Get to Know Manny Abela
Principal
Manny Abela is a co-founder of Manta Ray Consulting and is responsible for bringing the first MRC client, Brookhaven National Laboratory. He oversees the day-to-day management of the company, working closely with the business manager, to ensure that MRC is in good health. He also works as a senior consultant, providing expert EVMS consulting services to clients nationwide. His more than 20 years of project management experience in major government contracting environments, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and NASA, has made him highly skilled in all aspects of project planning and scheduling, cost estimating and Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS) reporting and analysis.
In relation to project controls and EVMS, Manny's expertise lies in construction project management, but his true claim to fame is custom tool development and database management. "My experience in project management is enhanced by my technical background, a combination very few in the industry possess," explains Manny. He writes tailored programs for customers and is proficient in using multiple programming languages such as VB, VBA, VB.net, SQL and C/C++.
Manny was first exposed to project controls and developed his EVMS expertise at Hughes Aircraft HAC. While he was there, the company changed hands three times. "It was a good thing for me – with each company coming in, I learned a different way of doing my job or a different philosophy and was able to pick best practices from each," says Manny. During that time, he earned a bachelor's of science in electronics engineering technology. After he graduated, he left project controls and EMVS to become a product marketing engineer.
He worked as an engineer for two years in Silicon Valley. When the market collapsed and companies started to downsize, Manny made the decision to re-enter the project controls field as a consultant. Immediately, he received a call from Applied Integration Management (AIM) and was deployed as a cost/schedule analyst and specialist for the JSF project at LMAERO. Six months into the assignment, he moved to the LMAERO Core Team because of his technical background. "They realized that I could develop custom EVMS tools that could be deployed throughout the LMAERO user community nationwide," explains Manny.
After four years with LMAERO, he was assigned to Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) to provide cost and schedule support during the baseline development phase of the LCLS project. While he was at SLAC, Manny developed and maintained the controls system schedules for the LCLS project and managed the project database. He also designed and built the Hammer, which is a custom analysis reporting tool and user interface that allows end users easy access to EVMS reports online. The Hammer is still being used at SLAC as an integral tool for their Earned Value Management System.
AIM was then purchased by a larger company. "There were all of these layers of management above me and I felt lost," says Manny. "I realized I enjoyed being part of a smaller company – there's no bureaucracy and you can get things done much quicker." It wasn't long until Manny and Jeff Chan founded Manta Ray Consulting.
Manny is proud of the firm and his team's tremendous depth of experience and caliber of character. "Most consultants have the mindset of going in on a job alone. We don't," says Manny. "Every time we work with a client, we bring the knowledge and experience of the entire team to the table. The quality of consultants we have working for us is remarkable. I have never met a better group of people."
As for Manny, he is well-respected among his peers and has a stellar reputation in the field of project controls and EVMS. And it seems everywhere he goes, he has a positive impact. "I assess the situation quickly and usually know how to solve it," says Manny. "I'm able to see issues clearly and formulate solutions to problems easily." Although he works from coast to coast, Manny resides in Portland, Ore., with his wife of 25 years.