21 November 2012 | Panel Discussion event - Leadership and Decision Making
How to nurture Leadership and Decision Making traits? - 2 PDUs

The session is not meant to address technical questions or issues. The session will cover only general management areas. For the current month, the discussion will be focused on Leadership and Decision Making Skills.

History shows us that only very few are born leaders. Many other successful persons  have learnt and developed the leadership traits.

Project Managers are expected lead the project to success. Leadership is a must trait for the project managers since they are answerable to all the stake holders.  Leaders are expected to take tough and timely decisions.  Many projects fail either because of indecision or decisions not taken in time.  Therefore, every project manager must nurture leadership and decision-making qualities.

SPMI organizes this panel discussion headed by two experienced project managers and an experienced facilitator. Join this interactive discussion session, share the challenges faced by you and learn from the experts on harnessing your leadership skills.

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Panelists:

BenFox

Ben Fox
Managing Director, TechCaliber Consulting

Ben Fox is a Managing Director at TC2 based in London, UK. Ben specializes in leading complex global telecom procurement projects, typically spanning multiple geographical regions, technologies and vendors. The value of these procurements range from $10 million to over $1 billion, often involve migration of major corporate networks, and deliver 7- or 8-figure savings to the client.

Ben helps large corporations make important decisions on telecom deals worth millions of dollars on regular basis.  Ben has a deep understanding of all the critical tasks required to implement client procurement strategies, including writing tender documents, analyzing baseline costs and inventory, complex modelling of the Total Cost of Ownership of supplier bids and different deal scenarios, and leading negotiations with suppliers. He combines meticulous analysis and preparation with a constructive, rather than adversarial, approach to negotiations to gain maximum benefit for clients. Ben has led the negotiations for some of the industry's largest and most complex enterprise telecom transactions.

Ben also has extensive experience in global wireless services, including numerous U.S. wireless procurements, in-country and pan-European wireless deals, and global wireless procurements encompassing services throughout North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Ben has also assisted his clients in assessing the potential benefits of managed mobility services on a global basis. 

Ben became a TC2 consultant after serving in the London telecommunications sourcing group of the Deloitte consulting arm. At Deloitte, Ben specialized in telecommunications network sourcing and outsourcing projects, including $100 million+ long-term telecom outsourcing deals for large UK companies. Ben holds a Master of Science in Physics from the Imperial College London University.

Bhakthavatchalam_Balaji

Bhakthavatchalam Balaji
Client Service Director, CSC Computer Sciences Corporation

Balaji is currently the Client Services Director for CSC Computer Sciences Corporation. He possesses around 20 years of IT industry experience, in various leading organisations such as ITC Information Systems, Apex Systems Singapore and CSC Computer Sciences Corporation. Of the total experience 17 years in CSC based in Singapore on a regional role deputed to Malaysia, Thailand, India to setup the delivery practice.

His experience spans over Business Development Support, P&L Responsibility for a geography, Responsible for utilization , Project/ Program Management, Services Management, Customer services, Service Level Management, IT budgeting. Instrumental in PMO office set-up for project delivery in South Asia giving sales support, Team building in South Asia, offshore team setup and management in India for Asia, Account management of IT projects which includes development of relationships and program management of various projects across geographies. He played a major role in selling professional services and building the consultancy business for CSC in South Asia.

He holds a Masters in Computer Science from Birla Institute of Technology and completed a Executive Leadership Diploma from Cornell University.

Facilitator: 

SreeniKatta

Sreeni Katta
Senior Consultant, TechCaliber Consulting

Sreeni Katta is a Senior Affiliated Consultant heading TC2’s Asia Pacific region. With a background spanning roles with corporate users, carriers, and IT vendors, Sreeni has management experience with an unusually broad range of complex solutions, including WANs, Internet Services, IP Networks, VoIP, Wireless Services, LANs, Secure Gateways, Wi-Fi services, Unified Communications and Hosted Services.

As leader of TC2’s Asia Pacific practice, Sreeni splits his time between Melbourne, Singapore, and Hyderabad, where he assists clients with in-country, regional and global services. He has performed domestic RFPs in Australia saving up to 37%, and in India with savings up to 50%. Sreeni’s work also extends to US domestic projects, providing a unique breadth of experience to our US-based multinational clients.

Sreeni came to TC2 with several years of prior experience at General Motors, IBM, AT&T and HP.  Other carriers and vendors with whom he has experience in both in-house and outsourcing deals, ranging up to $1 billion, include Telstra, SingTel, Reliance, China Telecom, Vodafone, EDS, and HP. Sreeni also held several IT-related roles with the Queensland Government in Australia.

Sreeni's management and technical background enables him to work with clients to realize efficiencies at every stage of the life cycle of telecommunication services -- from procurement to operations. His strategic thinking and pragmatic operational oriented approach gains results both in analyzing and benchmarking costs and closing deals with carriers. Sreeni is an electronics engineer with a Master of IT degree from QUT, Australia, and an MBA from Massey University, New Zealand. He is a PMP (Project Management Professional) and also a certified ITIL Expert, the highest qualification available for an ITIL practitioner at present, as well as a regular speaker at telecommunications conferences throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Date: 21 November 2012, Wednesday

Time: 7.30pm to 9.30pm, Registration and Buffet Dinner (vegetarian and non-vegetarian halal) starts from 6:30pm

Location: SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business, 50 Stamford Road, Seminar Room 1.2 (Level 1)

SPMI Members: SGD 40.00

Non-Members: SGD 60.00

PDUs: 2

PMI Singapore Chapter (SPMI) members, please log-in to the website prior to the registration to avail the members' rate.