PMI Carolina Virtual Meeting - Climbing the Curve: Becoming the AI-Fluent PM
Topic: Climbing the Curve: Becoming the AI-Fluent PM
Learning Objectives:
- Trace the evolution of AI's role in project management — from early automation and scheduling tools to today's AI-augmented workflows — to understand why "AI replaces PMs" is the wrong frame, and "AI redefines what PMs are valuable for" is the right one.
- Classify and select AI tools by category to match the right tool to the right PM task — moving from "AI might replace me" to "I decide what AI does for me."
- Build a personal AI-fluency action plan PMs will leave with a method for a concrete next step toward becoming the PM their organization can't automate around.
Inputs for PDU Processor:
- Top Skills - Advanced Resource and Project Management Software, Strategic Thinking
- Highly Desirable/Market Driven Project Skills - Generative AI, Aligning Projects and Organizational Strategy
- Talent Triangle - Power Skills - Innovation and Growth Mindset, Leadership
Speaker: Mark Cichonski
Speaker Bio:
Mark Cichonski, SSMBB, PMP, PgMP, is a Data and AI Executive with 28 years of experience turning chaotic data environments into strategic business assets — and the author of The CDO Cookbook, a practical playbook for modern data leadership.
Mark's career sits at the intersection of program management discipline and data governance strategy. As a Program Management Professional (PMP), Program Management Professional (PgMP), and Six Sigma Master Black Belt, he has directed delivery portfolios exceeding $300M, built PMOs from the ground up, and led enterprise transformation initiatives across financial services and healthcare — including senior roles at Wells Fargo, Wellstar Health System, Allwyn Corporation, and RGP.
At Wellstar Health System, Mark executed data governance strategy, applying Collibra-based cataloging and stewardship frameworks that improved enterprise data quality scores by 25% in a single year, while managing board-level metrics reporting and Master Data Management implementation. Earlier, as Executive Director at Tactegra, he built government services delivery from the ground up, standing up two PMOs and driving $100M in portfolio cost savings.
A Collibra Ranger-certified practitioner, Mark specializes in helping organizations close the gap between AI ambition and data readiness — showing leaders that the barrier to AI success is rarely the algorithm, it's the foundation underneath it. He holds certificates in Business Analytics from The Wharton School and Data Science from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Mark speaks and writes about turning data chaos into decisions that stick — showing leaders that AI doesn't create the gaps in their data foundation, it exposes them. He is currently applying his data governance into a new space…CyberSecurity!
