Dave Caccamo

ASPE’s Dave Caccamo is a project management professional and curriculum designer in the areas of business analysis and project management. As a seasoned expert in professional training and project leadership, he is one of the longest serving SMEs to teach and develop courses for ASPE.

Dave started his career by earning a BS from the US Naval Academy. He went on to serve as an officer and nuclear-trained submarine officer in the US Navy. He then earned a Master’s in Economics from NC State University, launching a long career in business leadership and project management. He has served in multiple university academic positions, teaching economics, engineering, business management, and computing. He worked as an executive at a successful startup firm, and also started a top-ranked classical school in Raleigh, NC.

Dave’s effectiveness as an instructor is rooted in his ability to make complex business and technical concepts understandable to executives, managers, and everyday professionals. The clarity of his teaching style and ability to logically model subject matter fundamentals has won him many accolades and referrals from students in ASPE courses. He has consistently received high feedback and excellent levels of customer satisfaction from the ASPE clients for whom he has taught.

As a Project Management Expert and Business Instructor:

With three decades of experience in quantitative methods, engineering, economics and project management, Dave is a consummate teaching professional, both in higher education and business instruction. Starting with his time as a nuclear submarine officer in the Navy and later a research reactor operator at NC State University, he has built a long career and an impressive skill set. Areas of expertise include business management, information technology, and strategic planning and implementation. Dave has substantial industry and academic experience.

After his time as a nuclear engineer, he worked as an acquisition project manager with a Washington, DC based consulting firm, then as Vice President of Finance for a startup technical consulting firm (RMS Associates). After the sale of that company, Dave returned to academia as a Professor of Business and Economics at Peace College in Raleigh, where he taught economics and accounting. As part of Peace's transition to baccalaureate status, he developed the school's Business Administration major and served as a committee chair for the college's accreditation self-study. He also served in the collateral roles of Director of Academic Computing and subsequently as Director of Information Technology. During the same period, Dave was an adjunct Professor of Business for Campbell University, where he taught advanced economics, finance, and quantitative methods. Dave has demonstrated time and again his ability to make complex business and engineering concepts understandable to executives, managers, and technicians.

Before joining the ASPE teaching faculty, Dave worked for the world’s largest business training firm as a curriculum designer and a course developer in the areas of IT, Project Management, Management and Leadership, and Business Communications. He was responsible for rewriting many of that firm’s textbooks and course materials, integrating them into larger curricula and bringing them into line with current adult education standards.

Notable Achievements:

• At ASPE, he has taught numerous project management courses to Fortune clients on a program basis. Student feedback is among the highest of any ASPE instructor, and he is in the “top five” ASPE instructors for the number of courses taught to Fortune clients
• Dave has taught more than 1,000 PMP Boot Camp students for ASPE, with a student exam pass rate of 98.3%
• Earned a special commendation from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for processes he developed as project manager to integrate nuclear reactor operator emergency procedures with “human factor” operating practices.
• At Tracor (later BAE), a major North American defense electronics contractor, Dave saved the Department of Defense $5 million in re-engineering efforts as a project manager on sonar system Prime, where he provided analysis of the failure modes of towed arrays
• Professor of Business and Economics at NC’s Peace College, chairing the Faculty Affairs Committee, the Administrative subcommittee for reaccreditation, and the Business Management Major committee as part of the college's transition from two to four year status.
• Led the management team for the startup of two private schools, developing a classical curriculum for grades 6-12, hiring and training faculty, managing course development of individual courses, and coordinating fundraising. At Raleigh Latin School, created a fully integrated curriculum for gifted middle and high school students with the highest average SAT score in the metro area during the school’s years of operation.
• At NC State University, served as a nuclear research reactor operator, developing the University's emergency response plan which was selected by the NRC as the prototype for other university reactors

Specialties:

• Translating project management methodologies to real-world job skills
• Teaching formal certification methodologies and consistently enabling students to pass certification exams
• Economic modeling methods, financial analysis, and management accounting
• Ability to teach a wide range of student profiles, from the advanced technical student to introductory learners
• Expert in a wide range of quantitative methods and strategic business planning techniques
• Veteran project management professional and PM skills instructor

Seasoned engineer and engineering instructor, and veteran information technology director

Publications:

• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), 2013, ASPE
• Managing Without Micromanaging, 2011, ASPE
• Understanding the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide): Transition From 3rd to 4th Edition, 2009, ASPE