Welcome to Carolyn Brown, APM’s newest Trustee

Association for Project Management (APM), the chartered membership organisation for the project profession, is proud to announce the appointment of Carolyn Brown as a new member of its Board of Trustees.

Here, Carolyn shares her views on issues affecting the profession and how she will help APM achieve its strategic goals.

Tell us about your professional background

When I left university, I ended up working at Avis car rental and leasing. At the time, Avis was rolling out a new mainframe system and everybody in the company, even me who had just joined, had to complete the system training. As it turned out, I really enjoyed the training and I finished it very quickly, so they asked me to help with their training programme for the system rollout. That was really the start of my career in tech, because I very quickly became involved in, not just the training of the system itself, but also in the development and project management of the programmes that sat in the mainframe.

Subsequently, I worked for Hilton International looking after software developers and systems for four years. I then became an IT Director for an international law firm and from there moved to a similar role in a global investment firm, this involved scaling up lots of project related work as the organisation was growing rapidly. I stayed there for twelve years before moving into not-for-profit roles. I took a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) role at the National Housing Federation which is a membership organisation which looks after the housing associations in England. During all these roles, I was absorbing different technology as it went to market, so it was a huge learning experience, lots of project related work across the whole remit of technology and digital.

My current role is as Chief Information Officer (CIO) with the British Medical Association (BMA). I look after the digital and technology remit across the BMA, that includes everything from security, development, business intelligence etc. It’s quite an expansive role but, just relating it back to APM, there’s not a day that goes by where we don’t talk about projects, so it’s part and parcel of what I have done for most of my career.

What was your reaction when you heard that you were being appointed to APMs Board of Trustees?

I was thrilled by the appointment to APM's Board and am grateful for the support from BMA's co-CEOs, which allows me to dedicate time to this role. I value the opportunity to contribute to APM's mission and am eager to give the role the attention it deserves.

How do you feel your skills and qualities will enrich the APM Board and help APM achieve its strategic goals?

I believe my diverse project experience and understanding of organisational success will support APM's strategic goals. I look forward to applying my insights to help APM thrive.

What are you most looking forward to as a new member of the Board?

I’m really excited to get to know my new colleagues on the Board and in the wider business. I’m also looking forward to becoming more knowledgeable about the challenges and opportunities within APM, for me it’s all about learning and understanding. Identifying the areas where I can help, target, and focus on.

What do you see as the biggest opportunity and the biggest challenge for the project profession right now?

I see the Charter as a significant opportunity for professional recognition and standard. How do we amplify that? How do we amplify the significance of its charter not just for existing members, but new members?

The challenge lies in adapting to the rapid growth of technology and maintaining professional standards amid an increasing number of projects. We’re living in a constantly changing environment, particularly with the growth of technology and digital, projects are amassing regularly, and the advent of this tech means that organisations are actually adopting the “notion” of project management far more frequently across the board, and I think we need to keep up with the pace in order to make sure that a high standard of professionalism is not diluted by the growth of projects in itself no matter what the scale or complexity.

Is there any particular business activity or strategic element that you’re keen to be involved in as a member of APM’s Board?

I think APM as an association itself is what excites me the most to be involved with. Overall, I’m really looking forward to just getting started and getting to know my fellow trustees and the wider team. Let’s see, there may be specific activities where my experience or support in general could be useful.