Meet the Instructors of Rego University 2024

This sales-free educational event is led by Rego Consulting’s team of expert guides. Drawing from our extensive wealth of knowledge and real-world experience across diverse industries, we will guide you to get the most out of your Clarity investment. Together, we have helped guide more than 650 organizations on their PPM/SPM and Agile journeys, including 60% of fortune 100 companies, and 70% of Fortune 20 companies.

This year, we are offering over 75 classes! There will be many new classes, and an all-new track of courses focused on Creativity, Leadership, and Innovation! Check out all RegoU 2024 Class Descriptions here.

Let’s introduce you to some of the expert PPM/SPM and Agile guides who will be leading the way. They are committed to your growth and eager to foster a collaborative learning environment!

Jacob Cancelliere is Rego’s SVP of Account Enablement. He is a PMP, SAFe, and Lean Sigma certified expert. He has more than 20 years of experience in PPM/SPM system implementations and has helped dozens of PMOs design and implement sustainable solutions. Jacob specializes in resource management tools and methodologies to help create balanced project roadmaps and supported staffing plans.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Resource Management
• 7 Industry Trends for PPM/SPM
• Envision your SPM Future with Rego’s Digital Ecosystem Assessment
• The Concepts of Creativity
• Strategies to Improve Focus and Personal Performance
• Apptio and Clarity, Complementary Tools
• Project to Product
• Clarity Mobile App
• Microsoft SharePoint, Teams, PowerPoint, EDM
• Resource Management – Roundtable – Panel

Wes McCoubrie is a Rego’s VP of Delivery and a SPM Solution Architect, with nearly two decades of experience implementing PPM/SPM solutions across varied industries and business units. In every engagement, he couples his systems engineering background with real-world study gained as a past PMO Manager. This enables Wes to provide tailored solutions that are backed by the long-term strategic guidance needed to realize the full value of PPM/SPM. It’s his mission to become—and remain—a trusted advisor for all his clients, well beyond go-live success.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Resource Management
• 7 Industry Trends for PPM/SPM
• Integration Approaches and Recommended Strategies
• Best Practices for Collaborative Work Management
• Resource Management – Roundtable – Panel

Alyson Poston is the Chief Customer Success Officer at Rego. She maintains positive customer relations, ensuring they are up to speed with innovative techniques and tools that will help drive success. Alyson has been with Rego five years.

Prior to joining Rego, Alyson was a Vice President of presales at Medallia, focusing on customer experience management. But she “earned her stripes” elevating IT leaders, PMOs, and project managers for 19 years with CA’s Clarity/PPM team (via Niku). She held various roles at CA including Strategic Advisor in Presales, working as a product consultant and a trainer.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Intake & Prioritization
• Latest Clarity Release – Value Overview
• The Power of Modern UX: Fit-Gap Solution Decisions
• Intake and Prioritization- Roundtable – Panel

Through three decades in the technology industry, Matthew Palicki has developed a passion for uniting technical solutions with his own cultural learnings, organizational insights, and process improvement experiences to help companies solve complex business problems. As a Principal Solution Engineer, Matthew brings his passion and experience to Rego, empowering him to expand his reach and impact as a Broadcom Software AOD Partner Knight.

Matthew’s areas of specialization include IT PPM/SPM, Program/Project Management, Strategic Planning, Lean Portfolio Management, Agile Transformation, and Enterprise Agility for Clarity PPM/SPM and Rally. He is skilled in organizational change management and process improvement.

On the personal side, Matthew is an avid gardener, hiker, and a certified yoga instructor, using his spare time to help improve wellness and overall health in his local community. He is passionate about travel and experiencing other cultures, having been fortunate enough to travel the globe for both business and pleasure. His favorite international destinations include Melbourne, Australia, and Poznan, Poland. He is also a proud father and grandfather, and family time is truly his highest calling.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Roadmap Management
• Clarity – Agile Integration – Considerations for Hybrid Ecosystems
• Envision your SPM Future with Rego’s Digital Ecosystem Assessment
• Strategies to Improve Focus and Personal Performance

Ben Rimmasch has been with Rego Consulting since 2011. He conceived and developed many of Rego’s revolutionary products and offerings. As one of the four pillars of the Engineering Leadership Team, he helps to drive technical quality and expertise. He continues to work with customers directly and indirectly behind the scenes (like a ninja… an old, gray-haired ninja 😉), leveraging decades of IT and development experience. He is a driving force for improvement across the organization by constantly leading several initiatives and groups that focus on quality, best practices, and organizational improvement.

