E91 Transitioning from the Military to Project Management with Art García, Curtis Brown, Cathy Christian
In this episode of Project Management Office Hours Art García, Cathy Christian, and Curtis Brown join PMO Joe for an enlightening discussion about veterans, project management, and mentorship. One of the themes from the show is a helping hand goes a long way. “Communicating, connecting and mentoring; you're building your network and the person you help today may be the person that helps you tomorrow.”- Art García. Mentorship can be one of the most influential parts to a successful military transition. Creating safe outlets for a new professional can make all the difference for them. A great mentor supplies positive influence, guidance and the direction that the person wants to take. “It's about trying to get people to change their aperture. How can I get this person to open their aperture? Kind of think outside of the box. What are the things that you've done? And when you see the light bulb goes off.” -Curtis Brown Art, Cathy and Curtis provide great leadership to veteran service organizations such as VPMMA, NOVA Job Outreach, PMI, and Onward to Opportunity. “You don't even recognize what you're doing, how helpful and impactful that is to the folks that you're helping. Because to you, it's just a conversation. It's just a natural thing that you're doing. Then when they come back and tell you what an impact it was, you’re like, oh! I had no idea.” -Cathy Christian Art García, PMP is a program and project management lead at USAA, Career project manager and Co-Founder for NOVA jobs. He has served 20 years in the US Air Force and is a veteran. Connect with Art García https://www.linkedin.com/in/artgarciapmp/ Cathy Christian, PMP is the Vice President on the Board of Directors for Veteran Project Manager Mentoring Alliance (VPMMA). Now retired, was Vice President of Project Management at Prudential Financial. Serving in the U.S. Air Force for 7 years supervising and training 8 weapons directors on board the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) Connect with Cathy Christian https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathycchristian/ Curtis Brown is the Director of Military Affairs for the Alamo PMI Chapter and Director of IT Project Management at Dynamic Advancement. Curtis is a Veteran having served for over 20 years within the United States Airforce. His passion is aiding transitioning and transitioned veterans and military spouses and building a network of support and guidance. Connect with Curtis https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtis-jbl-brown/ Learn more about veteran programs and lend a helping hand visit: VPMMA https://thevpmma.org/ NOVA Jobs Outreach https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=NOVA%20Jobs%20Outreach&sid=o(n Alamo PMI Chapter https://www.alamopmi.org/ Onward to Opportunity (O2O) https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/programs/career-training/ Thank you to THE PMO SQUAD and The PMO Leader for sponsoring this show. The PMO Squad awarded: Platinum Medallion by the United States HIRE Vets program! The HIRE Vets Medallion Award recognizes a company or organization’s commitment to veteran hiring, retention, and professional development. Learn more about The PMO Squad - www.thepmosquad.com