Join us for our upcoming Study Group! This is a collaborative space where members can review key concepts, share resources, and support each other in reaching their academic and professional goals. All skill levels are welcome.

Speech Title:   If We Want to Save Our Planet, We Must Plan It

Speech Abstract:

We all have a common adversary when it comes to saving our planet-

          That adversary is waste, waste all types.

Today I will be focused on three specific types of waste where we can make the

greatest impact:

                                      Time

                                      Food

                                      Human Potential

I offer some solutions to specific problems in these areas               

                 Time- Fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds of distance run

                 Food- 35% of our waste stream is food.

                           In the US we throw away enough food every day to fill

                          The Rose Bowl, 89,702 seat stadium.

                 Human Potential-turnover is among the highest cost items in any

                           organization.  This can be corrected with hiring, training, and

                          leadership.

If we want to make the world a better place to live, each of us can contribute

by controlling waste of time, talent, and resources.

Learning Objectives:

   1. Fill the unforgiving minute
   2. We can change the world we live in by paying attention to waste of all types
   3. Training and education pay off in unexpected ways

Keynote Speaker:  Norm Wood

Speaker Bio:

Norm succeeds by helping others find success. Career highlights- from hiring and training, to managing departments, to running multi-million-dollar organizations-have resulted from helping others identify and apply their individual strengths and talents toward personal and organizational excellence.

Norm is a certified Life Coach.  He is founder and president of The New Norm, Inc. a management consulting firm. His areas of specialty include executive coaching, management training, motivational speaking, career coaching, mentoring and personal branding.

Norm’s career includes fifteen years in the food industry, where his career began as a sales representative and culminated as a director, partner and owner of a food brokerage company with annual revenues of over $75,000,000.  This was followed by twenty-seven years with environmental industry companies, serving in various capacities as Corporate Sales Manager, Vice President, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of Alliance Careers, a specialty placement firm, transitioning military officers into corporate positions.

He served on the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Food Shuttle, the North Carolina Food Bank, Vice-Chairman of the Carolinas Recycling Association, and was actively involved in establishing the alumni program and speakers’ bureau for StepUp Ministry.

Creation Care is a long-standing commitment and passion for Norm.  He has served on the Environmental Stewardship Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina since 1995.

NCPMI Next Gen Virtual Power Hour, Featuring Michele Badie!

Step into your next level of leadership—even without the title. In this dynamic virtual Power Hour, you’ll discover how to adapt with confidence, influence without authority, and turn your work into impact that gets noticed. Through real-world strategies and interactive discussion, you’ll learn how to translate data into powerful stories, guide teams through change, and position yourself as a catalyst for growth. Reserve your spot now and walk away with practical tools you can put into action immediately.

Don’t miss it—register now!

NCPMI is spending a morning at the 38-acre Hope Reins Ranch, an Equine Therapy organization located in Wake county. We welcome non-members (guardians required for ages 13 to 17) to join members during this opportunity to network while serving.  Please note in registration with NCPMI if you will be bringing a minor.

The Hope Reins Mission: Pair hurting kids with trained mentors and rescued horses to find hope and healing.

Where do you as a volunteer fit in? All services provided at the Ranch are free of charge and made possible by volunteers and donors.

During this 3-hour morning shift, volunteers will participate in one or more of the following activities:

· Invasive plant species removal in pastures to keep pastures healthy and nutrition-rich for the horses

· Fence staining - with miles of four board fence, it's an ongoing process!

· Trail construction

· Clearing fence lines - from downed limbs, brush and debris

· General Barn and Stall maintenance

For more information, please visit their volunteer support page: https://hopereins.org/serve/


All volunteers will sign a waiver digitally. Link to be provided in separate welcome email.

8420 Wake Forest Hwy, Raleigh NC 27613

What is the hype about AI, and where can it help in Agile product development and delivery?

There is a lot of hype and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt about AI. First, the name AI is incorrect; we should refer to it as data analytics and machine learning. For that, we use either a LLM (large language model) or an SLM (specialized, sometimes called small, language model) and we can also benefit from a LAM (large action model).