Top 30 Project Management Influencers to Follow in 2026
The project management influencers you follow shape how you think, plan, and lead. The right voices push you past templates and toward real delivery mastery. I've curated the sharpest practitioners in the field—people who share hard-won insights on execution, stakeholder alignment, and modern delivery. Follow them and you'll stay ahead of where the discipline is heading.
Top 30 Project Management Influencers
Below are the profiles of the top project management influencers, covering who they are and the impact they've made in this space.
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is a project management author, former PMI chairman, and founder of Projects & Company whose work connects project delivery, transformation, and strategy execution.
His HBR writing and Project Management Handbook…
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is a project management author, former PMI chairman, and founder of Projects & Company whose work connects project delivery, transformation, and strategy execution.
His HBR writing and Project Management Handbook frame projects as vehicles for turning strategy into results. His Project Canvas, work on prioritization, and project-driven organizations give leaders practical ways to rethink execution at scale.
Ricardo Viana Vargas
Ricardo Viana Vargas founded PMOtto.ai and Macrosolutions and is a project management author and leader who has also led PMI and the Brightline Initiative across strategy, risk, and delivery.
His work bridges…
Ricardo Viana Vargas founded PMOtto.ai and Macrosolutions and is a project management author and leader who has also led PMI and the Brightline Initiative across strategy, risk, and delivery.
His work bridges project practice with strategy execution, risk, crisis management, and emerging technology. He has also taught strategy delivery through Coursera and explored how AI, big data, and machine learning can improve project management.
Laura Barnard
Laura Barnard is founder and CEO of PMO Strategies, author of The IMPACT Engine, and creator of the IMPACT Engine System, drawing on decades of experience leading PMOs and transformation.
Barnard pushes…
Laura Barnard is founder and CEO of PMO Strategies, author of The IMPACT Engine, and creator of the IMPACT Engine System, drawing on decades of experience leading PMOs and transformation.
Barnard pushes PMOs beyond schedules and reporting toward measurable business outcomes. Her IMPACT Engine focuses on closing the strategy-execution gap through stronger prioritization, governance, leadership, and value delivery.
Galen Low
As co-founder of The Digital Project Manager, lead instructor at The DPM School, and host of The DPM Podcast, our very own Galen Low draws on 15+ years in digital transformation and…
As co-founder of The Digital Project Manager, lead instructor at The DPM School, and host of The DPM Podcast, our very own Galen Low draws on 15+ years in digital transformation and leads conversations on how project work is changing today.
Low examines the human side of digital delivery: how teams collaborate, lead change, and respond when neat plans meet messy reality. Through DPM and its podcast, he is also exploring what AI and emerging technology mean for project professionals.
Brett Harned
Brett Harned is the author of Project Management for Humans, founder of the Digital PM Summit, and a consultant and coach with more than 20 years in digital delivery and operations today.
…
Brett Harned is the author of Project Management for Humans, founder of the Digital PM Summit, and a consultant and coach with more than 20 years in digital delivery and operations today.
Harned treats project management as a people discipline as much as a process discipline. His consulting, coaching, and writing focus on clearer communication, realistic planning, healthier collaboration, stronger delivery systems, and confident PM leadership.
Elizabeth Harrin
Elizabeth Harrin is an author, speaker, trainer, and APM Fellow who brings more than 20 years of corporate project experience across IT, transformation, business change, and healthcare.
Through her books, training, and…
Elizabeth Harrin is an author, speaker, trainer, and APM Fellow who brings more than 20 years of corporate project experience across IT, transformation, business change, and healthcare.
Through her books, training, and Rebel’s Guide to Project Management, Harrin translates lived PM experience into practical guidance. Her work pays particular attention to people, stakeholder relationships, managing multiple projects, and making project work less stressful.
Cornelius Fichtner
Cornelius Fichtner founded OSP International and hosts The Project Management Podcast, building on a project management career spanning consulting, retail, startups, and financial services.
Fichtner has spent years making project management learning…
Cornelius Fichtner founded OSP International and hosts The Project Management Podcast, building on a project management career spanning consulting, retail, startups, and financial services.
Fichtner has spent years making project management learning more accessible through podcasts, exam preparation, and continuing education. His long-running content covers methodologies, agile practice, PMOs, certification, and lessons from working practitioners.
