09:00am: Sameena Ali-Khan Opening remarks.
Sameena anchors national bulletins for ITV at weekends, and throughout the week on Central Tonight in the Midlands, covering a wide range of stories across daily news and documentaries. After studying physiology and chemistry, Sameena was drawn to journalism. She first started working on radio in Manchester, and first appeared on air on BBC Radio Lancashire. Sameena remained with the BBC, going back to Manchester before stints on the BBC Asian Network, BBC West Midlands, BBC London, and Radio 5 Live. On TV (aside from a debut appearance made whilst living in Nigeria on the country’s equivalent of Blue Peter) Sameena presented and reported for Northwest Today, Inside Out, and Midlands Today before moving to ITV. With a presenting style combining bright and approachable with authoritative, Sameena has won numerous awards during her broadcasting career, including three RTS Midlands Best Screen Personality Awards, for her work on ITV News Central.
09:30am: Nick Fewings Back To The Fewture.
Nick’s passion for teamwork over 30 years has helped hundreds of teams and thousands of individuals worldwide, many of which are well-known brands. He is the creator of the Fewings Model Of High-Performance Teamwork, the only model in the world, that via an in-depth report, measures overall team effectiveness and effectiveness across 16 areas of teamwork, used by teams to help them achieve high-performance teamwork. Nick says that “If people matter most, then understanding and improving team effectiveness, efficiency and wellbeing isn’t optional — it’s your competitive advantage.”
Nick will look back over 30 years of teamwork in project management, sharing how it has evolved and how future changes will become more people centric. He will share; Why Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that measure outputs, deadlines, and budgets, aligned to The Project Triangle, also known as The Iron Triangle or Triple Constraint Triangle overlook a critical success factor. How being effective or efficient is not enough. Real-life examples of how teams can achieve high-performance teamwork and greater success through clarity, connection, contribution, and resilience. Whether a project leader or project team member, the learning and suggestions Nick shares will help to reinforce why, when it comes to project success, “People Matter Most.”
10:15am: Penny Pullan Not Soft, but Strong: The Rise of Human Skills to Make Projects Work
Penny contributed to Managing Successful Programmes 5th Edn. and introduced facilitation and virtual leadership into the APM’s Body of Knowledge. She wrote the bestseller Virtual Leadership, co-authored Making Risk Management Work: Engaging People to Identify, Own and Manage Risk with Dr Ruth Murray-Webster, and is the author of Making Workshops Work: Creative Collaboration for Our Time. Penny now supports organisations from multinational companies to charities on developing human skills in their leaders. Expect stories, insights, and practical strategies to help you with your own project success.
Dr Penny Pullan, founder of Making Projects Work Ltd, will take us on a journey through the thirty-year evolution of project management during the lifetime of the UK PMI Chapter. Penny will show us how so-called “soft skills” have moved from the sidelines to become core drivers of success. Drawing on thirty years of experience delivering complex and risky change through projects and programmes, Penny will reveal how these very human skills are not optional, but essential.
11:00am: Coffee break
11:30am: Emma Ruth Arnaz-Pemberton Powering Progress: The Evolving Role of the PMO in 30 Years of PMI UK
Emma-Ruth is the Director of Consulting Services at Wellingtone; a PPM consultancy firm with offices in Windsor (UK), Madrid (Spain), Atlanta (USA), and Dublin (Ireland). She is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM), lead of their PMO Interest Network, a member of the IPMA Standards Committee, an Axelos P3M3 Assessor, and an NLP Master Practitioner practicing life and professional coaching with a Diploma in Modern Applied Psychology. Emma-Ruth is a PMO specialist with extensive experience in the change management industry with a particular focus on collaboration, reminding us that we should be human first and change champions second.
Emma-Ruth runs the Wellingtone Communities of practice, she is the founder of the Wellingtone Training Academy, the FuturePMO conference, is a PMO contributor to the APM Body of Knowledge 8th Edition, and has developed globally Accredited courses and services that support PMOs to reach their goals and even win industry awards.
This engaging presentation will take you through the evolution of PMO from its roots as the administrative backbone of projects to the Future PMO. Exploring how PMO has changed over the years, focusing on becoming a strategic driver, and beyond, this session will provide practical view of where your PMO profession sits today, the trends that will guide it in 2026 and beyond, and how you can level up to deliver value now and in the future.
12:15pm: Professor Eddie Obeng
Eddie was educated at Achimota School, Ghana; Cranleigh School, UK; and at University College London, where he earned a double first in chemical and biochemical engineering, whilst studying Economics at night school and at Cass Business School. Having risen from Researcher to Director of Studies and Diretoro of Operations and Information at Ashridge Business School (HULT) Eddie is now a visiting Professor at the School of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Henley Business School.
