Honorary Industry Advisor
Dr. Michael O'Connor
Minnesota, USA
Industries: Medical Devices, Bioengineering, Product Development, Manufacturing, Project Management, Program Management, Portfolio Management PMOs
Dr. Michael O’Connor, PfMP, PgMP, PMP has over 38 years of professional experience and 33 years of professional experience in the Medical Device Industry. He is currently Senior Research Program Director, Program Management with Medtronic, a US-based medical devices company, where he is responsible for global programs and successful adoption of R&D and Quality procedures. He is also champion for the Medtronic community of practice in Project, Program, Portfolio, and PMO management (4PM). He has held various other project and leadership positions while at Medtronic over the last nearly 21 years. Most notably he started an enterprise project management office (EPMO) at Medtronic and created technology roadmaps, maturity matrixes and technology portfolios. He has been responsible for the successful commercialization of many lifesaving projects utilizing project, program, portfolio and PMO management. He has driven medical technology and innovation to product development using various engineering methodologies.
Michael strives to inspire meaningful innovation enterprise-wide through project, program, portfolio and PMO management. He advocates for project management, volunteers for PMI globally and promotes professionalism in practice. He is focused on Enabling/ensuring the appropriate people/skill sets, funding support and polices/procedures are in place to efficiently complete work. He views innovation as the process that uses knowledge in a new way to create value, with meaningful value in the ‘eye of the beholder’.
Dr. O’Connor received his B.A. and minor in Project Management from Metropolitan State University. He holds Graduate degrees in Project Management from the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, Technology Management from the University of St. Thomas, and Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. O'Connor earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, majoring in Project Management, from the A. James School of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
He was selected as an American Society for Quality Fellow, Medtronic Technical Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society Fellow, Association for Project Management Fellow, American Academy of Project Management Fellow and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow. He has volunteered his time with many Professional Societies and Universities/Colleges over the past 20 years.
Prior to Medtronic, he was employed by CHF Solutions, Heartstent and Advanced UroScience, Dr. O’Connor played a leadership role in product development producing many products to commercialization. His leadership, research and development methodology provided a solid structure for developing products withing scope, cost, and quality. Dr. O’Connor’s corporate experience also includes 3M and Pfizer. He has held positions of leadership in project management in both small, medium, and large companies.
A long time and active member of PMI for more than 20 years, Dr. O’Connor has served at the chapter level as president and director at large, hosted regional events and has been a member of the PMI Global Executive Council since 2017. Dr. Michael O’Connor can be contacted at michaeloconnor009@gmail.com.
Profile created November 2023