Employee Spotlight: Juan Felipe Garcia Bermudez, Project Coordinator, Office of Research & Innovation (ORI)

We, at the Office of Research & Innovation, take a holistic approach to research and innovation. We embody the very mindset we aim to cultivate in the research community at large. We brainstorm, we plan, we build, we fail, we reattempt, we succeed, and we conduct research and aim at continuous innovation. Our Project Coordinators are an integral part of this process and our success.

This week, we introduce you to Juan Felipe Garcia Bermudez, known as Felipe to us all—calm, steady yet eager to learn, proactive, and focused on delivering optimal results.

Journey to ORI

“I understand that business and social systems work underlined by a complex environment where said complexity comes from their different stakeholders. That being the reason why the key to the success in any business is to meet stakeholders’ needs, and that is the challenge as a Project Manager.” –Felipe

An admirer of Japanese literature and like some other Plato fans at ORI, Felipe is one as well. Felipe embodies a philosophical approach to work and life.

An engineer by education, Felipe attained his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Los Andes, Colombia, in 2018. His desire to pursue Project Management and his enthusiasm to explore the world beyond Colombia landed him in Canada in December 2019. He then acquired his post-graduate certificate in Project Management from Centennial College School of Business, Ontario, in 2020.

During his experience with University Health Network (UHN) as a Project Management Intern, Felipe found his calling. In particular, his internship involved working with KITE, one of the principal research institutes at UHN.

In the past, having worked on his thesis paper submission on ‘Complexity Management’ to acquire his industrial engineering degree, Felipe shares that his exposure to project management greatly assists in understanding different stakeholders’ points of view. As early as 2017, in the beginning stage of his career, as a Lean Construction Intern with CUSEZAR in Colombia, Felipe was instrumental in leading a team to implement a lean system in the organization leading to a 30% improvement in processes.

“Merging my industrial engineering background with my aspiration to take on challenges and manage complex situations as a project manager gives me immense satisfaction. Breaking down complexities into manageable bits and putting those pieces together cohesively to improve efficiency and effectiveness—that’s my passion.” –Felipe

Felipe addresses each task with a calm yet resilient attitude. Along the journey to a promising career, he has developed complexity simulation techniques, coding knowledge for data analysis in Python and R and continues to participate in learning and growth opportunities.

Role at ORI

Felipe expresses profound thanks to Camila Perez-Pena, Project Manager at ORI, who informed Felipe of a vacancy for the position of Project Assistant at ORI a year ago. We are glad Felipe has joined our growing team, as he is indeed a valuable member.

He continues to work alongside Camila, assisting with numerous tasks in the development of ORI’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to be launched soon. He gladly remarks that it was great first exposure, to begin with. Since then, he has demonstrated a passion for taking on further tasks and challenges, including data analytics. Felipe informs that he is an Excel Expert and excels at programming. He is data-driven and data-oriented, and his statistical mind helps him determine patterns quickly. He is also proficient in Tableau, which is why he and his team recently won the internal data storytelling competition, but of course!

Felipe and Manivannan K., a Project Coordinator at ORI, are part of a ‘Change Management Project’ team, led by Raeshelle Morris, Innovation Program Manager, ORI, and Cheryl Francis-Nurse, Program Coordinator, Project Management Post Graduate Program. This endeavour will lead to the development and curation of a new framework on Change Management. Felipe proudly announces, “Watch out for the Change Management–10 commandments!” Felipe considers this a milestone moment in his growing career, and we wish him all the best.

Felipe and other project coordinators are a part of what they call a “Data Club,” a group of highly motivated team members passionate about all things ‘data related.’

Read what Felipe has to say about his experience with Humber’s Office of Research & Innovation:

“While working at the ORI, I’ve met incredible colleagues. I’ve been awarded the chance to participate in training methods like Simplexity Thinking and learnt a ton of new things, ranging from new coding methods, qualitative research, human-centred design, values, innovation and much more! I am glad I can be a part of this amazing and diverse team where each one of us has the opportunity to learn something new every single day.” –Felipe

Get to know

7 things you didn’t know about Felipe:

1. Recent Certifications: Project Management Certification
2. The next certification/course he has in mind: Certified Analytics Professional
3. When he is not at work: He is gaming or playing chess or reading a book
4. A secret talent: He knows how to play the harmonica
5. When online, the most visited platform/site: Instagram
6. A favourite book or two: ‘The Book of Five Rings’ by Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, and ‘The Republic’ by Plato.
7. A research topic that interests him: Why we ask, and Felipe says, “gamification methodology makes learning fun, easier to understand and appealing; it’s about optimization but in a creative way.”

“Research is discovering new but efficient ways of doing the same things. Research, to me, means new possibilities. Now that I’m involved with research more and more, I’ve learnt that research is a process, and at times you may find something you were not even looking for.” –Felipe

Benefits of Project Management Certification:

1. Link projects with the organization’s strategic plans and develop a comprehensive project plan.
2. Implement planning and control procedures, resource management, and risk management plans.
3. Identify and allocate human resources required to manage project tasks.
4. Monitor project progress, identify variances and take timely action to deal with problems and opportunities, and anticipate and respond to challenges inherent in complex projects.
5. Develop creative and flexible solutions that bring projects in on time and within budget.
6. Adhere to legal requirements and ethical standards.
7. Interact with team and stakeholders in a professional manner, respecting differences, to ensure a collaborative project management environment.

Learn more about Project Management certification.

Is there a certification you are working towards? Are you developing a particular skill? Is there a certification you are working towards? We would love to hear all about it.