Member Profiles

Members Introduction

Andrew Price - October 2022

Andrew Price

Andrew is an aviation professional with more than 30 years of professional work experience in engineering, airlines, industry representation and IT. Andrew moved to Switzerland in 2005 to work with the International Air Transport Association and recently joined SITA, based in Geneva. He is also the customer experience advisor to the new airport, Solidarity Transport Hub, in Warsaw.

Andrew lives in Nyon with his wife and two children. Before Switzerland, Andrew was based in the UK and Netherlands.

From an education point of view, Andrew has a B.Eng (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a post-graduate diploma in Information Systems Engineering, and an MBA. He is currently taking a master's in Cyber Security. Andrew is a member of the British Computing Society (BCS) as part of his continued professional development in IT. Additionally, he hopes to complete the PMP certification in the next few weeks. He recently completed the live online training and is now hitting the books hard in the little spare time available to study.

Andrew has joined the chapter to learn more about the project management specialists in Switzerland and network with other professionals in the field. He hopes to meet people at face-to-face meetings and learn about your experiences.

You can learn more about Andrew by visiting his LinkedIn profile.

Tansu Pancar - July 2022

Tansu Pancar

Tansu is a researcher with more than 14 years of professional work experience in e-learning and telecommunications. Tansu has been working as a researcher on adaptive and personalized learning technologies since 2018 when he moved to Switzerland.

He is living in the beautiful town of Brig, in Canton Wallis with his family and enjoying the Alps in his free time. Before moving to Switzerland, he was living in Turkey and worked as a project manager for ZTE Corporation for 10 years on the delivery of fixed network telecommunication projects mainly for Turk Telekom.

He has completed his BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Middle East Technical University and his MSc and Ph.D. in Information Systems from the same university with a focus on technology acceptance. His research was about the acceptance of wearable mobile devices to track health information.

Tansu has held the PMP certification since 2013 and as a new member of the PMI Swiss Chapter, he wants to expand his professional network through online and face-to-face events. Before moving to Switzerland, he was a member of PMI Turkey where he worked as a volunteer.

You can learn more about Tansu by visiting his LinkedIn profile.

 

Ganesh Gopalan - July 2022

Ganesh Gopalan

Ganesh is a Technical Project Manager working on infrastructure domains such as servers, storage and backup. He has a strong understanding of Delivery Management, Change and Risk Management. He completed his PMP certification 10 years ago and since then has been following and understanding the various facets of Project Management with great gusto. He enjoys the challenges of being a Project Manager, wearing several hats to manage many stakeholders and feels that clear cut communication and a well-defined scoping, are the keys for a successful project.

Ganesh is an Indian from the tech-city of Bangalore. He is a Chess buff and has been playing Chess for 20+years. He is also an avid reader.
In his free time, he writes poems, short stories, connects with nature and contemplates on the diverse potentialities of mankind and immerses himself in the study of paintings of the great masters.

Ganesh is a member of PMI Zurich Chapter and is working as a volunteer for the chapter. As a new member, he can be seen networking with as many professionals to learn more about Project Management and expand his repertoire.

You can learn more about Ganesh by visiting his LinkedIn profile

 

Sara Mobarhanfard - July 2022

Sara Mobarhanfard

Sara is a certified business & leadership coach specializing in strategy development.

She has always been fascinated with agile project management and design thinking.
These methods have inspired her both as the CEO & founder of her businesses and supporting her clients.

It was due to this interest of hers and through the suggestion of a client and a dear friend & PMI member that her attention was brought to PMI and the Swiss chapter.
She is looking forward to meeting new contacts and learning new skills in this space.

Sara’s career as an industrial engineer originally started in the construction industry.
She has been involved in managing or supporting many logistics, product development and sourcing related projects throughout her corporate career with a premium brand and market leader in the industry.

But her passion for art and fashion guided her to an extraordinary entrepreneurial journey.
In 2018 she quit her 10-year corporate career in purchasing & supply chain management and founded a sustainable fashion business with inspirations from folk art.

Business consulting for entrepreneurs has always been a fun side-hustle for Sara.
In 2020 she finally decided to take her passion for business coaching seriously and kickstart a second business as a leadership coach.

Today she enjoys supporting highly ambitious corporate managers preparing for transitioning into their new leadership roles while pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams on the side.
Sara’s clients want to increase their performance, develop their authentic leadership style and strategic thinking, resolve conflicts and become confident, resilient leaders.

Sara is originally from Iran but has called Switzerland home since 2008.
She is still passionate about art, fashion, culture and design. She loves animals and connection with nature.
She lives in an Alpine village in canton St Gallen with her husband and is grateful for easy access to mountains and farms.


You can learn more about Sara by visiting her LinkedIn profile

 

Nefiye Erkan - July 2022

Nefiye Erkan

Nefiye is a Project Manager with Electronic Engineer background and living in Switzerland since August 2019. She has a Master of Science degree in electronic engineering as well. With more than 13 years experience in Project  Management in defense domain (especially with Radar and Communication Systems) she loves to deal with all level of stakeholders. Currently she has been working for an NGO as a volunteer Project Manager, holding PMP PMI certificate and taking her CAS Digital Transformation class in EMBA at the University of Bern, in order to extend her skills to Digital Transformation and complete EMBA Program.

Nefiye joined the PMI Swiss chapter because she would get to expand her professional network in Switzerland and keep up to date herself from the Project Management and Swiss Business perspectives.

