PMINYC 2025 Board of Election Candidates
- VP Finance
- Vice President of Goverance
- Vice President of Marketing & Communications
- Vice President of Outreach
- Vice President of Programs
- VP Technology
Candidate for Vice President of Finance
Shirelle Thomas
Biography
Shirelle is a long-time PMINYC member. She has volunteered for almost 3 years on the Finance Team as Director of Reporting. Shirelle was appointed to VP Finance by the Board in May 2025. During Shirelle’s short tenure, she has already made a big impact. She migrated the Chapter’s accounts to a new bank which checked all the boxes from investment needs to integration capabilities our previous Bank lacked. Shirelle has enhanced the Finance team’s budgeting capabilities, including reporting. She has also focused on governance ensuring procedure manuals are all updated and stored in our central repository. Shirelle brings over 10 years of leadership experience from her day job in financial services including hands-on expertise in budget development, financial reporting, vendor payments, and reserves oversight, with proficiency in QuickBooks, Bill.com, and Stripe, the tools used by the Chapter. Known for her structured and collaborative leadership, Shirelle is all about teamwork, clear communication, and keeping our finances in great standing so PMINYC can keep growing and doing amazing things for its members.
Vision
Shirelle’s vision is to lead the Finance team of PMINYC with integrity and honesty, fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented environment where each team member can thrive. By establishing clear KPIs and streamlining financial processes, Shirelle aims to ensure timely bill payments and provide actionable financial insights that support the chapter’s overall strategy. Shirelle has plans to enhance our ways of working through creating efficiencies for management of our finances in applications such as QuickBooks and improve our general budgeting process. Shirelle is committed to making smart, well-thought-out financial decisions that drive profitability, ensure financial responsibility, and promote the long-term success of PMINYC. Through strong collaboration with the Chapter President and other leaders, Shirelle strives to build a financially stable and responsible organization that supports the mission and continued growth of the Chapter.
Candidates for Vice President of Goverance
Jennifer Ruda
Biography
Jennifer joined PMINYC in 2014 and began volunteering as the Assistant Program Manager for Mentoring in 2015. In 2016, as the Mentoring Program Manager, she and her team grew Mentoring from 2 to 34 pairs within one year through marketing and engaging members at chapter meetings. During Jennifer’s tenure, the Mentoring program developed the "Ask Me Anything" happy hours that were popular for the learning and networking format. She worked with the Career Development Network to host the “Mentoring: What’s in it for Me?” event to recruit more Mentors for the program to serve interested Mentees. Additionally, Jennifer leveraged chapter member feedback to create initiatives centered on job search, such as Building a LinkedIn Profile, Personal Branding, PM job skills, and interviewing.
In 2019 to 2020, Jennifer served as the President and VP of Education for PMINYC Toastmasters. The club grew from 24 to 45 members during that period, 60% of which were also chapter members. At the end of that period, PMINYC Toastmasters earned President’s Distinguished recognition, the highest level of club award from Toastmasters International.
When Jennifer was elected to the PMINYC board as VP Membership in 2021, she knew the team needed to grow and specialize to serve the current member community. She developed a Director of Mentoring role to manage the more than 60 (at the time) Mentor and Mentee pairings, a Director of Membership to manage member relations, and a PgM of Member and Volunteer Experience. To celebrate chapter members who give their time to help keep PMINYC running, she also assisted with producing PMINYC’s Volunteer Appreciation events.
Jennifer chaired the Programming Committee from late 2023 to 2024 assisting across departments with budget, event, and venue management. Since January of 2025, Jennifer has served as a Governance Director assisting with completing PMINYC policy updates, board member role descriptions, and providing accessible resources for our chapter members. Through her 10 years of volunteering experience, Jennifer recognizes the importance of being well-versed in the policies and bylaws of PMINYC and the ways in which our chapter supports PMI Global’s vision of excellence in project management.
Vision
Jennifer’s vision for the Governance department is that of partner and guardian, ensuring all board-level activities comply with the chapter’s bylaws and policies. She plans to evaluate the systems and procedures in place to ensure they effectively and efficiently perform all required Chapter governance and compliance activities. She has the experience and knowledge to shepherd the board’s strategic planning efforts, so they comply with the bylaws and policies of PMI Global as well as the Chapter. Jennifer also views governance as a resource for members whether it be to aid with a complaint or to advise on governance questions.
