Celia Desmond
President, World Class – Telecommunications

Room BA 2175
Bahen Centre for Information Technology
University of Toronto - St. George Campus
40 St. George Street  map - code BA

The use of proper project management is rapidly becoming a requirement in many telecommunications oriented companies and environments. Use of Project Management tools and techniques can make the difference between meeting or not meeting budgetary and time requirements. Meeting these constraints is becoming more and more critical and the competition escalates, and companies compete for shares of the market. Sometimes an even more significant problem is the customer satisfaction – which is closely related to producing what the customer wants, within the required cost and time. Or more accurately, producing what the customer really wants. At the same time, the satisfaction of the team members is also a priority. All of these requirements can be met by using Project Management processes.

This brief talk highlights the importance of the aspects of Project Management which are advocated by the Project Management Institute, the international organization that certifies Project Managers. We will lightly overview the Project Management processes, which include Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Procurement Management, Risk Management, Communications, Quality, Human resources and Integration.

Celia Desmond is President of World Class – Telecommunications, which provides training in management skills in business and telecommunications engineering environments. She was instrumental in creating a Masters Program and a Certificate Program at University of Toronto. She has lectured internationally on programs for success in today’s changing environment. At Stentor Resource Centre Inc. she was instrumental in establishing the Stentor culture and processes, and in obtaining buy-in from the employees to adopt and grow the new organization. She developed and implemented processes for service/product development and for project governance. As Director - Industry Liaison, she was the external technical linkage to the Stentor owner companies, their customers, and the international technical community In various positions at Bell Canada, Celia provided strategic direction to corporate planners, ran technology and service trials, standardized equipment, and issued guidelines for the member companies. In Celia's previous line positions, her groups provided technical and project management support to large business clients. She is author of Project Management for Telecommunications Managers, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers (now Springer).

Celia was the 2007 Director and Secretary of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), and she was 2006 IEEE Vice President – Technical Activities. She was also 2004-2006 Vice President Membership for IEEE Engineering Management Society. She was 2002-2003 President of IEEE Communications Society. In 2000-2001 Celia was President of IEEE Canada, and she served her second term on the Board of Directors of IEEE as Region 7 Director. She was 1997-1998 Division III Director. She has twice served in the IEEE Audit Committee, including serving as Chair, and actively participated in numerous other TAB, RAB, IEEE and Society committees. She was 2004 Chair of the IEEE Transnational Committee. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the IEEE Canada Foundation where she is the Donations Chair. Celia was awarded the Donald J. McLellan Award for meritorious service to IEEE Communications Society, the Engineering Institute of Canada John B. Sterling Medal in May 2000, and the IEEE Millennium award. She is a Senior Member of IEEE.

She is co-editor of Journal of Communication and Information Systems in Brazil, and on the Advisory Board for New Jersey Institute of Technology Engineering Department.

Celia holds a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Carleton University, a B.Sc. in Mathematics & Psychology from Queens University, an Ontario Teaching Certificate and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Celia has taught kindergarten, high school, and at three universities, Ryerson School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology, and University of Toronto.