Program Management is about Enabling
Change that Endures
Interview with Nidhi Mahajan
Advisor, Author, Expert, Mentor
Experienced International Program Manager & Leader
Texas, USA
Interviewed by Yasmina Khelifi
International Correspondent, PM World Journal
Paris, France
Introduction to the interviewee
Nidhi Mahajan is a global program management thought leader, published author, and industry expert with more than 17 years of experience delivering large-scale, high-stakes transformation programs in regulated industries. Her expertise spans governance design, AI-enabled compliance, and infrastructure modernization, with frameworks adopted by organizations across geographies and sectors.
She has authored peer-reviewed papers in the PM World Journal and leading Scopus-indexed journals, including the Journal of Information Systems Engineering and Management, Computer Fraud & Security, and the International Journal of Intelligent Systems and Applications in Engineering. Nidhi is an IEEE Senior Member and a Fellow of the Association for Project Management (FAPM), and is actively engaged in judging international innovation and technology competitions.
She is a mentor with PMI Dallas, where she leads the Corporate Ambassador Program and mentors project managers locally and through Project Managers Without Borders, a nonprofit organization providing global mentorship for social impact projects via The Educational Equality Institute (TEEI). She helps professionals develop the skills and strategies needed for impactful, sustainable careers. Her contributions have advanced best practices that connect technology, regulation, and business strategy, creating results that extend far beyond individual organizations.
Connect with Nidhi at: linkedin.com/in/nmahajan012 or https://nidhimahajan0.wixsite.com/nidhimahajan-1
Interview
Q1: First, thank you for accepting an interview request from PMWJ. How did you happen to work in the project management field?
Nidhi Mahajan (Mahajan): Thank you for inviting me. It’s a pleasure to share my story with PMWJ readers.
I didn’t step into my career thinking; I’ll be a program manager one day. I started out as a developer and later a product owner, and I was always curious about how the pieces fit together, not just my piece, but the bigger picture. I found myself naturally gravitating toward roles where I could connect the dots between technology, business goals, and regulatory requirements.
Over time, I realized my real strength wasn’t just in delivering my own part well, but in shaping how multiple streams of work could align, adapt, and move forward toward a shared vision. Project management gave me the tools to make that happen. Program management gave me the scope to drive change at a scale where it could influence not just one team or one company, but sometimes an entire industry ecosystem.
Q2: You are a program manager. What would you recommend to project leaders who want to move to program management?
More…
To read entire interview, click here
How to cite this work: Khelifi, Y. (2025). Program Management is about Enabling Change that Endures, Interview with Nidhi Mahajan, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue IX, September. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pmwj156-Sep2025-Khelifi-Interview-with-Nidhi-Mahajan.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/
