Mel Bost is a project management consultant specializing in project closeout and lessons learned, as well as process improvement, best practices, and benchmarking. For the past several years, he has been teaching “Project Management for Research” to postgraduate students at Arizona State University, as well as developing new approaches to the research process.
He was formerly a practice leader in BOT International’s Program Management Office (PMO) Practice, who is a specialist in PMO best practices, project lessons learned, and program management. He is experienced in all aspects of project and program management, including strategic planning, design thinking, knowledge management, risk management, and business process analysis. Bost has successfully developed the processes, standards, procedures, and organizational structures for the PMOs of several major corporations.
Before becoming a consultant, Bost worked for a number of large national and international companies, including Exterran Corporation, ConocoPhillips, Phillips Petroleum, Tosco Corporation, UNOCAL, Atlantic Richfield Company, and Ford Motor Company. Bost began his career in the industry with Ford Motor Company, where he directed product programs for the North American and European markets. He was also instrumental in a group that introduced finite element analysis in Ford Product Engineering using NASA programs.
With Atlantic Richfield Company, he directed Fuels Research and Development Projects. With UNOCAL and Tosco, he led Project and PMO programs. He was part of a global merger-transition team that developed business analysis and best practices for a new PMO before the merger of Conoco and Phillips Petroleum. He also led a global team to create a blueprint for implementing a PMO for Duke Energy Field Services and LUKOIL.
Bost has worked with the PMO Executive Council in Washington, DC to define best practices for PMOs and with the Advisory Board of the University of Arkansas, Walton School of Business, Information Technology Research Institute. He is the author of the highly regarded blog, “MEL BOST PMO EXPERT,” which addresses the structure, activities, and behavior of a PMO environment, and has also recorded numerous podcasts with Wayne Thompson of “Project Management War Stories.”
In 2011, Bost was invited by the Panama Canal Authority to conduct two training courses in Panama with their Construction Division project managers, engineers, and other project personnel on the topic “Project Closeout and Lessons Learned.” The Panama Canal Authority was engaged in a $5 billion program to expand the Canal, which was completed in 2015.
In 2012, in a cooperative effort between BOT International and Collaboration Management and Control Solutions headquartered in Dubai, Bost conducted a week-long training course in Dubai on Project Lessons Learned for several companies from Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Collaboration Management and Control Solutions is one of the largest providers of project management training in the Middle East and Far East.
In 2012, in a joint effort by BOT International and ProjectManagement.com, Bost conducted one-day Project Lessons Learned training sessions in several U.S. cities. ProjectManagement.com is one of the largest online networks of project managers in the world. Bost completed his BS Physics/MS Engineering degrees at Georgia Tech, and his MS Engineering Science and MBA degrees at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He lives with his wife in the Scottsdale, Arizona area, and is an active volunteer with the University of Michigan Club of Phoenix.
Please connect with me on LinkedIn.
