Meet the 2026 Conference Board
The Open Education Conference is governed by an Advisory Board consisting of community members chosen through an election process. We are excited to present the 2026 Conference Advisory Board:
Ash Barber (Chair), Lead, Strategic Communications, Council of Australasian University Librarians (South Australia, Australia)
Amanda Coolidge (Vice-Chair), Principal/Founder, Coolidge Collaborative, Inc. (BC, Canada)
Amanda Larson, AERI Program Coordinator, The Ohio State University (Ohio, USA)
April Crenshaw, Interim Department Head & Associate Professor, Chattanooga State Community College (Tennessee, USA)
Brandon Carson, Sessional Instructor/Doctoral Student, Ontario Tech University (Ontario, Canada)
Kim Grewe, Instructional Designer, Northern Virginia Community College (Virginia, USA)
Lily Todorinova, Undergraduate Experience/Open Educational Research, Rutgers University- New Brunswick (New Jersey, USA)
Michelle Pilati, Project Director, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges OER Initiative (OERI) (CA, USA)
Nicholas Swails, Dean of Academic Affairs and Online Learning, Colorado Northwestern Community College (Colorado, USA)
Pranjal Saloni, Open Instructional Designer, Ontario Tech University (Ontario, Canada)
rehshetta, Graduate Research Assistant and Educator, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (NC, USA)
Yang Wu, Open Resources Librarian, Clemson University (SC, USA)
The Conference Advisory Board is responsible for overseeing the conference planning, program, and administration in accordance with the conference’s Strategic Vision. This year also marks the first year that the conference will be housed under the newly formed Open Education Association. This is an exciting and natural evolution for the conference and will provide a long-term, sustainable home for the conference while maintaining the same values and vision for open education.
Interested in getting involved in #OpenEd26? Click the button below to fill out the volunteer interest form!
The Open Education Conference is an annual convening for sharing and learning about open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open education initiatives. Each year, it draws more than 1500 educators, librarians, students, and other professionals to exchange the latest ideas, best practices, and research in the growing open education field. Led by a community-elected board, the conference envisions open education as a catalyst for educational equity, change, and transformation. The conference operates under the Open Education Association.
