Predecessors (1990s)
In the early 1990s, a group of patriotic Canadians gathered together
to discuss the formation of a Canadian project management association to
be the national representative to the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and offer the IPMA 4-level competence-based
certification program in Canada. The group applied to the Canadian
federal government for the creation of a national non-profit
corporation, and on 16 February 1996 the government issued Letters
Patent, and the organization was born as "PMI Canada". Despite some
initial difficulties concerning trademark infringement, the organization
eventually negotiated a joint cooperation agreement with the Project Management Institute in the USA that included some seed financing to help
get them started. Unfortunately, there were significant challenges
creating a national organization with a group of individuals scattered
across a large country like Canada. Initial funds were quickly consumed
with the expense of travel and long-distance telephone calls. The
organization shut down within a couple of years.
Laying the Groundwork for a New Attempt (2000 to 2005)
Since the turn of the millennium, a number of Canadians had again been talking about forming a Canadian IPMA member association. In 2004-2005, Kevin Aguanno and Erik Hamburger discussed joining forces to incorporate a Canadian PM association to apply for IPMA membership with support from Stacy Goff of the USA IPMA member association, the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management (ASAPM, now known as IPMA-USA). This initial group expanded with the addition of Grant Kerr and later others.
This core group was determined to make another attempt at forming a
Canadian IPMA affiliate organization but this time, taking advantage of
new communication technologies to reduce travel and phone costs, making
the organization more viable. The new organization would focus on
delivering services using Web sites, teleconference calls, and webinars
wherever possible.
The Creation of PMAC-AGPC (2006)
In early 2006, the intial group expanded to include representation from across Canada, now including Kevin Aguanno, Sloan Campbell, Grant Kerr, Erik Hamburger, George Pasieka, and Bob Robinson. In the summer of that year, Andy Jordan and Beverly Pasian also joined the group. Max Wideman (who was involved in the earlier attempt to form a Canadian IPMA member association) acted as an advisor to the group, along with Stacy Goff of the ASAPM.
After a number of gatherings and the formation of the initial Board
of Directors, the association formally applied to the Canadian
government on 25 October 2006 to create a nationally-licensed non-profit
organization called the Project Management Association of Canada. The
Canadian Minister of Industry formally approved the application and
issued Letters Patent on January 18, 2007. The initial Board of
Directors consisted of Aguanno, Campbell, Hamburger, Kerr, Pasian,
Pasieka, and Robinson.
The Early Years (2007 to 2009)
After its official birth in January 2007, the association had a busy year getting itself organized, creating an initial web site, seeking new members, and beginning the process of preparing for official IPMA membership. Grant Kerr represented Canada at the IPMA World Congress in Krakow, Poland.
At the first annual general meeting in August 2007, the initial directors elected Beverly Pasian as president, Andy Jordan as Vice President, Kevin Aguanno and Grant Kerr as directors at large.
 Present at the 2007 AGM were (left to right) George Pasieka, Andy Jordan, Kevin Aguanno, and Grant Kerr. Beverly Pasian attended by telephone. |
The association grew quickly in 2008 redesigning and relaunching its
website, growing membership, and holding its first educational event presented by Mark-Kozak Holland. The association also began in-depth
discussions with the IPMA about applying to be recognized as Canada's official representative in the organization.
During 2008, Keith Farndale, Morley Selver, Paul Todd, Alex Jalaian, Bob Robinson, and Tamer Atiba joined the Board of Directors through presidential appointment, to be confirmed at the next AGM.
In August 2008, Aguanno and Pasian presented "Introducing the Project Management Association of Canada" at the Project Business Connections conference hosted by the University of Toronto's Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, increasing PMAC-AGPC's profile and spurring an influx of new members.
In fall of 2008, Jordan decided to end his term as Vice President, and Aguanno was elected by the board as interim Vice President, to be confirmed at the next AGM. In addition, Atiba was appointed as interim Director of Certification, pending formal election at the next annual general meeting.
On March 28, 2009 the PMAC-AGPC formally applied to the IPMA Council of Delegates in Nuremburg, Germany for membership. Grant Kerr made the formal presentation, and the IPMA delegates voted in favour of the application. PMAC was formally awarded membership status as a "transitional" member.
 Grant Kerr, PMAC Treasurer, making the formal request for PMAC membership in the IPMA |
In June of 2009, Beverly Pasian, PMAC president, traveled to
Helsinki, Finland to participate in the 2009 IPMA World Congress where
she represented the association and started building bridges with other
international associations.
In July of 2009, the association launched its new PM specialty certificates initiative starting with the Certified Agile Project Manager (Cert.APM) program. At the same time, it announced the formal adoption of the IPMA International Competence Baseline (ICB) version 3.0 as the standard for the Canadian National PM Competence Baseline. The first exam for the new agile certification was held on October 28 in Toronto. In November, the PMAC announced the first exam dates for the IPMA Level-D exam in Canada.
