Profiles in leadership: recipients of the annual Project Leadership Awards serve as role models for all project managers. Here are their stories

Software Magazine, Spring, 2002 by Michael Hicks, Jim Johnson, Karen Larkowski

Lessons Learned:

Successful projects depend on detailed planning, strong communication, and establishing ownership. In the end, Thompson is most proud of the accomplishment of ownership.

Runner-up: Dee Pink

Organization: Modern Solutions, Reno, Nev.

Project: E-Commerce

Like many traditional companies, The Principal Financial Group, headquartered in Des Moines, approached the Internet with small steps. However, once the inherent value of the 'Net was perceived, the company discovered that the "face" that existed for the customer was not appropriate for the business. The company used Modern Solutions, an Internet solutions company in Reno, Nev., to help with their e-business alignment and Web development project. The project called for the redesign of the Principal Financial Group's Web site--tying company Internet strategies into the new design. The goals, established internally, were to enhance branding strategies and usability, and to provide a more consistent customer service look and feel.

Runner-up: Gary Shopritz,

Organization: VIP Foodservice, Maui

Project: eOrders

VIP Foodservice is a major supplier of food and consumables for hotels and restaurants on the island of Maul. VIP Foodservice needed to get its daily orders in faster, cheaper, and more accurately. The company set up a process so that clients could send in their orders electronically, allowing them to fill out their own orders and submit them when they were complete. This cur data entry rime and expense. Since clients filled out their own orders, any mistakes would be the customer's responsibility. The project took two people less than a year to complete. The success of the project is attributed to a small rapid deliverable as well as a close working relationship with the clients.

Runner-up: James P. Clancy

Organization: Xerox Corp., Stamford, Conn.

Project: Territory Configurator

Stamford, Conn.-based Xerox Corp's Territory Configurator was designed to assign salespeople to every business across the United States. The system replaced the then-current Sun workstation system with a client/server system. The project reduced annual operating expenses by 90%. The success of the project is attributed to user involvement.

Runner-up: Wayne Caya

Organization: Wachovia Operational Services, Wachovia Corp., Winston-Salem, N.C.

Project: Wachovia Connection Plus

For Wachovia Corp., Winston-Salem, N.C., the goal of the Connection-Plus project was to allow Internet access to its global cash management product. This was a very large project and, until Wayne Caya took it over, was nor going well. In 12 months Caya implemented a new process, which cut overruns and reduced errors. He used rapid small incremental deliverables with high-quality metrics to improve the process. Each project was done in 90-day cycles. Since there are three groups, Wachovia released a project every month.

Runner-up: WT Browne

Organization: Minnesota Dept. of Human Services

Project: Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System

When faced with the need to support a federal initiative to provide better access to information across the state, Minnesota had a problem. The state had no standardized way of accessing or storing information among the 84 counties, and the computer systems in place were not user friendly. The task was to create a standard way of storing and collecting data. The project set up a central database where information from each county would be stored at the end of day in order to create one point of contact to run statewide reports.