Jean Kang
Jean Kang is founder and CEO of Advice With Jean and a LinkedIn Learning instructor who previously led strategic programs at Figma, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other major technology companies.
She teaches project…
Jean Kang is founder and CEO of Advice With Jean and a LinkedIn Learning instructor who previously led strategic programs at Figma, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other major technology companies.
She teaches project managers how to lead through influence, stakeholder communication, strategic planning, and change. Her LinkedIn Learning courses also show how AI can streamline project plans, risk assessment, timelines, reporting, and team communication, drawing on a decade of program management experience.
Mashhood Ahmed
Mashhood Ahmed is founding director of PM Assistant.ai and an AI-powered project manager, speaker, and educator who explores how artificial intelligence can reshape day-to-day project delivery.
Ahmed focuses on practical AI workflows…
Mashhood Ahmed is founding director of PM Assistant.ai and an AI-powered project manager, speaker, and educator who explores how artificial intelligence can reshape day-to-day project delivery.
Ahmed focuses on practical AI workflows rather than abstract promises. His work shows how meeting transcripts and structured project data can feed summaries, actions, risk detection, documentation, and other AI-assisted delivery tasks.
Susanne Madsen
Susanne Madsen is an executive coach, author, trainer, and founder of Susanne Madsen International, with nearly three decades of experience developing leaders of complex projects worldwide.
Her books, including The Power of…
Susanne Madsen is an executive coach, author, trainer, and founder of Susanne Madsen International, with nearly three decades of experience developing leaders of complex projects worldwide.
Her books, including The Power of Project Leadership, shift attention from task management toward self-awareness, emotional intelligence, communication, and leadership under pressure. She also co-founded the Project Leadership Institute.
Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor is the author behind The Lazy Project Manager and an international keynote speaker whose work explores productive project leadership, organizational change, and AI in projects.
Taylor’s “productive laziness” challenges project…
Peter Taylor is the author behind The Lazy Project Manager and an international keynote speaker whose work explores productive project leadership, organizational change, and AI in projects.
Taylor’s “productive laziness” challenges project professionals to concentrate effort where it creates the most value. His wider speaking and writing now connects that principle with leadership transformation and the changing role of project managers as AI advances.
Marcus Glowasz
Marcus Glowasz is a project and data advisor, coach, and author of Leading Projects with Data, drawing on nearly three decades of international technology and data-driven project experience.
Glowasz argues for project…
Marcus Glowasz is a project and data advisor, coach, and author of Leading Projects with Data, drawing on nearly three decades of international technology and data-driven project experience.
Glowasz argues for project decisions grounded in evidence rather than reporting noise. His work develops data literacy, evidence-based delivery, and clearer communication so project teams can turn complex information into decisions stakeholders can actually use.
Mike Clayton
Mike Clayton founded OnlinePMCourses after a career as a project leader and Deloitte consulting senior manager, and has built a broad body of training, books, videos, and practical PM resources.
Clayton specializes…
Mike Clayton founded OnlinePMCourses after a career as a project leader and Deloitte consulting senior manager, and has built a broad body of training, books, videos, and practical PM resources.
Clayton specializes in making project management knowledge usable. OnlinePMCourses covers fundamentals, risk, stakeholder engagement, change, benefits, certifications, and AI, giving developing PMs structured ways to build both practical skills and careers.
Colin D. Ellis
Colin D. Ellis is an author, speaker, and consultant whose career spans project leadership and workplace culture, including The Project Book and his work helping organizations improve culture.
Ellis connects successful delivery…
Colin D. Ellis is an author, speaker, and consultant whose career spans project leadership and workplace culture, including The Project Book and his work helping organizations improve culture.
Ellis connects successful delivery with the environment in which teams work. The Project Book translates project experience into practical guidance, while his broader culture work explores leadership, belonging, behavior, and the conditions teams need to perform.
Kiron Bondale
Kiron Bondale is a board director and mentor with decades of experience managing projects, leading PMOs, and advising professionals and organizations on project management, agile, risk, and PPM.
Bondale combines delivery experience…
Kiron Bondale is a board director and mentor with decades of experience managing projects, leading PMOs, and advising professionals and organizations on project management, agile, risk, and PPM.
Bondale combines delivery experience with training, consulting, and extensive writing and speaking. His work is especially useful where textbook PM practices meet real implementation challenges, from risk management and agile delivery to PMO and portfolio decisions.