PMAC also launched is course accreditation programme in 2009, and accredited its first course from an external provider.
At the 5 December 2009 annual general meeting in Toronto, Beverly Pasian was reelected as president, Kevin
Aguanno was confirmed as Vice President, Grant Kerr retained his
position as Treasurer, and Morley Selver retained his position as
Secretary and was appointed Director of Certification. Remaining on the
board of directors were Alex Jalalian as Director of Awards, Paul Todd
as Director of Membership, Keith Farndale as a director at large, and
Bob Robinson as a director at large for western Canada. At the AGM, the
IPMA formally presented PMAC-AGPC with a list of five First Assessors who
have been approved by the IPMA for conducting PM assessments using the
IPMA 4 level certification program in Canada. Also at the event, the
first Canadian IPMA Level-D exam was written (and passed), leading to
the first award of an IPMA qualification on Canadian soil. Guest
speakers at the event included Lew Ireland from the ASAPM and Miles Shepherd from the IPMA.
Rapid Expansion (2010 to 2017)
2010 saw the association rapidly expand services to its members, its role in the community, and its world-wide presence. Promotional efforts dramatically expanded, membership grew significantly, a number of new IPMA Level-D qualifications were awarded, and many Certified Agile Project Manager qualifications, as this latter certification was adopted by the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo as the final exam for specific courses. A number of educational events were run via webinar, and the new specialty qualification, the Advanced Certificate in Critical and Structured Thinking, was added with the first exam scheduled at the December annual general meeting in Toronto. 2010 also saw the addition of the PMAC-AGPC awards program, consisting of the Canadian National Project Awards, the Canadian Project Management Book Awards, and the PMAC-AGPC Volunteer of the Year Awards. Finally, the association's course accreditation program saw a significant increase with new courses from training companies and universities. PMAC-AGPC representatives participated in an IPMA Council of Delegates meeting in Rejkavik, Iceland and the association had a booth at the ProjectWorld conference in Toronto, where we introduced the IPMA competence certification system to over 1,500 participants.
In 2010, the PMAC-AGPC annual general meeting expanded to include two one-day workshops followed by a one-day conference and the AGM. Guest speakers included Bill Richardson and Mark Kozak-Holland.
2011-2013 saw a continued expansion of the organization, with increasing membership, a strong increase in certification activity, and an active series of free webinars. PMAC began issuing IPMA Level-A, Level-B, and Level-C certifications in 2011, significantly expanding its impact on the Canadian PM landscape. 2013 saw Beverly Pasian and Kevin Aguanno inducted as the first Fellows of PMAC-AGPC for their contributions to the association and to the profession in Canada
PMAC-AGPC was the proud sponsor of the spring 2014 IPMA Council of Delegates (CoD) meeting, in which delegates from approximately 60 countries came together in Toronto to discuss and vote on significant issues. The event was held downtown Toronto at the prestigious 1 King St. West hotel and conference centre. It was the first time a CoD meeting was held outside Europe.
Throughout this period, PMAC-AGPC actively participated in IPMA events around the world.
Fresh New Perspectives (2018 to 2024)
Starting in 2018, PMAC-AGPC entered a period of transition and renewal as many of the long-time board members running the organization stepped back, transitioning their roles to others new to the organization. During this time Grant Kerr retired from his long tenure as Treasurer and handed over control to Chris Carter, Morley Selver transferred his responsibilities as Director of Certification (for over 10 years!) to Peter Milsom, and Kevin Aguanno ended his long tenure as president by transferring his responsibilities to Morteza Zohrabi. The governing board of the association also went through a significant transformation, growing the number of members and forming a number of committees to address various aspects of the running of the association. This period was characterized by great change, with a number of individuals joining the board for varying lengths of time, processes being changed and formalized, and new partnerships being undertaken. For example, for a time during the later part of this period, PMAC-AGPC shared its Director of Certification and its online examination systems with IPMA-USA, which was going through its own transformation. During this time, PMAC-AGPC also awarded its first candidates under IPMA's new PM Consultant, Coach, and Trainer (CCT) certification system.
PMAC also continued its (nearly) annual International Project Management Day conference, relaunched a revised Canadian Project Excellence Awards recognizing the country's top projects and project managers, launched its national branch of IPMA's initiative to engage early-career project managers via Young Crew Canada that participated in the YC Global PM Case Competition (GeCCo), and ran a very successful online event (Women in Project Management) during the COVID-19 crisis that had over 900 attendees, expanding its outreach across Canada and around the world.
What's Next? (2025+)
What does the future hold for the association? It's hard to predict in this fast-changing world; however, a few things are certain:
- We will continue to administer the IPMA PM certifications and our national PM specialty certifications in Canada
- We will still host the annual International PM Day celebrations and the Canadian Project Excellence Awards
- We will grow our engagement with tomorrow's project leaders through Young Crew Canada
- We will strive to be a guiding light for the PM profession in Canada