Member since April 2021
Amber is a strategic PMO and organizational change management advisor who turns mid-market companies' most overlooked function - the PMO - into a genuine business asset. With 26 years of cross-industry leadership spanning semiconductors,manufacturing, and software, she brings a rare combination of operational rigor, strategic architecture, and change execution that most organizations can't find in a single advisor.
Her most cited proof point: she converted acost-center PMO into a $5M ARR revenue line in three years - by redesigning how the function was positioned, measured, and led.
Amber holds a Master's in Physics, a PMP, and a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. She speaks on strategic PMO design, organizational change management, AI integration in project leadership, and what it really takes to hire and develop high-performing project managers.
I spent two decades watching smart organizations invest in project management and wonder why nothing seemed to change. The answer was almost never the tools, the methodology, or the people - it was that nobody had designed the PMO to create value in the first place.
I'm passionate about closing that gap. About helping leaders stop treating their PMO like an administrative overhead function and start treating it like the strategic engine it can be. And about helping the project managers inside those organizations develop the stragetic fluency, change leadership skills, and business acumen that no certification ever taught them.
I also care deeply about the decition to bet on yourself - whether that's a PM stepping into a strategic role they've never hled, or a leader choosing to build something of their own. That leap is terrifying and completely worth it - I would know, I did it myself!
From my "Growth Connections" talk: I was excited to finally engage with an executive mentor, and went to the first in-person meeting ready to be filled with his knowledge. He was excited to answer my specific questions about his job. So instead, we sat in silence for several minutes, not really sure what to do now. It's why I always clarify with my mentors and mentees just what we're going to discuss - and you should too.
When I started my role at Jade Global, one of my first responsibilities was to assess the skills and knowledge of the project managers currently employed. I did that by creating a custom assessment, which built on both "book knowledge" from PMI and "school of hard knocks" methods. As I expanded my PMO into placing project managers at clients, I decided to use this assessment (with upgrades) to help me filter candidates quickly. I found that I was getting much better interviews, where I could focus on "fit" more than basic knowledge. I'm proud to say that after about 12 months of adjustment, I now have a process that results in just 1-2 candidates interviewed per role, and a total first-time success placement rate of 90%.
I'm now bringing what I've learned out to the market, customized to fit individual companies, not just to improve hiring, but to improve who you train, and what you train them on. Time and money saved, that's my consulting origin story!
How much time do you spend trying hire the right project manager? And how often do you discover that their actual work lags the shining promise of their resume? Project management talent - hard and soft skills alike - follows certain patterns, and I've got the code breaker to share. This talk covers how to integrate a custom, automated project manager assessment that looks for those patterns for the skills you need - including the hidden traits that predict strategic performance and growth capability - into your recruiting, HR, and interview processes to improve your speed to hire and first time success.
AI is both promise and peril for project management, and the people who run it. In this talk we look at the current AI integrations, ways of working - and what PMs and PMO leaders need to develop now to stay strategically relevant.
A practical, direct, and experience-backed talk for leaders who've lived through pain past initatives and want to ensure true adoption for their next effort.
Good mentoring relationships are grown, not made. In this talk aimed at both mentors and mentees, I discuss the different approaches to starting a mentoring partnership, how to plan for success, and how to complete and close the partnership in a positive manner. Includes a worksheet for attendees to add notes on what they are looking for and start the planning process right now.
From my "Growth Connections" talk: I was excited to finally engage with an executive mentor, and went to the first in-person meeting ready to be filled with his knowledge. He was excited to answer my specific questions about his job. So instead, we sat in silence for several minutes, not really sure what to do now. It's why I always clarify with my mentors and mentees just what we're going to discuss - and you should too.
When I started my role at Jade Global, one of my first responsibilities was to assess the skills and knowledge of the project managers currently employed. I did that by creating a custom assessment, which built on both "book knowledge" from PMI and "school of hard knocks" methods. As I expanded my PMO into placing project managers at clients, I decided to use this assessment (with upgrades) to help me filter candidates quickly. I found that I was getting much better interviews, where I could focus on "fit" more than basic knowledge. I'm proud to say that after about 12 months of adjustment, I now have a process that results in just 1-2 candidates interviewed per role, and a total first-time success placement rate of 90%.
I'm now bringing what I've learned out to the market, customized to fit individual companies, not just to improve hiring, but to improve who you train, and what you train them on. Time and money saved, that's my consulting origin story!
How much time do you spend trying hire the right project manager? And how often do you discover that their actual work lags the shining promise of their resume? Project management talent - hard and soft skills alike - follows certain patterns, and I've got the code breaker to share. This talk covers how to integrate a custom, automated project manager assessment that looks for those patterns for the skills you need - including the hidden traits that predict strategic performance and growth capability - into your recruiting, HR, and interview processes to improve your speed to hire and first time success.
AI is both promise and peril for project management, and the people who run it. In this talk we look at the current AI integrations, ways of working - and what PMs and PMO leaders need to develop now to stay strategically relevant.
A practical, direct, and experience-backed talk for leaders who've lived through pain past initatives and want to ensure true adoption for their next effort.
Good mentoring relationships are grown, not made. In this talk aimed at both mentors and mentees, I discuss the different approaches to starting a mentoring partnership, how to plan for success, and how to complete and close the partnership in a positive manner. Includes a worksheet for attendees to add notes on what they are looking for and start the planning process right now.