Ruby B. Harvey, PMP

Dereje Tessema has been a long time friend and mentor to me.   His grasp of project management is one of his most admirable professional attributes.  In his book, “How This Happened” he has now taken his subject mastery in the area of project management and applied it to a thought provoking analysis of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and ultimate move to the White House.  I found Dereje’s book to be a compelling yet very pleasurable read.  I especially appreciated the personal experiences and insights that he shared in the book.   His talent for storytelling did not at all surprise me as he has always displayed academic excellence and political astuteness.   All of these skills are evident in his excellent new book.

Having served many years as a senior project manager for the Federal Government, I could relate to all of the contrasts that Dereje made to compare project management practices to those used by Mr. Obama to successfully complete his own “project”.   I congratulate Dereje on an outstanding first publication which will no doubt become required reading for future students of project management.   I highly recommend Dereje’s book to anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of the parallels of project management and the Obama “campaign project”.

Ruby Harvey is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) having gained over 20 years of experience with Fortune 500 companies and the Federal Government.  Most recently, she served as Chief, Procurement Systems for the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.  Mrs. Harvey is an award winning project manager and is a highly regarded project management consultant and speaker.   She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Jackson State University, a Master of Science in Information and Telecommunications Systems degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Post Graduate Certificate in Electronic Commerce from Johns Hopkins University.  Mrs. Harvey is currently Executive Director of Harcon Services LLC a project management-consulting firm located in the Washington/Baltimore area.  In addition, she serves on the advisory board for Morgan State University’s new Master of Science in Project Management program in Baltimore, Maryland.  Mrs. Harvey is a member of the EMRWM Chamber of Commerce in Baltimore County, Maryland, where she serves on the Workforce Development Committee.  Her past affiliations include the Executive Women in Government and the National Capital Area Chapter (NCAC) of the American Society for Public Administration.  She served on the Executive Council of NCAC from 2004-2007.

Walter McCollum, PhD

In “How This Happened: An Analysis of how Barack Obama used his Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership skills to win his Campaign Project”, Dereje synthesizes the breadth of both Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Transformational Leadership and shows how President Obama applied and integrated the concepts into the project management framework – As a result, he became the 44th President of the United States of America. Dereje’s research will serve invaluable to researchers, scholar-practitioners and leaders in various industries globally. His research will also contribute immensely to the political, project management, leadership and emotional intelligence bodies of knowledge. As Dereje’s faculty mentor and dissertation committee chair, I will use this book as a model to guide student research in the areas of emotional intelligence and transformational leadership.

Dr. Walter R. McCollum is a Professor of Management and Technology at Walden University; President of McCollum Enterprise, LLC; and Author of three books in the areas of management and personality. He is an accomplished organizational development expert with 20 years experience in government and private industry.  His area of expertise includes customer relationship management (CRM) environments, strategic planning; quality management and process improvement, and program and project management. Dr. McCollum is ISO 9001 Certified, CMMI trained; registered Organizational Development Consultant; and holds a PhD in Applied Management and Decision Sciences, specializing in Leadership and Organizational Change.