PMI Austria Forum Day 2025

Petra Draxl is a member of the AMS Executive Board since 2023. Prior to that, she was Managing Director of the Public Employment Service Vienna. The AMS (Public Employment Service Austria) has been at the forefront of all economic and social events in recent years. In the context of the pandemic, the AMS had to scale up its support for companies virtually overnight (short-time work). The AMS is also responsible for integrating recognized refugees into the labor market, which presented enormous challenges first in 2015 and then again in 2022. Currently, the AMS is tasked with counteracting the effects of the economic downturn on the labor market. All of these challenges are addressed with professional project and process management methods, and the AMS has a remarkably high success rate in this area.  

Petra Draxl can therefore report firsthand on how her organization deals with turbulences and share her lessons learned with us.   

Topic: From Short-time Work to Refugee Integration: Managing Complex Labor Market Challenges  

Ike is the Chair of the PMI Board of Directors and will join us as the Closing Keynote Speaker, bringing with him over 25 years of global leadership in project, program, and portfolio management across multiple sectors, for a diverse range of multinational organizations across the United Kingdom and Africa. 

He currently serves as Managing Director of Distinct Management Ltd and has held various impactful roles within PMI – including past President of the PMI Nigeria Chapter, past Region Mentor for Africa, and past Chair of PMI’s Governance Committee. He has served on the PMI Board since 2021. 

Beyond his impressive career, Ike is a passionate speaker and co-author of Developing Global Leaders: Insights from African Case Studies. 

Closing Keynote  

Thomas Jirku has been working at IBM Austria since 2015 as a Senior Data Scientist, providing technical consulting to clients in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Prior to that, he held positions at companies such as HP and Siemens in Germany and South Africa. 

 Topic: Agentic AI in Project Management – Value or Chaos? 

David Cuillé is an Agile Transformation Coach, Speaker, Trainer, and author of articles with over a decade of experience in Agile project delivery. Now back to consulting after 3 years as "Guild lead for business agility" to lead the successive agile transformations, he learned to select the appropriate frameworks to respond to both context of the organization and maturity of the teams. His extensive certifications from the industry, including PMP; Disciplined Agile Coach and Disciplined Agile Value Stream Consultant from PMI gave him the insights to tailor fit-for-purpose organizational transformation and delivery models. His IKIGAI is to “ Manifest systems that foster joy and effectiveness.” 

Topic: Mastering the Chaos: How Companies Built End-to-End Delivery Systems That Work

Stefan Müller is a Director and SAP Practice Leader in the Technology Consulting team of PwC Austria. He has been commissioned to manage large projects and programs (up to 300 FTE, up to 35 countries at the same time) on many occasions. In his most recent roles, he was involved in two large SAP S/4 initiatives as Senior Project Manager and Program Manager. He is a team player and has dealt with a variety of stakeholder groups (e.g. C-level, business, IT, customers, suppliers, etc.). 

Hannes Ruess spearheads the largest digital transformation initiative within the Greiner Group, a distinguished family-owned global leader in plastic and foam solutions, operating with over 11,000 employees across 32 countries. With a remarkable 25-year career in managing global IT organizations across various manufacturing sectors, Hannes possesses rich expertise in shaping digital visions and simplifying complex changes into easily comprehensible visual narratives for diverse stakeholders. Hannes approaches change holistically, focusing on the triad of "process," "technology," and "people," and is a steadfast advocate for the transformative power of change.  

Topic: Sailing Through Unknown Waters: Mastering Risk Management in Multi-Year ERP S/4 HANA Journeys 

Ferenc Hudak is a Solution Architect with over eight years of experience in designing and implementing complex Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions. For the last five years, he has focused on ServiceNow's SPM (Strategic Portfolio Management) and Enterprise Architecture modules, leading the integration into diverse and complex IT environments for companies in various markets such as Energy, Financial services, Manufacturing, and Industrial or Commodity Trading. His main goal during the implementation is to understand the IT landscape that our solution needs to fit into and to support strategic thinking around the entire platform, not just focusing on a single PPM solution. 