Eric Kimberling
Eric Kimberling is CEO and founder of Third Stage Consulting Group, where his work centers on ERP and digital transformation strategy, implementation, organizational change, and business value.
He examines why complex technology…
Eric Kimberling is CEO and founder of Third Stage Consulting Group, where his work centers on ERP and digital transformation strategy, implementation, organizational change, and business value.
He examines why complex technology programs struggle after software selection. His consulting and content connect project governance, implementation, people, process, and change management to the harder question of whether transformation produces measurable value.
Bruno Morgante
Bruno Morgante is founder and CEO of Mantegora, a PMO leader, coach, mentor, and speaker with more than 20 years of experience leading projects, programs, portfolios, and transformation.
Morgante’s work links delivery…
Bruno Morgante is founder and CEO of Mantegora, a PMO leader, coach, mentor, and speaker with more than 20 years of experience leading projects, programs, portfolios, and transformation.
Morgante’s work links delivery discipline with the human side of leadership. He helps organizations strengthen PMOs and portfolios while coaching project professionals on communication, trust, mindset, career growth, and leading teams toward meaningful outcomes.
Mike Griffiths
Mike Griffiths is a project management author, trainer, and consultant at PMI who helped shape DSDM, the PMI Agile Community of Practice, the Agile Practice Guide, and multiple PMBOK editions.
Griffiths has…
Mike Griffiths is a project management author, trainer, and consultant at PMI who helped shape DSDM, the PMI Agile Community of Practice, the Agile Practice Guide, and multiple PMBOK editions.
Griffiths has spent decades connecting agile methods with traditional project management rather than treating them as opposing camps. His standards work, training, and writing give practitioners a grounded view of tailoring delivery approaches to context.
Johanna Rothman
Johanna Rothman founded Rothman Consulting Group and has written extensively on pragmatic project and program management, product development, agile and lean practices, and management today.
Rothman consistently favors context and short feedback…
Johanna Rothman founded Rothman Consulting Group and has written extensively on pragmatic project and program management, product development, agile and lean practices, and management today.
Rothman consistently favors context and short feedback loops over rigid frameworks. Books such as Manage It!, Manage Your Project Portfolio, and Project Lifecycles give teams practical ways to reduce risk, limit work in progress, collaborate, and finish valuable work.
Christina Sookram
Christina Sookram founded CNS Project Consulting and is a project leader and educator with extensive corporate experience spanning IT delivery, product management, agile methods, and teaching.
She combines consulting with classroom experience,…
Christina Sookram founded CNS Project Consulting and is a project leader and educator with extensive corporate experience spanning IT delivery, product management, agile methods, and teaching.
She combines consulting with classroom experience, translating project and product practices for both organizations and developing professionals. Her expertise covers waterfall and agile delivery, including Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe, alongside operations and training.
Sarah M. Hoban
Sarah M. Hoban is a program manager and strategy consultant with 15+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams, improving operations, and helping organizations build project capability.
Hoban approaches project work through alignment,…
Sarah M. Hoban is a program manager and strategy consultant with 15+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams, improving operations, and helping organizations build project capability.
Hoban approaches project work through alignment, accountability, and execution: clarify strategy, translate it into an operating plan, then help teams deliver. Her teaching, writing, speaking, and consulting also connect project management with productivity and career development.
Pam Butkowski
Pam Butkowski is SVP of Delivery Management at Horizontal Digital, with a career centered on client-facing digital organizations, project leadership, and leading complex delivery work today.
Butkowski pushes digital PMs beyond the…
Pam Butkowski is SVP of Delivery Management at Horizontal Digital, with a career centered on client-facing digital organizations, project leadership, and leading complex delivery work today.
Butkowski pushes digital PMs beyond the scope-time-budget baseline. Her approach emphasizes understanding the client’s business, making PM value visible, building strong delivery teams, solving problems through process, and treating project management as leadership.
Lindsay Scott
Lindsay Scott is co-founder of House of PMO, with a career spanning PMO practice, recruitment, training, events, writing, and professional community building across the project profession.
Scott has spent decades building the…
Lindsay Scott is co-founder of House of PMO, with a career spanning PMO practice, recruitment, training, events, writing, and professional community building across the project profession.
Scott has spent decades building the professional infrastructure around PMOs, from conferences and recruitment to competency frameworks and training. Her work helps practitioners understand PMO roles, build careers, strengthen capability, and connect project delivery with organizational needs.
