Chapter Meeting: Annual Business Meeting - and - True Project Management Best Practices

12 Jun 2018 - 6:00pm
PDU Category: 
Strategic and Business Management
The Royal Palace

5:30 | Registration, Networking & Dinner
6:30 | Announcements, Introduction of Program
6:45 | Annual Business Meeting
7:15 | Guest Speaker (1 PDU)
8:15 | Participants network and/or participate in SIGs
8:15 | PMO SIG, Quality SIG programs (1 PDU)

Meeting Sponsor: 


True Project Management Best Practices - Value-Added Due Diligence

This month's meeting is our Annual Chapter Business Meeting, and as such is free of charge to all Chapter Members.

After the short business meeting, our presentation this month will be by Michael DeKort, discussing the core best PM and engineering best practices that aerospace and DoD organizations utilize at a CMMI level 5. He will be elaborate on the purpose of each practice, how they are utilized and how the implementation and use of a core set of practices is the key to their success.

Michael DeKort

Michael DeKort joined the US Navy in 1983 where he was an electronics technician for 6 years. Shortly after leaving the US Navy, he became a Communications Engineer for the US State Department.  Michael also became the lead communications engineer for their counter-terrorism group. After working for the US State Department, he joined Lockheed Martin as a systems engineer. While working his way to Project Manager, then Program and Engineering Manager, he focused in aircraft simulation on the Aegis Weapon System, on the Coast Guard's Deepwater program, and at NORAD. He later became the software engineering manager for all of NORAD.

While working at Lockheed Martin, Michael raised safety and national security issues to his superiors while working the Coast Guard's Deepwater program after 9/11.  After the message went up the chain of command, he received a hand signed letter from Lockheed's lead counsel, James Comey, who did not support what Michael was trying to do. He was subsequently terminated. Michael became the first person to use YouTube as a whistleblower. After the news went public, he was called to be the lead witness at a congressional hearing, interviewed on “60 Minutes”, featured in a documentary movie called, “War on Whistleblowers”, and received the IEEE Barus Ethics Award.

Michael lives in Lambertsville, New Jersey with his wife of 27 years. He has two children; a daughter who graduated from college last year, and a son in the US Air Force. Michael never received a college degree yet has been a very successful individual. He’s currently working in Commercial IT for the past 11 years, including in the cyber-security arena.


Members: Free (Annual Business Meeting)
Non-Members $30

Location (Address): 

The Royal Palace
77 Knollwood Rd
White Plains, NY 10607