AIPM Honorary Fellowship for Telstra CEO Andy Penn

The Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) has awarded an Honorary Fellowship to the CEO of Telstra, Andy Penn, for his leadership and support of the profession of project management in Australia.

The AIPM’s Fellowship program aims to recognise members of the project management community who have rendered exceptional service to the Institute and are prominent in the profession of project management.

Penn is the first Australian-based Honorary Fellow of the AIPM. Through the fellowship, the Institute recognises his efforts to promote and acknowledge the importance of project management in the delivery and implementation of successful business strategies.

The Telstra CEO has been a vocal advocate for the profession of project management throughout his career, including in his previous role as CEO of AXA Australia Group, and has led some of Australia’s largest organisations in their implementation of project management principles in their day-to-day dealings.

In keeping with its acknowledgement of the importance of project management to its success, Telstra has appointed a Chief Project Officer to lead its community of project managers.

“Each and every project manager is critical to the success of their own organisation. I believe that project management is truly a very important profession, and one that can make a profound difference to the success, or otherwise, of the companies that project managers work for,” said Penn. “Put simply, a good strategy expertly managed and delivered is one of the keys to organisational success.”

AIPM CEO Yvonne Butler and AIPM National President Ian Sharpe presented the Honorary Fellowship.

Butler said Penn continues to play an important role in raising awareness of the critical role project management plays in executing an organisation’s strategy. “Project management is about strategy implementation. Enlightened leaders such as Andy Penn understand the need to build this organisational capability. As Andy has said, the problem isn’t developing strategy. The problem is strategy implementation. That is where AIPM can help.”

Penn added that not only does project management make a difference to a company, “it can make a difference to Australia by increasing productivity of the Australian economy overall”.

Pictured: AIPM National President Ian Sharpe, Telstra CEO Andy Penn and AIPM CEO Yvonne Butler