IPMA Celebrates Milestones and Honors Pioneer Member Associations
In 1964, the roots of the International Project Management Association (IPMA), formerly known as INTERNET, were established through a meeting initiated by Pierre Koch, a European Aircraft Project Manager from France. Koch invited Dick Vullinghs of the Netherlands and Roland Gutsch from Germany to discuss the advantages of the Critical Path Method (CPM) as a management approach. Yves Eugene of AFIRO chaired this gathering.
Recognizing the need for an INTERnational NETwork, Professor Arnold Kaufmann proposed the formation of INTERNET. In 1965, this group officially founded the International Management Systems Association (IMSA) in Switzerland, an independent organization located in the politically neutral country of Switzerland during the Cold War.
In 1967, INTERNET held its first International European Internet Congress in Vienna. The organization continued to grow, hosting the first “all-state” conference on the “Methods of Network Analysis” in Prague in 1966 and the first International World Congress in Vienna in 1968.
In 1989, IPMA launched Advanced Courses to enhance the competences of experts in project, program, and portfolio management. The organization underwent a name change in 1996 during the 13th World Congress in Paris, adopting the name International Project Management Association (IPMA), while retaining the familiar logo.
In 2023, the IPMA Executive Board visited some of these Pioneer Associations to congratulate them on their milestone anniversaries. PMA Projekt Management Austria celebrated its 50th Anniversary, GPM Germany marked its 40th Anniversary, Svenskt Projektforum in Sweden reached its 40th Anniversary, SPM Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement in Switzerland also marked the 40th Anniversary with IPMA, and APM UK celebrated its 50th Anniversary with IPMA.
APM, the IPMA Member Association in the UK, hosted its annual Project Management Awards ceremony on November 20th, 2023. Prof. Dr. Mladen Vukomanovic, IPMA Vice President Profession Development, the incoming IPMA President, and Prof. Dr. Vladimir Obradovic, IPMA Vice President Administration, Finance & Events, used this occasion to join the APM Awards Gala to celebrate projects, individuals and organisations from the project profession and also to acknowledge APM’s long-term and strategic contribution as a Member Association in IPMA.
IPMA expresses gratitude to its pioneering members – Member Associations, including PMA Projekt Management Austria (joined in 1973), GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement e.V. in Germany (joined in 1983), ANIMP – IPMA Italy (joined in 1986), Norwegian Project Management Association (joined in 1982), Svenskt Projektforum in Sweden (joined in 1983), SPM Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement in Switzerland (joined in 1983), and Association for Project Management APM in the UK (joined in 1972) for their continuous support and contributions to the advancement of the project profession and establishing IPMA as the truly global and unique body of project profession today.
