In this episode of AI Today, host Kathleen Walch talks with Ivonne Mejia, Lead Project Portfolio Manager for the San Francisco Bay Region Network at California State University (CSU), to discuss how PMOs can drive responsible AI transformation in higher education.

As multiple CSU campuses consolidate under one unified PMO, Ivonne shares how she's embedding CPMAI into portfolio intake, prioritization, and oversight, ensuring AI initiatives are strategically aligned and governed. She makes the case for how CPMAI Phase One: Business Understanding shifts the question from “How do we build this with AI?” to “Should we?”

The conversation covers readiness assessment, outcome definition, ethics, and stakeholder alignment. Additionally, Ivonne connects her approach to PMI’s M.O.R.E. vision: managing perceptions, owning success, relentlessly reassessing, and expanding perspectives as data and policy evolve.

Tune in to hear about:

• How CPMAI prevents costly missteps
• Why starting with the right business problem changes everything
• How iterative go/no-go decisions keep AI projects aligned and on track
• What the future of AI-augmented project leadership looks like

This episode delivers practical insight into leading AI initiatives that are aligned, governed, and built for measurable impact.