Topic: The Rise of the Strategic Project Manager: Aligning Business, Technology & Market Trends in Real Time 

With nearly six years of experience in the IT industry, first as a ServiceNow Technical Consultant and now as a Sales Manager, Junior Soma combines technical understanding with a strong focus on customer value. His background in the hospitality industry has shaped his passion for service excellence and clear communication. Today, he acts as a facilitator, helping organizations bridge the gap between their needs and meaningful, results-driven solutions. He is committed to delivering maximum value, building trust and driving long-term satisfaction. His approach focuses on understanding client challenges and transforming them into opportunities for impactful and sustainable success. 

Topic: The Rise of the Strategic Project Manager: Aligning Business, Technology & Market Trends in Real Time 

Christopher J. Rothschedl is a mechanical engineer with leadership experience with machinery in mining, geotechnical engineering, and railway construction. He currently heads the Life Cycle and Digital Services Competence Centre at Plasser & Theurer, where his work centers on extending the life of heavy machinery through circular strategies and service-based business models — combining engineering excellence with a strong commitment to sustainable value creation. He believes true leadership in engineering means thinking long-term, acting responsibly, and empowering others to do the same. 

Topic: Delivering Sustainability Under Pressure – When the Plan Meets Reality: Extending the Life of Railway Track Machines 

Lucila Dotto is Head of Sustainability at PMI and Lead for the PMI-GPM Joint Venture, where she focuses on PMI's transformative effort to mainstream Sustainability and Regenerative practices in the global project management profession. Her experience includes leading global purpose strategies at KPMG, co-founding a consultancy in culture and leadership, and leading key areas of education and innovation at Universidad de San Andrés.  She is committed to purposeful, sustainable transformation across organizations and individuals. 

Opening Keynote  

Christof Kier is Head of the Special Projects & Operations Team (SPOT), responsible for supporting and leading strategic and complex projects and initiatives. As the global Process Owner, he is also in charge of the company-wide project management framework. For his doctoral research on stakeholder management at WU Vienna, he was awarded the PMI Thesis Research Grant in 2019. 

Topic: Turning the ship around: Collective Intelligence in Action - How SPOT Teams Transform Troubled Projects into Success Stories 

Roman Mittendorfer serves as Vice President Delivery & Strategic Operations and Governance Owner Delivery at Frequentis, where he plays a key role in all matters related to project management. Holding a PhD in Electrical Engineering, his research on leadership focuses particularly on approaches to collective intelligence. 

Topic: Turning the ship around: Collective Intelligence in Action - How SPOT Teams Transform Troubled Projects into Success Stories 

After earning his degree in Mechanical Engineering in Carinthia, Alexander Kagl began his career at a mid-sized company and later contributed to business growth in North America during a one-year stay in the U.S. with a consulting firm. He then managed the logistics supply chain for life-saving medicines at a leading pharmaceutical company. In 2006, he co-founded DYNACT Management Consulting GmbH in Vienna. Initially focused on classic project management, the firm has since expanded into change management, innovation, and team performance. Today, Alex supports international projects across 40+ countries. 

His expertise includes change management, startup support, project and crisis management, strategic PMOs, innovation and design thinking, executive coaching, and team development.  

Topic: The Future of PMO’s - Ensuring PMO’s Sustainability through Value Delivery Business Models 

Gerhard Friedrich is an expert in IT project management, governance, and communication. With a PhD in psychology, he has spent over 30 years bridging people and technology in complex organizations. He has led over 100 projects, mainly in insurance and public administration, focusing on socio-technical dynamics and stakeholder communication. 
As founder of several consulting firms and a long-time PMI Austria volunteer, he helps IT organizations and their leaders navigate complexity and achieve sustainable results. His “Communication-First” approach drives project success through genuine understanding and collaboration. 

Topic: A Systemic Approach for Projects in Turbulent Times 

Mark began his career in sales and marketing before moving into operations to develop his leadership skills. He soon took on special assignments for top management, leading to a long-term focus on project management. 

With over 30 years of experience, Mark has led quality, change, start-up, and reorganization projects across diverse industries and in around 30 countries. He built PMOs and competence centers, stabilized troubled projects, coached teams, and was co-founder and longtime president of PMI Chapter Austria. He also organized major PM events, advises organizations, teaches at universities, and remains an active and passionate project, program, and portfolio manager. 

Topic: The Future of PMO’s - Ensuring PMO’s Sustainability through Value Delivery Business Models