She is originally Turkish and now in Bern with her husband and two kids, 13 and 5 years old. In her free time, she enjoys cooking traditional foods, communicating with new people, training sport, playing tennis and skiing. As a lifelong learner, she tries to improve her German language (on going C1) skills as well as technical skills.

You can learn more about Nefiye by visiting her LinkedIn profile

Matthew Shaw - July 2022

Matthew Shaw

Matthew is originally from New Jersey, United States. He has a mechanical engineering degree. Matthew started his career in the industrial products and automotive industries. Project management became Matthew’s passion during his automotive experience where he was managing new product launches as a Tier 1 supplier to OEMs and other Tier 1 suppliers. Matthew came to Switzerland in late 2018 to be with his significant other (also from the USA originally) where he continued his automotive industry career before switching over to medical devices. Matthew is currently working as an associate project manager in the medical device field, managing the program on the EU Medical Device Regulation for his company.

Matthew obtained his CAPM in May 2022 and his goal is to obtain the PMP by the end of 2023. He is interested in developing in the Agile space as well and obtaining the DASM certification.

Matthew joined the Swiss Chapter to improve his project management knowledge and he wants to be able to learn from others in the field and to be involved in the community.

In his free time Matthew enjoys outdoor sports, skiing, running, cycling and 3D printing.

You can learn more about Matthew by visiting his LinkedIn profile.

Werner Gygax - June 2022

Werner Gygax

Werner is specialized in positions where change happens. His holistic mindset creates value that others can’t. Cross-functional roles as combinations of customer focused, innovative & digitally transformative work brings his project management skills and lean-agile leadership best into play.

Since his profile uniquely combines project management skills, agile techniques and military crisis management experience in conflict areas, he spent the last 18 months as the Project Consultant for the Covid-19 task force of the canton of Aargau in the role of deputy leader for the Covid-19 programm (vaccinate-test-trace-certify) serving 700'000 inhabitants from the 4th largest canton in Switzerland .

His initial interest in concepts such as customer experience, customer journeys and service design have been triggered during an exchange year studying in Sweden, a country widely known for its digital thought leadership. His passion for enabling change became apparent when he took on a driving change management role in a large-scale global IT implementation project. In recent years, he has widened his interests to include agile ways of working, for which he holds 3 of the worldwide most recognized certifications (SAFe SPC, PSM I and PMI-ACP).

The ventures he has been part of range from product development to market entry, from the introduction of IT systems and tools to large-scale IT-transformation programs, from conflict management on team level to crisis management in foreign civil conflict, from the establishment of new partnerships to small-scale ecosystems and from routine work to iterative complex delivery using agile practices.

You can learn more about Werner by visiting his LinkedIn profile.

Undina Tavares Varela - May 2022

Undina Tavares Varela

Undina is a French national living in Colmar, 38 years old and a happy mum of 2 children: 5 years old and 2 and a half.

Undina is a mechanical Engineer who took a PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) specialization.

She has been working 2 years as a Business Analyst consultant and since 2012 for Jet Aviation in Switzerland. During her career, Undina has had the chance to gain more and more experience as a Business Analyst. As a logical step forward, she extended her skills to Project Management.
Undina preferred to join the Swiss chapter instead of the French chapter because the professional network she has built over the past 10 years is around Switzerland.

Undina really enjoys working with different teams and stakeholders. She always tries to be a sample for her co-workers and for her running club teammates. She has practiced running and trail running for years, and she loves it. Undina even had the chance to fly to Sri Lanka in March for a 10-day sport raid and last year she participated in the French championship of short trail running distance.

Undina also loves gardening, which connects her with nature and keeps her calm. She intends to have 2 chickens in her garden, so it will be fun for her kids.

You can learn more about Undina by visiting her LinkedIn profile

Ben Finnigan - May 2022

Ben Finnigan

Ben is a technical project manager, specializing in vehicle powertrains, but he is also very interested in broadening his scope to other technical challenges. Currently Ben is working on a fuel cell development and industrialization project and he is a great believer in the potential cleansing role of Hydrogen in our society going forward.

Ben enjoys the challenges of project leadership and management and has developed his skills over his career. PMP certification was a great way for Ben to check his progress and at the same time demonstrate this in a meaningful way. Ben joined the Swiss chapter, because it makes sense to him networking and keeping up to date from a local perspective.

Ben is originally British and he has found his home in Switzerland, close to the high alps, where the connection to the planet is strong and he can generate his mental and physical stimulation and motivation. He is a keen mountain hiker, biker and skier (all forms) and a big fan of cheese and beer.

You can learn more about Ben by visiting his LinkedIn profile.

 

 

Elisabet Amanatidou - May 2022

Elisabet Amanatidou

Elisabet holds a MSc in Business and Finance and moved to Zurich in 2008 where she joined ABB. During this time she had taken the responsibility as Project Management where she was leading projects of automating some of the processes in the internal reporting, and decided that this was a career path she wanted to follow.

Elisabet is Swedish with Greek origin and has a wide international experience and solid cultural awareness, having lived in different countries as China and Egypt.

In her free time, she regularly practicing meditation. She also enjoys dancing tango, snowboarding, kitesurfing, and spending quality time with friends.

She joined the PMI local chapter to connect with other local PM as well as to exchange valuable knowledge.

You can learn more about Elisabet by visiting her LinkedIn profile.