A Dallas City Council member and an executive with the Parkland Health and Hospital System headline the list of speakers at the fourth annual Project Management Symposium, the largest of its kind in North Texas.

The PM Symposium, Aug. 12-13, at the School of Management on The University of Texas at Dallas campus, offers up to 16 professional development units (PDUs) for practitioners. Last year, more than 200 people attended.

Speaking to the project managers on Aug. 12 will be Walter B. Jones Jr., the senior vice president for facilities at Parkland Health and Hospital System. His responsibilities run from the nuts and bolts of construction and renovation to the strategic vision of the healthcare system. Parkland is in the midst of raising funds to replace the current hospital, built in 1954, with a new state-of-the-art facility. The $150 million capital campaign will contribute to the $1.27 billion project in an unprecedented public-private partnership.

On Aug. 13, David A. Neumann, chairman of the Dallas City Council’s Trinity River Corridor Project Committee, will talk to symposium participants about his role in keeping tabs on this decades-long public works project for the City Council. The multi-agency, multidisciplinary development encompasses flood protection, recreation, environmental restoration, economic development and transportation projects. Neumann serves as the City Council’s point man overseeing the projects, progress and public funding.

“These are two dynamic individuals who are on the forefront of redesigning Dallas into a 21st century city — one that reflects the best technology as well as the best natural resource management,” says Jim Joiner, who will be introducing the speakers. Joiner, former Project Management program director at UT Dallas, is reprising his role as symposium host.

Also speaking will be Miles Shepherd, chairman of the International Project Management Association’s executive board, and Francisco Székely, director of the Center for Responsible Business and Sustainability at the School of Management. Shepherd will be talking about the effort to develop global project management standards. Szekely will talk about the need to embrace sustainability in order to maximize an organization’s competitiveness while diminishing risks and costs.

More information is available at the  Project Management Symposium website.