Member Spotlight, Lorelie Kaid

Lorelie Kaid, CCMP, PMP

VP, Enterprise Project Services at WSECU

Fun Fact

I am married, celebrating 33 years, to my husband Alex, and we have two sons. AJ is married and lives in Alaska with his wife, Alana. Michael is 26 and lives in southern Washington.

Some of my hobbies include gardening, raising guinea pigs (we have four), the Mariners (we are season ticket holders), and Seahawks. We also enjoy attending musicals at the Paramount or 5th Avenue Theater. For ten years, I produced the musicals at Tahoma High School but retired from that a couple of years ago. It was so much fun working with the young adults.

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Background

I was raised in Kirkland, Washington, and now reside in Maple Valley. I am a Husky, having graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Political Science & Sociology. I later obtained my MBA in Organizational Leadership from City University.

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Path to Change Management

I fell into the career of Change Management and Project Management. I started out as a developer and in my first development role, I was the PM, CM and developer. For perspective, this was before the personal computer and the organization was mainframe-based at the time. We were implementing a Records system, and the tool would eliminate an entire department. Additionally, I needed the department’s expertise to ensure a good transition. This experience impacted me for the rest of my career. The grace, the empathy, the challenges, the emotion of everyone involved. And that is where it began. An understanding, that the task is a minor component of the change. The people side is not only key, but a pivotal part of the success of change.

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Biggest Obstacle Getting Established in Change Management

After graduating undergrad, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer but changed my mind. The role of Developer was open at the insurance company I was working for. This was before you needed a computer science degree - you just had to take a test to see if you had the ability. You have to remember that this was before PC’s and before the dot-com era. My co-workers were all heading for retirement, and I was a 22-year-old woman, fresh out of college. I share this because this time had a strong influence on me. Every step of the way influenced me.

I fell in love with the implementation side of things, more importantly, the people side of things. There was NO name for what we were doing back then. Even project management wasn’t really known as Project Management. Change Management wasn't known until about 15 years ago. Many in the business world did not take it seriously, but some form of Change Management has always been there. Now that I am a leader, it is a critical part of who we are and what we do. I head up the Enterprise Project Services for my organization and for those efforts we manage, we are responsible for the enterprise change that takes place.

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Biggest Reward from this Career

Making a difference. For my day job, I lead people who are making a difference in my organization. As a Vice President, my role is mostly strategic, so I focus on coaching. Helping others learn the principles of the people side of things and expanding their careers gets me up in the morning.

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Bucket List Yet to Accomplish

I love the bucket list conversation. Currently, mine is to make it to Australia and New Zealand. Write a book about my experience as a mom to a son with bipolar (it is a journey). And…get into the voiceover industry. I have done training and working on getting training in my specific area of interest (audio books and eLearning). I even have my studio setup. But I just need to do it!