“The question isn't whether things will go off track, it's how leaders respond when they do,” said Columbia University School of Professional Studies (SPS) associate dean Tiffany Hughes at Critical Junctures: Project Management at the Center of Growth, a panel discussion held at the WNYC Green Space as part of the Frame Your Future series.
The conversation quickly moved past theory into the kind of hard-won operational wisdom that doesn't appear in textbooks. Moderated by Dr. Evangelia Ieronymaki, the evening also marked the launch of the new M.S. in Project Management program at SPS, whose first cohort starts this fall.
“We prepare our students to manage scope, budget, and time—the fundamentals of project management—while navigating uncertainty, risk, and rapid change,” Ieronymaki said.
Speaking on the panel were Bill Squires, chief venues officer for the 2026 FIFA World Cup New York/New Jersey Host Committee; Kathy Cage, associate managing director for cyber, data, and resilience at Kroll; and Kenyatta Lovings, director of energy policy at the MTA. Each speaker works in a sector where the cost of “getting it wrong” is high and the information available is always incomplete. What emerged from the discussion was a surprisingly consistent portrait of what effective project leadership actually requires.
All three panelists described how, across their different sectors, the same two things are almost always true: 1. Planning is always the critical starting point, and 2. Projects rarely unfold exactly as planned. The connective skill, all three suggested, is the ability to see around corners—to anticipate what isn't yet visible and build for it before it arrives.
Squires was hired in February 1999 to open a new Cleveland Browns Stadium for a game in August. With no staff of any kind on board, he over-hired by 15%, calculating that the fierce rivalry of a Steelers game would trigger a wave of resignations. “I knew that many of these employees were there for just that one game,” he said. “And after that game, many would quit. And I was right.”
Cage described what looked like a routine software migration at Army Cyber Command, until her team discovered that many business units, HR, logistics, support functions, didn't have the technical skills to keep up. So she formed and deployed tiger teams: technical experts to work alongside units to keep the broader project on track.
“When you try to match technology with culture and human behavior,” she said. “You really have to take everything into account.”
Risk is where the work gets genuinely hard, and the panel's stories revealed something important: the skill isn't prediction, it's preparation and nerve. Squires learned this the hard way. A late snowfall before a December 1995 Giants game that he hadn't cleared from the seating bowl, a losing team, and a crowd that had inherited season tickets as Christmas gifts combined into a snowball-throwing disaster that nearly got the game called—“the worst professional day of my life.” The operational lesson was immediate and permanent: know your vulnerabilities before the event, not during it. In Cleveland on Christmas Eve, he had 300 workers shoveling until 10 at night: “There wasn't one snowflake when you came into the building.”
Cage framed the same principle in terms of cybersecurity: you cannot anticipate every threat, so the project manager's job is to build the intelligence infrastructure that lets you respond fast when the unanticipated arrives. She drew on her own experience commanding a military convoy outside Baghdad—forced to stop for an IED clearance, communications compromised by another convoy on the same frequency, decisions required in minutes—as a model for exactly that kind of pressure. “Sometimes you will have to make decisions with incomplete information,” she said, “but always keep focused on what the next move might be. And then move forward.”
The same discipline, she argued, applies whether you're rerouting a convoy or managing a cyberattack: “You can't anticipate every zero-day activity. But you can be very adept at using the intelligence that you do have, and that does indeed take some creativity.”
On AI, the panel was neither dismissive nor credulous. Lovings was pointed: “I guarantee you will be at a disadvantage in the job market if you completely rely on AI.” Cage's advice was structural: Ensure governance and ethics policies precede deployment, keep training current, and don't shop for a Lamborghini when you need a Honda.
The evening's deeper argument was that project management, at its best, is less a technical discipline than a human one. Scope, schedule, and budget are the framework. What distinguishes success is judgment, clarity under pressure, and the leadership to make consequential decisions with incomplete information and bring others with you.
Lovings stressed the importance of communications and coalition-building inside large institutions where sustainability priorities often compete with operational pressures. “Sometimes communication across the universe of stakeholders becomes fragmented,” she said, and described the value in creating cross-functional energy committees to align teams working across capital projects, innovation, and infrastructure modernization.
Squires will be putting all of that to work this summer when New York New Jersey Stadium hosts eight FIFA World Cup matches, including the final on July 19, before a global audience of 2.9 billion. If the planning holds, nobody will notice the work. That, the panel suggested, is exactly the point.
About the Programs
The Columbia University Master of Science in Project Management program equips individuals with the strategic, analytical, and leadership skills essential for a successful career managing complex projects across industries and borders.
Available full-time or part-time, the M.S. in Project Management is designed for professionals who want to advance into leadership roles or formalize their project management experience with a strong academic and practical foundation. Students can opt for the general Project Management program or choose from one of the four specialized concentrations: Construction, Sports Management, Sustainability Management, and Technology Management.
Taught by scholar-practitioners and enhanced by Columbia’s location in New York City, the curriculum integrates emerging digital tools and AI-driven practices to help graduates make data-informed decisions and improve operational efficiency. Graduates will be prepared to lead high-stakes projects with confidence and clarity, and return to the job market with a competitive edge.
Learn more about the program here.
The Columbia University M.S. in Sports Management provides students with a comprehensive curriculum and access to sports industry practitioners and influencers. Students acquire skills in areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation, global sports management, facility and event management, and sports law and ethics.
The program is available for part-time or full-time enrollment. Learn more about the program here.
The Columbia University M.S. in Sustainability Management program, offered by the School of Professional Studies in partnership with the Climate School, provides students with cutting-edge policy and management tools to help public and private organizations and governments address environmental impacts and risks, pollution control, and remediation to achieve sustainability. The program is customized for working professionals and is offered as a full-time and part-time course of study.
The program fosters creativity and adaptability by equipping students with the skills to tackle real-world sustainability challenges through an interdisciplinary approach from the world’s premier sustainability academics, researchers, and practitioners. The up-to-the-minute curriculum and flexibility prepare graduates for careers in the dynamic and rapidly changing field of sustainability.
Learn more about the program here.
The Master of Science in Technology Management at Columbia University prepares graduates to lead digital transformation, and align technology and business strategy with an ethical lens. Through experiential learning, industry partnerships, and Columbia-supported research, students gain fluency in digital platforms and emerging technologies, and learn to design human-centered solutions that drive innovation and sustainable impact.
The program is available for part-time or full-time enrollment online or on campus in NYC. Learn more about the program here.
