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Panel · PMI MENA Held

From Hype to Delivery: New AI Standards Reshaping Project Leadership

PMI MENA’s AI Day webinar explored how organizations can turn AI ambition into real business value through leadership, governance and the new PMI AI Standard.

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Recap
Why this session matters

Most organizations are no longer asking whether to use AI, but how to make it deliver. That is a project leadership question: framing the right business problem, governing AI responsibly and managing the change it brings. This session looked at how new AI standards help project leaders move from experimentation to measurable value.

Session overview

PMI MENA marked AI Day with the webinar From Hype to Delivery: New AI Standards Reshaping Project Leadership, joined by more than 300 project professionals and leaders from across MENA and beyond. The discussion explored one of the biggest questions facing organizations today: how to turn AI ambition into real business value.

Moderator Rudolf Khoury, Head of Markets, MENA at PMI, set the stage with the message that ran through the discussion: AI is no longer the challenge; successful AI leadership is.

  • Kathleen Walch, Director of AI & Community at PMI, shared practical guidance on leading AI initiatives: start with the business problem, not the technology; treat AI as a business transformation rather than an IT implementation; and build responsible AI on governance, accountability, human oversight and ethical guardrails. She presented the new PMI AI Standard as an evergreen framework for responsible adoption, and closed with a reminder to trust AI for speed but always verify its outputs.
  • Dr. Maher Alkhadra, Managing Partner & Chief Consultant at Venture International, focused on the leadership and organizational capabilities AI success requires: organizations need better leadership, not just more AI tools. He described governance as an accelerator of innovation rather than bureaucracy, and AI as an organizational capability built on cross-functional collaboration and accountability.
Poster for the PMI webinar From Hype to Delivery: New AI Standards Reshaping Project Leadership, July 16, 7–8 PM UAE time, with Kathleen Walch, Dr. Maher Alkhadra, Dr. Sally Hammoud and moderator Rudolf Khoury

Featured in Newsletter Quarter 3, 2026

Recap

Key takeaways

  • Begin AI projects with the business problem, not the technology.
  • Treat AI as a business transformation, not simply an IT implementation.
  • Responsible AI needs governance, accountability, human oversight and ethical guardrails.
  • The new PMI AI Standard offers an evergreen framework for responsible AI adoption.
  • Governance accelerates innovation; it is not bureaucracy.
  • Measure success by business outcomes, not the number of AI use cases deployed.
  • Trust AI for speed, but always verify its outputs.

Key themes

  • Responsible AI and governance
  • PMI AI Standard
  • AI as business transformation
  • Leadership and change management
  • Human skills alongside AI
For PM professionals

Why it matters

For project professionals in Lebanon, the message is that AI skills alone will not set them apart. The professionals who stand out will combine AI capabilities with enduring human skills such as critical thinking, communication, leadership, business acumen and sound judgment, the same mix the PMI Talent Triangle® describes.

About the panel

Meet the panel

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Moderator

Mr. Rudolf Khoury

Head of Markets, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at Project Management Institute (PMI)

Mr. Rudolf Khoury is Head of Markets, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at Project Management Institute (PMI).

His work focuses on collaboration with enterprises, government organizations, Authorized Training Partners and academic institutions to strengthen professional capabilities and project delivery across the region.

He has described supporting large-scale transformation programs, expanding access to learning and building partnerships that help professionals at different stages of their careers.

His public professional contributions also address artificial intelligence and the management of AI, machine learning and data-centric projects, including the alignment of AI initiatives with business goals, ethical considerations and practical delivery frameworks.

He holds an MBA and has publicly announced earning the CPMAI AI and ML Project Management certification. His regional engagement includes participation in partnerships supporting project management education and organizational capability development.

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Ms. Kathleen Walch

Director of AI & Community at Project Management Institute

Ms. Kathleen Walch leads initiatives to advance AI innovation in project management at the Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s leading association for project professionals.

She was the founder and managing partner of Cognilytica, where she co-developed the Cognitive Project Management for AI (CPMAI) methodology. She holds the CPMAI certification and is a lead instructor on CPMAI courses and training. Before Cognilytica, she founded HourlyBee, an online scheduling system for home services, and was a key part of the direct marketing operation at Harte Hanks.

She was selected to join the OECD’s ONE AI Expert Group on AI risk and accountability, and helped launch the AI working group at ATARC, which she chairs. She co-hosts the AI Today podcast, contributes regularly to Forbes and to TechTarget’s Enterprise AI site, and judges the SXSW Innovation Awards. She holds a degree in marketing from Loyola University.

Connect on LinkedIn ↗

Dr. Maher Alkhadra

Managing Partner & Chief Consultant at Venture International

Dr. Maher Alkhadra is Managing Partner & Chief Consultant at Venture International.

With over 25 years of experience across the GCC and beyond, he led transformative projects and empowered organizations—especially SMEs—to thrive through strategic planning, digital transformation, and results-driven consulting.

He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (ISM) and an MBA in Operations Management Science, combining deep academic grounding with hands-on business acumen.

Connect on LinkedIn ↗

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