Presented by Cindy Filer
Written by Steven A. Shapiro, PMP, CSSGB

The city of Atlanta was definitely impacted by the two ‘Snowmaggedon’ events in 2014 and PMI Atlanta was not spared. The February dinner meeting, which was originally scheduled for February 10th had to be postponed; however, those that attended the rescheduled event on February24th were treated to an exceptional night.

The event was once again held at the Westin Perimeter, PMI Atlanta’s new dinner meeting home for 2014 and featured a rare double presentation by Cindy Filer, President of Innovative Outsourcing.

The evening began with the Professional Growth event where Filer spoke on the topic of “Conflict in the Workplace”. Filer has presented the chapter with both the presentation and a ‘Leave Behind’ sheet which will be made available soon.   The Professional Growth event was followed by the open networking session and then the dinner meeting.

In the dinner meeting, Filer spoke on an equally interesting topic, “The New Economy and HR Practices for 2014”. She presented best practices for hiring employees, managing employees and employment records, as well as how to best approach employee separations. Some of the key takeaways were…
        • To avoid wrongful hire and discharge suits - document, document, document
        • HR decisions need to be highly documented and kept forever
        • Within 48hours new employees need to be I-9 compliant
        • Millennials need to know every hour on how they are doing
        • Staff lean, staff strategically!
        • If performance reviews are not given to an employee, they cannot be fired

Again for this presentation the chapter will post both the presentation and the ‘Leave Behind’ sheet.

Prior to Ms. Filer’s presentation in the dinner meeting, PMI Atlanta chair, Yvonne Byars made several announcements. First, she announced a Member Networking opportunity will be held at the Georgian Club in Cobb on April 3rd.  She also recognized both first time attendees and new PMPs.

After Byars, the next speaker was VP of Programs, Ms. Paulette Strain. Strain highlighted the upcoming dinner meeting speakers and events, emphasizing our March event will be a special one with Microsoft presenting the Professional Growth at 4pm and Rally Software will be both a sponsor and presenter for the March Meeting.

There are many more great takeaways and pictures on the chapter Twitter feed (@PMIAtalnta).

BIOGRAPHY Cindi Filer is founder and president of Innovative Outsourcing, which she started in 1995 after leaving the traditional workforce to raise her children. A dynamic, enterprising woman with tremendous vision; it was her ability to creatively think outside the box that set her and her company apart. Cindi has two passions: to help small business owners navigate a tricky economy and to help people find employment that allows them to do what they love while maintaining family/life balance.

Cindi strongly believes that people must work in their own “sweet spots” to find joy in their jobs. She also believes that work/life balance is achievable. She and her company are fully devoted to helping people find that balance. At the same time, she remains one of the top business consultants in Atlanta working with CEOs, business owners, and hiring managers.

Cindi has served on various boards – National Association of Women Business Owners, the Center for Accountable Leadership at Kennesaw State University, the advisory board of the Georgian Club and Dominion Christian Schools.

Cindi graduated from Wake Forest University in 1987 with a degree in Mathematical Economics. She worked at First Union in Charlotte as a Corporate Lender and Delta Air Lines in Human Resources prior to leaving corporate America to stay home with her kids. Married to her husband, Don, for 25 years, Cindi has two children, Matt (20) and Emily (17). She’s experienced firsthand the benefits of working for IO and using their flexible schedule. It allowed her to be actively involved with her children on a daily basis since Innovative Outsourcing’s inception.

ABOUT PMI PMI Atlanta serves project managers in Metro Atlanta, and we’re an active resource to corporations, community and government agencies throughout north Georgia. With over 4,600 members, PMI Atlanta is the fourth largest chapter in the US and fifth largest in the world. Our professional expertise span across industries; we’re the professionals building healthcare information technology systems, the engineers developing smarter public transportation, and the planners growing our communities more efficiently.  The PMI Atlanta Agile Forum meets monthly and serves the PMI Atlanta Chapter Mission in added value to membership’s growing needs in Agileadvocacy, awareness, corporate social responsibility and engagement.

PMI Atlanta Chapter  | 3522 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Suite 348  | Atlanta, GA 30319 | (678) 318-1805 | memberquestions@pmiatlanta.org

For more information on PMI Atlanta Chapter please visit: http://www.pmiatlanta.org