Top 12 AI Project Management Influencers to Follow in 2026
The right AI project management influencers can change how you think about delivery. I've pulled together the voices worth following—practitioners and thought leaders who share real frameworks, honest takes, and guidance you can actually use. Whether you're navigating AI adoption or rethinking how your team works, these are the people I'd point you to first.
Top 12 AI Project Management Influencers
Below are the profiles of the top AI project management influencers, covering who they are and the impact they've made in this space.
Kathleen Walch
Kathleen Walch is PMI’s Director of AI Engagement and Community, co-developer of the CPMAI methodology, and a longtime researcher, speaker, and educator on practical, responsible AI adoption.
Her work connects AI strategy…
Kathleen Walch is PMI’s Director of AI Engagement and Community, co-developer of the CPMAI methodology, and a longtime researcher, speaker, and educator on practical, responsible AI adoption.
Her work connects AI strategy with the realities of delivering AI and data initiatives. Through CPMAI, AI Today, training, and industry research, Walch helps project professionals approach AI with stronger methodology, governance, data practices, and business alignment.
Ron Schmelzer
Ron Schmelzer leads AI partnerships and outreach at PMI and co-developed CPMAI after co-founding Cognilytica, bringing decades of technology research and hands-on enterprise AI experience.
Schmelzer has built much of his work…
Ron Schmelzer leads AI partnerships and outreach at PMI and co-developed CPMAI after co-founding Cognilytica, bringing decades of technology research and hands-on enterprise AI experience.
Schmelzer has built much of his work around why AI projects fail and how teams can manage them more systematically. His CPMAI work addresses the full AI project lifecycle, including business needs, data, model development, governance, ethics, and operationalization.
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is CEO of Projects & Company, a former PMI chairman, and author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook and other books on project-led strategy.
Nieto-Rodriguez studies how organizations…
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is CEO of Projects & Company, a former PMI chairman, and author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook and other books on project-led strategy.
Nieto-Rodriguez studies how organizations turn strategy into projects and results. His work with Ricardo Vargas has examined AI’s effects on project selection, planning, risk, delivery, and leadership, while his wider research explores project-driven organizations and transformation.
Ricardo Viana Vargas
Ricardo Viana Vargas founded Macrosolutions and is a former PMI chairman and UN project leader whose books, research, teaching, and advisory work span project management, transformation, and AI.
Vargas explores where AI…
Ricardo Viana Vargas founded Macrosolutions and is a former PMI chairman and UN project leader whose books, research, teaching, and advisory work span project management, transformation, and AI.
Vargas explores where AI can improve project decisions without removing human judgment. His research with Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez covers AI-enabled planning, risk and resource management, while his teaching and experiments examine agents, project data, automation, and the changing role of project leaders.
Mashhood Ahmed
Mashhood Ahmed is founding director of PMassistant.ai, a project and program leader with 20+ years of experience, and a global speaker and trainer focused on AI’s impact on project delivery.
Ahmed began…
Mashhood Ahmed is founding director of PMassistant.ai, a project and program leader with 20+ years of experience, and a global speaker and trainer focused on AI’s impact on project delivery.
Ahmed began researching AI and project management in 2017 and has since turned that work into talks, masterclasses, guides, and PMassistant.ai. His work helps project professionals apply AI to everyday delivery while developing the knowledge needed to evaluate emerging tools and practices.
Lloyd Skinner
Lloyd Skinner is founder and CEO of greyfly.ai, drawing on more than 30 years in programme management, PMOs, and major transformation work to explore how AI can improve project outcomes.
Skinner focuses…
Lloyd Skinner is founder and CEO of greyfly.ai, drawing on more than 30 years in programme management, PMOs, and major transformation work to explore how AI can improve project outcomes.
Skinner focuses on using AI and project data to spot delivery problems earlier and strengthen decision-making. Through greyfly.ai, research, products, and speaking, he advocates predictive insight and evidence-based management as practical ways to raise project success rates.
Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor led the global PMO, transformation, and customer office at Dayforce and is the author of The Lazy Project Manager and several books exploring AI’s impact on the profession. He’s also…
Peter Taylor led the global PMO, transformation, and customer office at Dayforce and is the author of The Lazy Project Manager and several books exploring AI’s impact on the profession. He’s also a global keynote speaker.
Taylor argues that AI can shift project managers away from administration and toward judgment, leadership, and outcomes. At Dayforce, he oversaw AI across communication, coordination, governance, and project processes, pairing experimentation with analysis of project data.
Marcus Glowasz
Marcus Glowasz is an independent technology transformation consultant and author of Leading Projects with Data, with a career spanning project delivery, analytics, and data-informed change.
Glowasz pushes AI conversations beyond simple productivity…
Marcus Glowasz is an independent technology transformation consultant and author of Leading Projects with Data, with a career spanning project delivery, analytics, and data-informed change.
Glowasz pushes AI conversations beyond simple productivity gains toward better estimation, forecasting, risk management, and decisions. He argues that getting value from AI requires project teams to develop data literacy, data leadership, and a culture capable of combining evidence with human expertise.
Markus Kopko
Markus Kopko founded PMotion.ai and works at the intersection of project management, PMO transformation, and AI, with a focus on governance, agent-enabled work, and professional education.
Kopko examines how AI changes the…
Markus Kopko founded PMotion.ai and works at the intersection of project management, PMO transformation, and AI, with a focus on governance, agent-enabled work, and professional education.
Kopko examines how AI changes the PMO from a reporting function into a more adaptive decision and value system. His work emphasizes governed AI agents, clear escalation and control mechanisms, and a shift toward strategic project leadership rather than administrative work.
Cornelius Fichtner
Cornelius Fichtner hosts The Project Management Podcast, a long-running interview show for project professionals, and develops training that helps practitioners build practical PM skills.
Fichtner has built a substantial strand of…
Cornelius Fichtner hosts The Project Management Podcast, a long-running interview show for project professionals, and develops training that helps practitioners build practical PM skills.
Fichtner has built a substantial strand of podcasting and education around AI’s implications for project managers. His work covers AI literacy, data skills, realistic adoption, ethical awareness, and the enduring management competencies practitioners need as AI becomes part of project work.
Klaus Boedker
Klaus Boedker founded Leading with AI and teaches project managers and other leaders how to navigate AI-driven change, building on more than 15 years in agile leadership and transformation.
Boedker treats AI…
Klaus Boedker founded Leading with AI and teaches project managers and other leaders how to navigate AI-driven change, building on more than 15 years in agile leadership and transformation.
Boedker treats AI adoption as a leadership challenge rather than simply a tool rollout. His training combines practical AI use with ethics, trust, decision-making, and human-centered change, helping project managers consider how their leadership must evolve alongside increasingly capable systems.
Elizabeth Harrin
Elizabeth Harrin is an author, trainer, mentor, APM Fellow, and practicing project professional who runs Rebel’s Guide to Project Management and the Project Management Rebels community.
Harrin translates changes in the profession…
Elizabeth Harrin is an author, trainer, mentor, APM Fellow, and practicing project professional who runs Rebel’s Guide to Project Management and the Project Management Rebels community.
Harrin translates changes in the profession into practical guidance for working project managers. Her recent work examines generative and agentic AI, where automation can genuinely help teams, and why judgment, people skills, reliable project data, and sound processes remain essential as AI capabilities grow.
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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