“Project management today is far more than a technical
discipline; It is a leadership capability that
influences how organizations execute strategy,
manage change and deliver value”
Interview with Anna Ladipo
Associate Professor of Practice
Academic Director, Project Management Program
University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, Texas, USA
Interviewed by Yasmina Khelifi
International Correspondent, PM World Journal
Paris, France
Introduction to the interviewee
Anna Ladipo is an Associate Professor of Practice and Academic Director of the Project Management program in executive education at The University of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management. In her dual role, she provides academic and strategic leadership across graduate and executive‑level project management programs while also teaching and mentoring professionals and students at various stages of their careers.
As Academic Director, Anna oversees program design and delivery, curriculum innovation, and alignment with industry and professional standards. She works closely with faculty, industry advisors, and executive education stakeholders to ensure that the programs equip working professionals with practical, relevant, and future‑focused project leadership capabilities.
Anna brings extensive corporate consulting experience to her academic work, having led complex projects and organizational initiatives across multiple industries. Her practitioner background informs her teaching and leadership philosophy, emphasizing applied learning, professional judgment, and the ability to navigate uncertainty and change in real organizational contexts.
Her scholarly and professional interests include project and program management practice, leadership development, career transitions, and professional practice education. She is also actively engaged in writing and thought leadership focused on supporting professionals as they enter new roles and on helping graduate students bridge theory and practice.
Beyond her professional roles, Anna’s perspective is shaped by her global and immigrant journey, being born in Canada, growing up in Nigeria, and later returning to North America as an adult, which informs her commitment to inclusive, experience‑centered learning environments.
More information about her academic work and leadership roles can be found on her University of Texas at Dallas faculty profile at https://jindal.utdallas.edu/faculty/anna-ladipo, her personal website at https://annaladipo.com, and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaladipo/.
Recent publication: https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/pmwj143-Jul2024-Ladipo-pivoting-with-purpose-how-I-used-project-management.pdf
Interview
Q1: You are the academic director in the Executive Education department at the University of Texas at Dallas. What project management degrees or certificates are offered by UT Dallas? What courses are required and do you plan to develop new project management courses? What is your role there? Do you also teach PM courses??
Anna Ladipo (Ladipo): At UT Dallas Executive Education, we currently offer three pathways in project management, designed to meet the needs of working professionals at different stages in their careers. These include a stand‑alone Project Management Certificate, an MBA with an emphasis in Project Management, and a Master’s in Leadership and Organizational Development with an emphasis in Project Management. Details about these programs can be found at https://execed.utdallas.edu/project-management/.
As Academic Director, my role spans academic leadership, curriculum strategy, and program oversight. I am responsible for setting the academic direction of the project management offerings, ensuring alignment with industry standards, and continuously evolving the curriculum to remain relevant, rigorous, and practice‑driven. This includes working closely with faculty, industry partners, and executive education leadership.
More…
To read entire interview, click here
How to cite this work: Khelifi, Y. (2026). Project management today is far more than a technical discipline; Interview with Anna Ladipo, PM World Journal. Vol. XV, Issue III, March. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/pmwj162-Mar2026-Khelifi-Interview-with-Anna-Ladipo-UT-Dallas.pdf
About the Interviewer
Yasmina Khelifi
Paris, France
Yasmina Khelifi, PMP, PMI- ACP, PMI-PBA is an experienced project manager in the telecom industry. Along with her 20-year career at Orange S.A. (the large French multinational telecommunications corporation), she sharpened her global leadership skills, delivering projects with major manufacturers and SIM makers. Yasmina strives for building collaborative bridges between people to make international projects successful. She relies on three pillars: project management skills, the languages she speaks, and a passion for sharing knowledge.
She is a PMP certification holder since 2013, a PMI- ACP and PMI-PBA certification holder since 2020. She is an active volunteer member at PMI France and PMI UAE, and a member of PMI Germany Chapter. French-native, she can speak German, English, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and she is learning Arabic. Yasmina loves sharing her knowledge and experiences at work, in her volunteers’ activities at PMI, and in projectmanagement.com as a regular blogger. She is also the host and co-founder of the podcast Global Leaders Talk with Yasmina Khelifi to help people in becoming better international leaders.
Yasmina can be contacted at https://yasminakhelifi.com/ or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasminakhelifi-pmp-telecom/
Visit her correspondent profile at https://pmworldlibrary.net/yasmina-khelifi/
To view other works by Yasmina, visit her author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/yasmina-khelifi/
