An effort to study project management at a higher level led Diane Williams to become the first Jamaican with Programme Management Professional (PgMP) certification, joining a small group of individuals worldwide holding this qualification.

Williams began her journey at the Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM), where she pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, majoring in marketing and graduating with a distinction from the programme.

With more than 10 years’ experience working in the telecommunications industry in Jamaica, she sought to complement her practical knowledge with appropriate qualification. She began exploring several options and had to decide between the PgMP and Project Manament Professional (PMP) programmes.

After examining several doctoral-level programmes, she was dissatisfied with the level of emphasis placed on project management itself. According to her, she wanted a globally recognised certificate in project management.

“During my research, I discovered that PgMP certification was a more senior programme to the PMP and that over 800,000 people worldwide had this qualification (PMP) in comparison to 1,300 people globally with the PgMP. Additionally, no one else in Jamaica had this certification,” she recalled.

As a new immigrant to Canada she found this a challenge, and believed that having global recognition would open more doors for her.

“I was able to adjust quickly, because I had the experience and now this new knowledge that taught different methodologies needed not just to manage individual projects, but to also manage a host of projects at a time,” she stated.

“This certification means I am now a senior-level practitioner on the forefront of advancing the strategic goals of any company I work with, and I can work on multiple related projects in a coordinated way, unlike if several different people had to be hired to manage these projects separately,” she explained.

A former St Andrew High School student and graduate in computer science from the University of Technology (Utech), she credits her success in the PgMP programme to her grounding in marketing at MSBM.

“My degree in business administration helped me with tying business concepts and business-related issues which we encounter in the working world. The best thing coming from that programme was my business acumen, which led to me taking a holistic approach to project and programme management,” she stated.

Williams said she migrated to Canada after her certification, because the local job market had very few openings for persons with her qualification and experience.

For now, she says she hopes her success will be an inspiration to younger women to pursue higher certification, particularly her sister and other women professionals in the IT industry where men dominate.

“Everything is a project, everything can be ‘projectised’, and having a senior qualification like this complements and enhances the experience you get in the field,” she said.

“Having a senior qualification like an MBA or a doctorate doesn’t necessarily prepare you for on-the-ground project management, and with a growing demand for project management professionals, this is a worthwhile investment,” she declared.