Navy Federal Credit Union is “the Best of the Best”

November 11, 2015 | by J. Kent Crawford

We’re here at the PMO Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona with PMO leaders from all over the world. It’s always exciting to be among “the best of the best” as the PMI Awards Program logo declares. And among PMOs, the best are definitely represented here.

Chief among these, of course, are the finalists for the PMO of the Year Award, which, as I write, has just been formally presented. And (drumroll here) the winner for 2015 is …

Navy Federal Credit Union, the world’s largest credit union, serves members of the US military wherever they serve, both at home around the globe. The NFCU Information Services Department’s PMO has done remarkable work in helping the credit union to live up to its mission to serve its members. As the PMO director, Kristin Earley, commented, “the mission to serve members of the military is energizing” for the staff of this rapidly evolving PMO. Read all about the massive project they recently pulled off in record time—a global implementation of “Instant Card Issuance” —in the ebook we’ve produced about the Award winner and finalists here.

The two finalists of course also deserve high praise, as it is not an easy matter to make it into the top three in this competition. They are (in alpha order):

Symcor, a Canadian B2B firm that provides banks with processing services for checks, statements and ATM transactions (among other services) is one of the few companies I’ve ever seen that puts their PMO head up on the website with all the other executive staff. Way to go! This is something we’ve been hoping to see evolving. Symcor’s PMO leader, Haresh Desai, reports directly to his CEO, establishing a key role for the PMO in strategy execution.

Likewise, Ticketmaster International’s PMO has worked out a unique method of involving project and non-project staff across the 13 far-flung markets they serve in strategic planning. As many studies have shown, involving a broad cross-section of the company in strategic planning is a critical differentiator for companies to execute strategy effectively.

As you read the ebook, you will see that all three of these PMOs have been really smart about the ways they have leveraged technology to serve projects, as well as placing primary importance on the skills and knowledge of their staff. I know you’ll find great ideas in the case studies compiled here, as well as in the articles now on the PMI site, and those to come in PM Network. When it comes to great PMOs, one piece of advice you can’t go wrong with is … follow the leader(s)!

Check back here next week for a series of interviews with the winner and finalists to be posted by our editor in chief, Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin.

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