When Ben isn’t working, he enjoys cooking and eating all kinds of foods. He’s also a hobbyist programmer, electrical engineer, and musician. One of his favorite things is to play games with his siblings, wife, and two daughters.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• GEL Scripts – Intermediate
• Using REST APIs
• Development with Rego tools – Advanced
• AI / Predictive Analytics
• Clarity Mobile App

As a VP of Engineering at Rego, Luis Palacios is part of our Engineering Leadership Team which manages deployment, maintenance, performance monitoring, and customization of solutions across Enterprise Solutions and Cloud Services, including Clarity, Microsoft Azure, Office 365/SharePoint Online, Microsoft Power Automate, and in-house built solutions.

His background includes over a decade of IT Delivery and Support with extensive experience implementing and supporting Infrastructure & Enterprise applications for international organizations. Before joining Rego in 2018, Luis was a Help Desk and Infrastructure Manager.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Integrations with Rego Data Processor & Extractor
• Clarity Housekeeping and Maintenance
• AI / Predictive Analytics
• Improve Adoption and Data Governance
• Using MSP and Smartsheet with Clarity
• Microsoft SharePoint, Teams, PowerPoint, EDM
• Action Item Responder

James Gille has been with Rego Consulting since 2010. As a VP of Engineering, James is a part of the Engineering Leadership Team, which manages technical consulting and innovation for Rego. He continues to be actively involved in several customer engagements, while also implementing best practices and driving quality improvement across organizations as a whole.

Outside of work, James spends time with his kids skiing the greatest snow on Earth and winning rec league softball tournaments.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Rego Xchange & FREE MUX Migration Tool
• Using Clarity for Creating Surveys
• GEL Scripts – Intermediate
• Using REST APIs
• Development with Rego tools – Advanced

Dave Matzdorf has been managing and deploying Clarity instances since 2006. As a VP of Engineering and part of the Engineering Leadership Team, he focuses on designing user-friendly solutions that integrate seamlessly within the Clarity environment. Dave spends much of his time building integrations, executing large data migrations, and rearchitecting existing processes to optimize performance. He also contributes to many of Rego’s most popular assets.

Outside of work, Dave spends much of his time with his niece and nephew, and traveling the world with his wife.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Integration Approaches and Recommended Strategies 
• Data Model and NSQL – Intermediate 
• GEL Scripts – Introduction 
• Integrations with Rego Data Processor & Extractor 

With 26 years of Project Portfolio Management (PPM)/Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) experience, Josh Leone is responsible for technical innovation at Rego and serves as the CTO and CIO. Josh and his teams are regarded as some of the most knowledgeable experts in the field.

Prior to joining Rego, Josh held software engineering and technical innovation leadership roles with Clarity/NIKU/ABT and was formerly the Director of Clarity SWAT at Computer Associates.

An avid family man, Josh resides in the quaint community of Guerneville, CA. When not working, he can be found making pizza and camping with the family.

Rego University 2024 Contributions:

• Innovations
• Labs

Lulu Wang studied Computer Science in both undergrade and graduate school, and started her career as a Database Developer. Since then, she has accumulated over 12 years of extensive experience in the data-related domain, and expanded her expertise in various adjacent areas such as designing data ETL processes, performing data analytics, and developing BI solutions.

Before joining Rego in December 2022, she worked at Fiserv for 9 years in various roles from Sr. Database Developer to Lead BI Engineer.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Visualization – Persona-Based Reporting Strategies
• Visualization & Dashboards – Best Practice & Sharing
• The Rego Power BI Reporting Suite
• PowerBI Ad Hoc – Beginner

Rajini Mamidi is a distinguished professional with a career spanning over 17 years. She is exceptionally talented at designing and delivering the simplest possible Clarity PPM and BI solutions for enterprises in Entertainment, Health, Finance, Telecom, and Manufacturing sectors.

Throughout her career, Rajini has held pivotal roles in renowned organizations, spearheading numerous successful projects and initiatives. Her work has taken her across the globe, with professional experiences in the Netherlands, the UK, India, and the US. This international exposure has enriched her perspective and contributed to her exceptional ability to drive transformative change.

