is Cultural Diversity Month by celebrating it, we aim to recognize and honor the diversity surrounding us all. By celebrating differences and similarities during this month, we hope that people will get a deeper understanding of each other.

As members and leaders in a global community, an increased understanding and inclusion of different perspectives, experiences and ideas will benefit and enrich ourselves, our teams, projects, organizations and communities. 

This exciting evening will elevate your awareness and consciousness to the next level. Engaging conversations with our 5 diverse global panelists who will share a snippet of their stories and discuss what DE&I means to them.

It’s time to not only invite people to the party, but play their music and ask them to dance too.

Come join our collaborative event for some fun, networking and insight.

SPEAKER Panel - Conhest (Connie) Carr-Ansah, PMP, Dr. Jeffrey K. O. Thompson, DBA, PMP, CSM, Lori Gacioch, PMP, PMI-ACP, Mei Lin, PMP & Roberta Jane Heggie, PMP

Conhest (Connie) Carr-Ansah, PMP, Senior Project Manager,  Communications Coach, PM Helpline and DE&I Committee Member
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

 

Connie has worked extensively in the financial services industry, using agnostic project management strategies and building cross functional teams that deliver quality business value. A strong advocate of giving  back, she's been coaching and creating safe spaces where people can be their authentic self and grow, with Toastmasters and PMILOC. To be the change that she wishes to see in the world, she's joined CCDI (Canadian Centre for Diversity & Inclusion) to learn more about the broad forum of DE&I and execute change. There's not enough labels nor a big enough box to stop her from her making a difference in her community and the world.

Dr. Jeffrey K. O. Thompson, DBA, PMP, CSM
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada

Jeffrey is the current President of the Project Management Institute (PMI) Toronto chapter. Jeffrey gives back to the community as a board member of the York Region Alliance of African Canadian Communities (YRAACC) and volunteer in his church, including with the Knights of Columbus. He graduated with a BSc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, in Trinidad. He achieved his MSc. in Computer Information System from the University of Phoenix and has a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in General Business from Northcentral University (NCU), Arizona.

Jeffrey is an accomplished and dynamic Certified Project Manager, Six Sigma Green Belt, MS Project Trainer, Agile, and ITIL professional. He has over 30 years of experience and proven effectiveness with successful implementations in the financial, pharmaceutical, brewing, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industries, and government (Ontario Lottery and Gaming).
He is married to Jannette and has two children Shane and Zoë.

Lori Gacioch, PMP, PMI-ACP
Rochester, New York, USA

Lori Gacioch, PMP, PMI-ACP is currently the Past-President of the PMI Rochester Chapter and Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. She has been practicing project management for 22 years. She spent the bulk of her career serving at Xerox Corp managing large and mid-sized projects and programs in the Office and Services Business Units. She spent 2 years in the Health Care Industry and is now working in the retail industry. In 2018 she obtained her PMI-ACP certification and transitioned to becoming the first ScrumMaster/Agile Coach at Wegmans Food Markets. Lori is also a Disciplined Agile Champion for her chapter and is working on obtaining her Disciplined Agile Senior ScrumMaster Certification (DASSM). In the past 8 years, Lori has volunteered on the PMI Rochester Board of Directors as VP and Secretary, VP of Governance and VP of Marketing and Communications, President, Past-President and Director of DEI.

Mei Lin, PMP
Dallas, Texas, USA

Mei is a proud Toastmaster, a Project manager, a citizen fire rescue volunteer, an immigrant, a full-time working mother, Author of “ Mommy is a Project Manager”, and a millennial. She is a PMI-certified Project Manager who brings values to her project team and sponsors at City of Plano. An active PMI volunteer for more than 6 years, Mei is a PMI Dallas Chapter President (2020-2021) serves 4,200 project management professionals in DFW and north Texas Area.

Roberta Jane Heggie, PMP
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Jane was introduced to Project management working as a manager for the City of Calgary in 2000. Her industry background includes public administration, customer experience, technology and small to medium enterprise consulting. Joining the PMI Toronto Board in 2011 as Marketing lead became a rewarding opportunity with a great team of volunteers delivering on such things as the first Weekly Scope newsletter which is still PMI Toronto Chapter’s staple communication tool up to today.

In 2015 Jane was selected to lead the chapter as president during challenging economic times. Through her leadership the chapter climbed out of a slide in revenues with new ideas and cost-cutting measures to take the chapter back into the black by looking for ways to offer more to our members for less. One of those initiatives was the monthly networking event that is still popular with PMI Toronto members today – although, currently, socially distant. After a leave of absence from the board in 2017 Jane is now the Chair of PMI Toronto, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee leading an outstanding group of diverse and driven individuals looking to improve inclusion and equity for PMI Toronto.

***Price Information: For PMI Roc members: $5 - Please look for PROMO CODE in the event promotional email.