Calendar of Events

September 14th Evening Hybrid Event - In-person includes a Pasta Bar

Program: Implementing Agile Beyond Software Development

Come learn how ACT implemented Agile in an organization beyond software development. ACT team members will share lessons learned and tidbits on how they accomplished an agile implementation during a time of industry change, pandemic impacts and a move to a remote workforce.

Presenters: 

Renée Rogers is the Director for a team of Agile Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and RTE and is an Agile coach at ACT. She has an extensive background in content development for large-scale high-stakes assessments, with a particular focus on English Language Arts. In the past three years, she has played an instrumental role in the Agile transformation for Content and Research at ACT. Renée is a certified SAFe Practice Consultant (SPC), teaches SAFe certification courses at ACT, and participates in regular discussions about the adoption of Agile across the company.

Shawn Munger is a Product Owner at ACT for a team that helps develops test content for The ACT exam. Over the last 3 years, he has helped implement Agile practices as a Product Owner and a Scrum Master and is SAFe certified in both roles. Before ACT’s Agile transition, Shawn served as a Project Manager and can share the similarities between project management and agile; as well as share how they can work together. 

Emily Weaver is the Release Train Engineer at ACT for an Agile Release Train comprised of content developers and researchers. Emily’s background is in English Language Arts, and she taught in the classroom before moving to ACT test development. Throughout her 11 years at ACT, she has done everything from developing content to leading teams in an Agile transformation. Emily has SAFe Agilist, Scrum Master, Product Manager/Product Owner, and Release Train Engineer.

Damon Fairfield, Ph.D., MBA, SSM:  Damon Fairfield is the Scrum Master for the Agile team that develops content for ACT's PreACT suite of exams. He has a Ph.D. in biology, an MBA in general management, and significant experience developing science content for many of ACT's large-scale assessment products. He has also previously served as an Agile Product Manager for the ACT National test. Damon is a certified SAFe Scrum Master (SSM) and has actively supported ACT's Agile transformation over the past three years.

Sonal Khokhari is a Scrum Master at ACT and is SAFe certified in this role. Sonal has been with ACT for 11 years. She brings a unique perspective to her current role as a scrum master as her previous role was as a team member impacted by the SAFe Agile framework, and now she leads her team championing SAFe Agile.

Event Details:  In-Person and Virtual Options (selected at time of registration)

Location: 

In-person:  Country Inn, 9100 Atlantic Dr. SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404

 Dinner:  Pasta Bar

Virtual Details: Zoom link will be emailed to Virtual registered guests on September 14th by 12:00 pm CST

Time: 5:30-7:30 pm 

Agenda: 

• 5:30 pm check-in starts
• 6:00 pm Welcome and chapter announcement
• 6:15 Program begins
• 7:15 Closing

Cancellation/Refund: Cancellations must be received by 2:30 p.m. CT on Monday, September 11th  to avoid being charged as a no-show for this chapter event. To obtain a refund for a cancellation made before the deadline, please note your name, event, event date, and payment amount in your e-mail.

Please note that since September 2018, due to PMI process change in reporting PDUs, we will not be reporting PDUs on behalf of members for Chapter Meetings. Members will have to claim PDUs on their own manually. Please click Claim PDU's link for more information on how to claim PDU's.