Rajini is renowned for her ability to distill complex concepts into simple, understandable terms, leaving a lasting impact on her clients, colleagues, and conference attendees. Her teaching at conferences is highly effective and well regarded.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Administration – Beginner
• Administration – Advanced

Ross Hensel is a Principal Architect for Rego. He brings over 10 years of expertise in PPM/SPM. Ross leads deployments, providing strategic guidance and training for various industries of all sizes. His experience spans migrations, enhancements, and application support across diverse sectors such as manufacturing, technology, healthcare, financial services, communications, and media. Ross concentrates on maximizing the value of PPM/SPM implementations and securing user engagement via architecture services and best practices.

When not traveling for work, you’ll find Ross bouncing around the world exploring new countries.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Resource Management
• Latest Clarity Release – Value Overview
• Migrating to the ModernUX – Best Practice and Lessons Learned
• Hierarchy and Roadmaps: Complementary Use Cases
• Visualizations & Dashboards – Best Practice & Sharing
• Strategic Alignment and Beyond (The OKR Journey)
• Using Clarity for Creating Surveys
• Roadmap Management – Roundtable – Panel

Mike Pokorny has been a Clarity Solutions Architect with Rego Consulting since 2019. He is responsible for helping to guide customers tactically and strategically with their Clarity implementations. He has worked with organizations from various industries including manufacturing, aerospace, and health care.

Before joining Rego, Mike worked at Broadcom/CA for over a decade in various roles from Associate Services Consultant to Solutions Architect.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Project Management
• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Financial Management
• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Roadmap Management
• Hierarchy and Roadmaps: Complementary Use Cases
• Success in Resource Mgmt – RMO & Leadership
• When, Why, and How to Stay OOTB
• Rego Xchange & FREE MUX Migration Tool
• Intake and Prioritization- Roundtable – Panel
• Roadmap Management – Roundtable – Panel

Josh Childers is an experienced leader with a background in Project & Portfolio Management (PPM), Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), and Portfolio Management Organization (PMO). He has an IT background with a primary focus in SDLC and is a technical person who enjoys hands-on development approaches to client solutions. He has been in the IT industry since 2001, primarily in Project Management and Portfolio Management. Josh received his PMP certification in 2013.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Migrating to the ModernUX – Best Practice and Lessons Learned
• Visualization – Persona-Based Reporting Strategies
• Best Practices for Collaborative Work Management
• The Art of Strategic Planning – Building a prioritized and balanced roadmap
• The Power of Modern UX: Fit-Gap Solution Decisions
• Sustaining Change / Tips for ongoing Training and Mentoring
• When, Why, and How to Stay OOTB
• AI / Predictive Analytics
• The Art of Strategic Planning – Building a prioritized and balanced roadmap

Erich Kissel invests his time as a Work Management thought-leader (check him out on Rego Webinars and LinkedIn), Systems Architect for PPM/SPM and Agile, and Monday.com Line of Business Owner. His “secret sauce to success” is to focus on people at the center of process ecosystems via adoption-centric design, and proven organizational change management methodologies. He has been with Rego Consulting since 2020.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Client Sharing (4 Clients Sharing Something They Do Well)
• Improve Adoption and Data Governance
• Strategy on a Page – From Vision to Results
• Adaptive Leadership for Diverse Teams
• Mindset and Behaviors to Support Agility

Davey Zyweic has worked at Rego for over 10 years, bringing value to over 100 customers. His journey in the industry has taken him into every corner of the PPM/SPM software space. He enjoys implementing new instances of Clarity, creating automated integrations from complex business logic to be efficient and sustainable, and training hundreds of users at conferences on complex reporting and coding software. David is excited to share his knowledge and experience to bring you more value.

In his spare time, he likes to spend time with his wife and horse-sized dog, Malort.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Data Model and NSQL- Intermediate
• GEL Scripts – Introduction
• Data Model and NSQL Portlets – Advanced
• ModernUX Basic Administration

Robert Newell is a globally experienced PMO specialist with a background in project management, governance, software development, and finance. His 16 years of business management experience have enabled him to communicate complex technical requirements effectively and translate demands into actionable solutions for clients such as BankUnited and The Walt Disney Company.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• The Rego Power BI Reporting Suite
• Clarity Mobile App
• PowerBI Ad Hoc – Beginner

Chris Ciavarella has worked with various customers worldwide across many sectors and industries. He has been with Rego since 2017, and previously with Empowered Networks (a Rego partner) since 2009.

