In Memoriam: Eric Jenett, PMI Founder

ByElizabeth Harrin Last updated: General

Eric Jenett, founder member of PMI and PMI Fellow, died yesterday aged 88.

Mr Jenett was the very first person to become a PMP.

He received a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University and then spent much of his career with Brown and Root in Houston, Texas. He was also a founding member and former president of the PMI Houston Chapter, which was the first PMI Chapter.

Mr Jenett had been planning to attend the PMI Global Congress which is currently in progress. At the PMI Awards ceremony this evening, Beth Partleton, Chair of the PMI Board of Directors, gave a short speech about the work of Mr Jenett. She then handed over to another PMI founder member, Jim Snyder, for him to share his memories of working with Mr Jenett.

Mr Snyder said that Mr Jenett was a man whom he had admired for the last 42 years. “He made a significant different to my life and the life of everyone in this room,” Mr Snyder continued, addressing the audience at the awards ceremony. “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”

Mr Snyder explained that Mr Jenett designed the first PMI logo and that his first passion was sharing information about a growing profession. “Eric worked very hard to get us to bring together people in different areas to share ideas,” he said.

You can read the official PMI obituary of Mr Jenett online here.

 

Elizabeth Harrin wearing a pink scarf

Project manager, author, mentor

Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years.
Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects.