DAU faculty members attend Lockheed Martin Program Management Institute.

The Lockheed Martin (LM) Program Management Institute (PMI) is a four-day program that serves as the capstone course for the program management education offered LM employees at the LM Center for Leadership Excellence located in Bethesda, Md. The course is conducted three times a year.

LM recently invited DAU faculty members Bill Lankford, Bob Carlson, and Navy Cdr. Larry Haukenes to participate in the PMI as part of the DAU/LM exchange program. Just as DAU invites contractor/industry participants to join its courses to enhance the learning experience of both groups, LM believes that having DAU participants in the PMI is valuable for enhanced understanding of the two organizations' shared and respective processes and to provide DoD/DAU/customer perspectives.

The PMI lists as its program objectives: to provide experienced program managers with insight into critically important aspects of program management, including business, financial, and customer relations issues; to discuss program management challenges with senior corporate executives; to share lessons learned and best practices in program management techniques; to network with peers and customers who will be leading major programs in the future; and to strengthen inter-company program management cooperation and teamwork.

Lankford is a systems engineering professor with the DAU. Mid-Atlantic Region, located at Patuxent River, Md. His career has included acquisition tours in the Pentagon, Naval Air Command, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He has served as DAU course manager for both SYS-201 and SYS-301. Lankford holds a bachelor's degree in marine engineering and master's degrees in systems management and national security and strategic studies.