Over ten years ago, in my first year as a CEO I was invited to Westminster, to a government department, so join a Ministerial Roundtable discussion on the future of education. 

It was my first experience of taking part in something like that, and coming from an edtech and academic background, I came ready to work, with my laptop… covered in stickers. 

Needless to say, most people around the table didn’t have laptops, but conservative suits and pen and paper. They knew each other. They were familiar players in the corridors of policy making. I was the newcomer, a young woman whose name no one could pronounce properly. I frequently got mistaken for my own secretary. 

Open Education didn’t really feature in this particular policy landscape at the time, but there was someone else at the table who not only shared my fondness for laptop stickers, but also had an interest in openness: Bryan Mathers. 

Ten years later, I am grateful to say that I have enjoyed many different collaborations with Bryan, from OER18 Conference stickers on the Fabulous Remixer Machine to creating strategy trainers and even a representation of openness, one of the core values of my organisation. 

The policy project that connected us has led to much work together, across many communities and projects in education and training, always with openness at the heart. So I want to end my story by saying thank you!