Brad Egeland
Brad Egeland is an IT and project management consultant and author with more than 25 years of experience across software, management, delivery, and projects in a wide range of industries.
Egeland has…
Brad Egeland is an IT and project management consultant and author with more than 25 years of experience across software, management, delivery, and projects in a wide range of industries.
Egeland has built a large body of practical PM writing around the situations practitioners face every day: planning, schedules, client communication, meetings, risk, handoffs, remote work, and recovering when delivery moves away from the original plan.
Bill Dow
Bill Dow is a PMO leader, author, educator, and project management practitioner with more than 30 years in the field, including building and managing PMOs and teaching project professionals.
Dow turns long-running…
Bill Dow is a PMO leader, author, educator, and project management practitioner with more than 30 years in the field, including building and managing PMOs and teaching project professionals.
Dow turns long-running PMO experience into practical resources for leaders and project managers. His books and teaching cover PMO design, project communication, leadership, and career development, while his newer work also examines realistic uses of AI in project management.
Emily Luijbregts
Emily Luijbregts is Global PMO Manager at PTV Logistics and DPM Expert, bringing deep experience in project delivery, facilitation, coaching, team development, and leading remote teams globally.
She combines hands-on delivery with…
Emily Luijbregts is Global PMO Manager at PTV Logistics and DPM Expert, bringing deep experience in project delivery, facilitation, coaching, team development, and leading remote teams globally.
She combines hands-on delivery with a strong commitment to developing other project professionals. Her writing and community work explore virtual and cross-cultural teams, collaboration, leadership, knowledge sharing, and adapting project practice as technology changes.
Annie MacLeod
Annie MacLeod is a project coach, author, and co-creator of the Project Management GameBoard, drawing on more than 40 years of experience helping organizations improve project performance.
MacLeod wrote Lead Then Learn:…
Annie MacLeod is a project coach, author, and co-creator of the Project Management GameBoard, drawing on more than 40 years of experience helping organizations improve project performance.
MacLeod wrote Lead Then Learn: Powering Project Teams with Collaboration and develops practical tools for stronger project delivery. Her work spans facilitation, remote teamwork, visual collaboration, and Miro templates designed to help project teams plan, make decisions, and work effectively together.
Capucine Chatman
Capucine Chatman is a strategic project management consultant at Unleashing Leaders with 15+ years of experience leading healthcare, technology, operations, and transformation initiatives.
Chatman has led a $100M+ digital technology roadmap, helped…
Capucine Chatman is a strategic project management consultant at Unleashing Leaders with 15+ years of experience leading healthcare, technology, operations, and transformation initiatives.
Chatman has led a $100M+ digital technology roadmap, helped expand Medi-Cal access to 10,000+ rural members, and established a PMO that improved project success. A former president of PMI-Sacramento Valley, Chatman also mentor project professionals and created The Pivot Project to help aspiring PMs build practical experience.
Benjamin Chan
Benjamin Chan is a project management leadership coach and instructor with a background in management consulting and enterprise project delivery, helping PMs grow into strategic leaders.
Chan’s coaching focuses on the transition…
Benjamin Chan is a project management leadership coach and instructor with a background in management consulting and enterprise project delivery, helping PMs grow into strategic leaders.
Chan’s coaching focuses on the transition from managing project mechanics to leading with confidence, resilience, and strategic judgment. He combines project foundations with mindset, self-awareness, goal setting, accountability, and practical leadership development.
Violeta Hryhorian
Violeta Hryhorian is a project manager, educator, and creator who draws on experience across startup and corporate environments to teach project careers, productivity, leadership, and delivery.
Hryhorian turns her own route in…
Violeta Hryhorian is a project manager, educator, and creator who draws on experience across startup and corporate environments to teach project careers, productivity, leadership, and delivery.
Hryhorian turns her own route in project management into practical career education for others. Her content addresses what PMs actually do, how to enter the profession without starting from scratch, getting work done, developing leadership skills, and building a sustainable PM career.
Selection Methodology
We selected the leaders on this list based on their relevance, demonstrated expertise and impact, professional credibility, and ongoing contributions to the field.
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We look for evidence such as leading meaningful initiatives or delivering notable results within their organizations, developing influential ideas or practices, publishing research or educational resources, speaking or teaching, and other contributions that demonstrate impact within their work or the broader field.
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