Chris has done it all, from simple portlets to complex integrations. He helps customers get the most out of their Clarity implementation by developing custom solutions, process workflows and interactive dashboards. With a breadth of knowledge in Network and Server architectures, Chris has a deep understanding of Clarity from end-to-end.

Chris loves soccer, and has been playing since he was 4 years old. He continues to play in his spare time.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Administration – Beginner
• Administration – Advanced
• ModernUX Basic Administration
• Clarity Housekeeping and Maintenance

Robby Elliott is the Director of Client Education and a Sr. Solutions Consultant. For more than 20 years, Robby has worked with Enterprise Level Applications from training and administration to Executive Communications. He creates custom solutions based on the business/user community requirements, expertly determining the overall strategy for success. Robby has assisted teams of under 100 to over 70k people using industry standards like Waterfall, Agile, XP, Lean, and Scrum. Robby has spoken at numerous conferences and conventions on PPM/SPM, PMO, PSDM and success through gamification.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Project Management
• Sustaining Change / Tips for ongoing Training and Mentoring
• Using MSP and Smartsheet with Clarity
• Adoption – Roundtable – Panel

Karen Lifsey is an IT and Finance professional with over 20 years of experience. She is well versed in the implementation, configuration, deployment, and maintenance of various COTS applications. She has supported corporate operations in finance, HR, learning, IT portfolio management, project governance, and DevOps. She is a certified SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager and is experienced in both Rally and Jira. Karen has been with Rego Consulting since August 2018.

Karen has expertise in Clarity, Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) / Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), IT financial management, resource management, application portfolio management, data warehouse and BI, Agile project management tools, ERP applications, including Oracle and PeopleSoft.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Best Practice Use of Clarity for Financial Management
• Clarity PPM Support Organization – Best Practices
• Financial Management – Roundtable – Panel

Mario Castillo has been with Rego Consulting since November 2019. He has more than 28 years of IT experience working with project/financial management organizations, defining and implementing business processes and system solutions (ERPs, CRMs, and PPMs/SPMs). Mario has 20 years of experience implementing Clarity PPM for Organizations in USA, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Mario also has vast experience on BPE (Business Process Engineering) and BPR (Business Process Re-Engineer) in different business markets (PPMs/SPMs, financials, ERPs, CRMs). Mario puts his MBA (Technology Management) to excellent use.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Clarity PPM Support Organization – Best Practices
• Financial Management – Roundtable – Panel

Jeff Barschaw is Rego’s Director of Agile Practices. He spent the first 20 years of his career developing and managing software solutions. For the past 15 years, Jeff has been an Agile & Organizational Coach. His combined skillset has given him a deep understanding of many of the Agile tools.

Throughout his career, Jeff has helped organizations across diverse industries deliver value while improving the way people feel about their work.

Utilizing his Agile Principle/Process knowledge and tool understanding, Jeff creates a tactical and practical approach to rolling out change and improving an organization’s ability to deliver value. He combines knowledge of technology practices, insight into what drives and motivates people, and leverages a wide range of methodologies and practices to help clients on their journey.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Clarity – Agile Integration – Considerations for Hybrid Ecosystems
• Mindset and Behaviors to Support Agility
• PMO/EPMO and Agile
• Lean Portfolio Management
• Project to Product

Rob Greca has extensive PPM/SPM and Agile consulting experience, leading and assisting leaders through various strategic and transformation initiatives at all scales. With more than 20 years of experience, Rob has broad industry exposure spanning technology, financial services, retail, utilities, and pharmaceuticals. He specializes in large scale enterprise-wide strategic transformations.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Clarity – Agile Integration – Considerations for Hybrid Ecosystems
• Mindset and Behaviors to Support Agility
• PMO/EPMO and Agile
• Lean Portfolio Management
• Project to Product

Doug Greer is Rego’s Managing Director of Apptio Services. He has extensive experience in IT business management, IT financial management, IT transformations, strategic consulting, project/program management, and professional services delivery. He is an expert in bridging the gaps between the people, the processes, and the technical aspects of complex business technology needs.

Rego University 2024 Classes:

• Apptio and Clarity, Complementary Tools