The TSI Project Management Training Store

Management

Wes Balakian

Founder & CEO

Mr. Balakian, PMP, founded TSI in 1999 and has successfully led the company to consistent, profitable growth, global expansion in five continents and the successful delivery of project management services to more than 1000 companies.

Mr. Balakian is a published author, accomplished speaker and successful instructor who has delivered training and consulting services to organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad. He holds an Advanced Master's Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University's School of Business and will complete the Project Management Institute's (PMI's) Leadership Institute Masters Class in 2007. Under Mr. Balakian's leadership TSI pioneered project management training delivery through worldwide podcasts with its "Lunchtime Lecture Series".

Prior to founding TSI, Mr. Balakian's has twenty years experience in program and project management. He served with EDS as a Senior Program Manager, in the Office of the CIO, Verizon as a Managing Consultant in the project management office and MCI as a Program Manager.

With a long history of volunteerism, and a true project management evangelist, Mr. Balakian has been instruamental in changing the way project management is delivered, perceived and globally received. He has been a member of PMI since 1999 and was a founding member of PMI's e-Business SIG. Mr. Balakian has held several board positions throughout his tenure at PMI and has conducted courses for PMI's Seminars World, eSeminars World and also serves as a senior instructor and course development contributor for ESI International, in advanced project management. He currently serves as PMI Component Mentor and has accepted a position on the Component Mentor Program Member Advisory Group (CMP-MAG).

Mr. Balakian is well versed in corporate culture and change management as it relates to organizational maturity and is well-known for his practical expertise as a successful mentor and facilitator. He participated in the development of PMI's Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) methodology, as a subject matter expert for process management. His experience includes development of critical business process improvement strategies along with short and long-term strategic planning for executive management teams. Mr. Balakian has extensive knowledge in implementation and management of complex, business-to-business solutions for Internet commerce, supply chain and client relationship management and workforce optimization and planning.

Lorie B. Gibbons

Chief Operating Officer

As TSI's Chief Operating Officer, Lorie Gibbons is responsible for implementation of the company's overall vision, developing and marketing TSI's world class consulting and training products and services. Further responsibilities include financial oversight, securing and managing future mergers/acquisitions and strategic partnerships in support of the company's long-term growth. Her leadership skills will play a critical role in TSI's continued profitability and recognition in the ever-changing project management industry.

Her broad experience as a strong client advocate who has a deep understanding of the project management issues facing organizations today, positions her to provide leadership to TSI's senior management team in order to enhance the company's competitive advantage. Lorie believes that project management, once embraced by a company, truly affects change in an organization and is an enabler for companies to be competitive and successful. She is committed to providing measurable solutions for TSI's clients that enable them to meet their strategic plans and deliver business results.

Prior to becoming COO at TSI, Lorie was founder and CEO of PM ATLAS Business Group, a WBE project management service company, based in Fort Worth, Texas. Gibbons was responsible for articulating and directing the company's overall vision, developing and marketing products and services to a broad client base.

In her 20 years of implementing and delivering IT and business projects, she has primarily been focused on project management best practices, data management, business process re-engineering and training. She has managed and delivered various supply chain, IT and business projects to several Fortune 100 customers, including Radio Shack, Cash America, Fed Ex, Carter & Burgess, Transamerica and Alcon Labs.

Lorie is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) through Project Management Institute where she participates and supports local community organizations, as well as volunteers with local education providers such as Texas Christian University. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience through writing, speaking and mentoring young adults in graduate & master level supply chain and project management education programs.

Gary Griffith

Chief Financial Officer

Gary has played a key role in TSI's continued growth as he provides strategic financial planning, budgeting and forecasting for all of TSI's business groups.

Gary's extensive experience includes more than 25 years of broad-based financial and operations experience focused on large national and entrepreneurial companies in high-tech, industrial, retail and education industries. His experience includes early stage startup firms and companies with worldwide operations in manufacturing, professional services, sales and distribution. Gary has expertise in establishing company financial infrastructures, investor relations, cash management, financial reporting, forecasting and entity financing, business plan development and implementation, audit management and production planning.

Prior to joining TSI, Gary held various executive and management positions within Johnson Controls, Inc., The Art Institute of Dallas, Shabang!, Inc., U.S. Filter Corporation and Inter-Tel Inc.

