June 2026 PDU 0.50 Business Acumen, 0.50 Power Skills Sustainability

June 2026 | SuSu 2026: Why the Evergreen Organization Starts With Human Knowledge, Not AI with Lela Machaidze

As AI tools rapidly enter project environments, organizations risk skipping a critical step:

Building the human knowledge foundation that makes AI useful rather than dangerous. This session argues that sustainable, regenerative organizations – true “Evergreen” organizations – must first invest in capturing, structuring, and transferring human knowledge before deploying AI at scale.

The session will cover:

  • Why AI amplifies what already exists – and why that’s a problem if human knowledge is fragmented or undocumented
  • The difference between data, information, and organizational knowledge – and why only humans can bridge that gap
  • How the hands-on expertise and hard-won experience of seasoned project professionals is the real foundation of sustainable organizational success.
  • Practical approaches to knowledge capture and transfer that support sustainable project delivery
  • How to position AI as a tool that serves human judgment, not replaces it
  • Real examples of what goes wrong when organizations automate before they understand

About the Speaker

Lela Machaidze serves as Director of Education for the PMI Nova Scotia Chapter. With over 20 years of experience in project and program management, she currently holds the role of Director of Programs and Service Delivery at Capstone Project Solutions. Lela holds an MBA from European School of Management, a Master’s Certificate in Project Management from The George Washington University, and has completed executive education in Artificial Intelligence at MIT Sloan School of Management and Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Her certifications include PMP, PMI-ACP, PMO-CP, and BRMP. Her career spans leadership roles at global organizations including Bechtel Corporation and CH2M, along with consulting engagements with NATO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She has served as an Invited Lecturer in Project Management at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) and taught Change Management at Caucasus University. A dedicated advocate for the profession, Lela is the initiator, co-founder, and first President of the PMI Tbilisi, Georgia Chapter, where she led the organization for nearly five years. She also contributed globally as a member of the PMI Community Collaboration Council (2023–2024) and served as Director at the International Institute of Time Management in Prague (2021–2025). Originally from Tbilisi, Georgia, Lela relocated to Nova Scotia in 2025, where she continues to champion professional development and knowledge-sharing within the local PM community.

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