Candidate for Vice President of Programs
Vanessa Diaz
Biography
Vanessa, PMP, a project and program management veteran of 14 years across private and public sectors, joined PMINYC in 2021. She is an active PMINYC member who began volunteering with the Programs team in February 2023. With a passion for learning, people management, and process improvement, she quickly advanced to Speaker Engagement Lead making significant contributions by developing an operational procedure for the speaker selection and engagement process for the team.
In January 2024, she was appointed Director of Networking and Events Engagement. She created a networking strategy and playbook that introduced new event formats, and icebreaker activities fostering meaningful conversations and networking opportunities. Additionally, she has helped expand member engagement across social platforms, further extending PMINYC's community reach and interaction.
Vanessa takes a people-focused, data-driven approach to programming. She is dedicated to enhancing event quality, catalyzing connections, and creating meaningful membership experiences within PMINYC.
Vision
Vanessa’s vision is to cultivate a community for all professionals where they not only build skills but feel welcomed and represented. This translates to member-focused programming that fosters professional growth and meaningful connections across industries and throughout NYC and the boroughs.
She envisions programming that balances three core values in modern project management. First, innovation and emerging trends that keep our members at the forefront of industry changes. Second, foundational excellence that elevates the PMI Talent Triangle as the core framework for professionals across all career stages, building expertise in technical project management, leadership, and strategic business management. Third, people-centered leadership that strengthens the human side of project management through communication, empathy, and team empowerment.
Vanessa’s approach emphasizes continuous improvement. She will actively gather members’ feedback and adapt programming to reflect what our community values most. Her background in training and instructional design helps her understand members' needs, ensuring our programming is impactful and aligned with how professionals learn best. While staying current with industry trends, she also wants to cover the basics, from understanding body language to dressing for success.
As a service-oriented leader, Vanessa is committed to fostering an environment where everyone belongs. Together, we will build a program calendar that educates, inspires, and connects our vibrant PMINYC Chapter community.
Candidate for Vice President of Technology
Martin Kwasnik
Biography
Martin is a long-time PMINYC member. He has volunteered on the technology team for over three years, first as Asset Manager from 2022 to 2023 and then as Director, a role to which he was appointed in July 2023. During Martin’s tenure, PMINYC operational excellence blossomed. His accomplishments include training members of PMINYC Governance team on use of critical project management tools: maintaining the security of the Marketing & Communications social media accounts; contributing to enhancing and streamlining finance operations, by delivering an in-house developed tool to improve the end of the month expenditure matching process. Martin also developed six solutions in the PMINYC member engagement tool within 3 months of joining the technology team. Additionally, he maintains and delivers on a 7-hour SLA for all member inquiries and has a 100% response rate.
Martin brings over 20 years of experience in Leadership, Information Technology, Finance and Cybersecurity industries. He builds connections through collaboration and establishing common ground. Martin has consistently delivered the highest standard of service on the PMINYC business platform for the benefit of all members.
Vision
Martin aims to apply his deep technical knowledge and collaborative mindset to strengthen PMINYC’s digital infrastructure and technology capabilities.
To achieve his vision, he believes four pillars are required. First, is to foster trust and engagement among technology volunteers by maintaining and enabling an environment where each team member can flourish.
Second, is to enable and enhance member engagement with PMINYC departments, through maintenance of trusted and secure communication channels.
Third is to increase awareness of the benefits of project management workflow tools available to the Chapter. These workflow management tools continue to greatly improve operations of the Chapter and support the strategic plan by aiding in the delivery of operational excellence.
Fourth is to leverage his extensive Cybersecurity experience to ensure continued stability of PMINYC online presence, as well as to enhance vendor relationships.
Candidate for Vice President of Marketing & Communications
NO CANDIDATES
Candidate for Vice President of Outreach
NO CANDIDATES
Nomination & Election Milestones
|
October 1, 2025 |
Nominations Opened |
|
October 22, 2025 |
Nominations Closed |
|
October 13 - 26, 2025 |
Candidates met with the NEC to confirm eligibility |
|
November 10, 2025 |
Voting begins |
|
December 1, 2025 |
Voting ends |
|
December 18, 2025 |
Announce results |
|
January 1, 2026 |
New terms begin |
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