1:00pm: Lunch (provided)
2:00pm: Our Past UK Chapter Presidents – Panel Session
In 1995 Guy Lee was one of the first members of the embryonic UK Chapter having joined PMI and obtained his PMP accreditation the previous year. Guy was a member of the Chapter’s Board of Directors between 1997 and 2002; serving as Treasurer and, in 2001 and 2002, as President. As Chapter President in 2001 he was the lead project sponsor for the PMI European Project Management Conference “A Project Management Odyssey”, a watershed moment for the Chapter which led to our involvement in the redesign of the PMI global conferences.
Duncan Chappell was actively involved with the PMI UK Chapter from 2007 to 2016, serving in several
leadership roles including Communications Director, President, and University Outreach Director. Following a successful 38-year career in the corporate sector, he took early retirement in 2017 and subsequently pursued his passion for music, initially as a hobbyist promoter before later becoming a booking agent. He is the founder of Big Ginger Tom Music, an organization dedicated to promoting live music events within his local community, with a particular focus on gigs at Harwell Village Hall. In addition, he curates the performance programme for The Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon. Duncan began working as a booking agent in January 2020 and, in October 2021, joined Midnight Mango as a freelance agent. He resides in Oxfordshire with his wife, Vanessa, and they have two adult children.
Nick Lake joined PMI in 1996, gained a PMP in 1998 and was an UK Chapter director for 20 years including President for six years from 2003. He was sponsor for the first PMI UK Chapter project management conference, International Project Management Day in 2005. Nick also served on two PMI Global project teams: on PMI’s core values and PMI’s options for geographical & interest groups. Nick qualified as an engineer and worked in project management from the 1980s. He took early retirement in 2014 and now has a part time role in projects assurance.
Jon Clay’s volunteer career took place over 5 years and began with founding the PMI UK Toastmasters Club in 2013 before then establishing a North West events branch. In 2014 he joined the Chapter Board as Director of Member Networks (branches) and served in the position for three years before serving as President 2017-2018. Professionally, Jon is presently Senior Product Director for Keyloop, the global leader in Automotive retail SaaS solutions.
2:45pm: Emre Gokyigit – Senior Associate Director – Project Controls and Tim Fry – Director – Head of Project Management, Laminar Projects Over 50 Years Combined Experience Taught Us That Bad Data Makes Good PMs Look Bad
Emre Gokyigit is a project controls expert with over 10 years of international experience in planning, risk, and performance management. At Laminar Projects, he leads teams delivering data-driven planning and controls for complex infrastructure and mission-critical data centre programmes across the UK and Europe. A certified PMP, Emre specialises in tools such as Primavera P6, Earned Value Analysis, and Power BI to drive project reliability and cost efficiency. His project portfolio includes the Lusail Light Rail (Qatar), Gatwick Airport, and metro systems across MENA. Known for his collaborative leadership and innovation in PMO solutions, Emre is also a committed mentor in the field of project controls.
Tim Fry is a senior project and programme leader with over 40 years of experience delivering complex capital programmes across health, education, life sciences, and public infrastructure. A former Senior Director at Currie & Brown, he has led major frameworks for clients including The Pirbright Institute, University of Cambridge, and Moorfields Eye Hospital. A Fellow of both RICS and APM, Tim served as the longest-standing Chair of the RICS Project Management Professional Group Board, influencing industry standards and executive education in the UK and Brazil. He brings deep technical expertise in high-containment and research facilities, alongside a strong focus on governance, client trust, and long-term value.
Project managers are expected to lead with confidence, but most of the time, they’re working with data they don’t fully trust. Reporting is manual, and by the time a problem surfaces in a dashboard, it’s already too late to prevent it. This isn’t a failure of the people – it’s a failure of the systems we give them.
In this candid conversation, Emre Gokyigit and Tim Fry from Laminar Projects will share how project managers can shift from reactive reporting to proactive leadership by getting closer to the truth of what’s happening on site – not through more tools, but through better data.
You can expect real life examples from the field, honest reflection on what still goes wrong, and practical ideas for how to make information flow in a way that helps people lead. Because once the right people have the right data at the right time, reporting stops being the job – and becomes the fuel.
3:30pm: Coffee break
4:15pm: Mystery Keynote Speaker Unveiling a Unique Perspective on Project Management
Get ready to experience a truly distinctive approach to project leadership. Our next speaker, a globally recognized figure with over two decades of experience, hails from a vibrant nation known for its unique rhythms and powerful energy. He believes these intrinsic values are key to unlocking potential in any team. Having graced stages from the Royal Albert Hall to the MGM Grand in over 50 countries, this individual is a master of non-verbal communication and an expert in motivating through positive engagement. He has a remarkable ability to foster leadership through action and learning through experience, demonstrating how these principles can transform project outcomes.
He’s even coordinated the full participation of over 40,000 people at a major international event, showcasing an unparalleled understanding of large-scale collaboration. Described by a Nobel Peace Prize laureate as having “an exceptional gift,” his insights into effective collaboration and using an orchestra as a metaphor for organization will undoubtedly resonate with every project manager in the room. Prepare to be inspired by a speaker who proves that the most profound lessons don’t always require words.