Gary holds a BS degree in Accounting, from the University of Delaware and is a licensed CPA in the State of Texas since 1992.

Eric S. Norman, PMP, PgMP

Chief Strategy Officer

Eric is a skilled lecturer, consultant and leader with extensive business process design experience supporting a broad array of companies across the IT industry. He is a frequent presenter at trade conferences at the Local, Regional, National and International level, and is a recognized authority on project Work Breakdown Structures. He was selected to lead the Project Management Institute’s update to the Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures- Second Edition, published in October of 2006. As the 2007 recipient of the Linn Stuckenbruck Person of the Year award, Mr. Norman was recently recognized by PMI for his contributions to the Project Management Profession.

Over the past twenty years, Mr. Norman has specialized in the process of project management – consulting, mentoring and leading project and business process improvement efforts for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AT&T, Sprint, Delta Air Lines, Norfolk Southern and CSX Railroads.

In 1999 Mr. Norman established the mentoring program for PMI’s Information Technology and Telecommunication Specific Interest Group (ITT SIG) and additionally served recently as chair for the nationally-recognized Mentoring Program of the Atlanta PMI Chapter.

In 2000 Mr. Norman founded the Atlanta Chapter of the Microsoft Project Association (MPA) and led the organization as chair through May of 2003. He has published numerous articles for The Project Network and PMI Today newsletters and regularly contributes to a variety of trade publications. Currently, Mr. Norman is a member of PMI’s Certification Governance Council and Consensus Body. Mr. Norman is also a member of the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) International Project Management Standard team for ISO/PC 236, and graduated from PMI’s Leadership Institute Master Class in May of 2007. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from Hartt College of Music and a Masters Certification in Project Management from George Washington University. Mr. Norman lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Joyce - while his son, Peter is an associate in International Law with Milbank Tweed in Singapore.

Tim Bergmann, PMP

Chief Learning Officer

Mr. Bergmann is a highly qualified project manager with three decades of experience managing a wide variety of information systems projects.

Mr. Bergmann's experience includes project management, operations management, infrastructure planning and implementation, business continuance planning, customer service, business development, corporate training and training departments. He has created multiple project management certification and professional skills courses as well as co-authoring the best selling CISA study guide marketed by Sybex, an imprint of Wiley Publishing.

Mr. Bergmann credentials include Project Management Institute's Certified Project Management Professional PMP and Disaster Recovery Institute's Business Continuity Professional.

Mr. Bergmann has seen a progressive management career with several local companies such as Compass Computer Service, Zale Corporation, Chief Auto Parts and B. R. Blackmarr/BrightStar Technology Group. As a consultant, he has worked multiple with Fortune 100 companies in a project management role.

Mr. Bergmann has performed premier projects for the world's largest auto manufacturer, a leading insurance and investment provider, the world's largest jewelry retailer and a local transaction network and financial services provider.

Dianne M. La Fon

Director - Process Management Practice

Dianne is an accomplished, results-driven IT professional with extensive experience translating complex business process improvement requirements into technology solutions for clients. She has spent more than a decade combining her technical skills with innate talents for organization and documentation to help foster and achieve process efficiency.

Dianne specializes in analyzing internal business applications and processes, identifying key areas of business process improvement and developing tools for automating and improving process procedures and knowledge transfer across an organization. She also leads teams of project managers in large scale client BPI initiatives.

Dianne also serves as an adjunct instructor with the University of Dallas where she teaches courses in business process mapping and management, techniques for documenting business processes, identifying and analyzing weaknesses, developing improved processes, and continuous improvement.

Prior to joining TSI, Dianne served in a wide range of technical roles; such as programmer analyst, systems analyst/developer and senior software engineer. Her expertise in analyzing and improving IT projects and environments led her to examine methods for optimizing business processes in a broad variety of markets including IT, petrochemical, transportation and travel, tax accounting, and pharmaceutical.

Dianne has consulted to a number of companies including Verizon, La Quinta Hotels, Citgo, Cap Gemini Energy, Crossmark, Horizon Lines and NCH Inc.

Dianne holds a B.S. from Louisiana State University and a MBA in Information Technology from the University of Dallas.