We’re pleased to introduce four new members to our Board: Alwaleed Alkhaja, Melissa Hagemann, Melissa Omino, and Colin Sullivan. 

Familiar faces within the CC community, Alwaleed, Melissa, Melissa,  and Colin bring prior experience within our organization, having previously partnered with us as community advocates with a history of dedicated support for the open movement.

Each of our new Board members brings a unique expertise that will help strengthen CC’s impact and guide our strategic vision forward. Their diverse backgrounds and commitment to the open movement strengthen our already dedicated Board, representing exactly what we need as we continue to grow and evolve our work to achieve our 2025-2028 goals.

Alwaleed Alkhaja

Alwaleed Alkhaja serves as the Head of Open Access and Copyright at the Qatar National Library, where he oversees the library’s open access program and all copyright-related matters. Throughout his academic and professional career, he has held various roles in open access publishing and open science. His experience ranges from editorial positions at Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals to overseeing academic publishing at Hamad bin Khalifa University Press/QScience.com (the first open access publisher in Qatar).

Alwaleed’s passion for open science is rooted in his background in scientific research. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Leeds and received his master’s and PhD in Molecular Biology from the Max Planck International School of Molecular Biology in Göttingen, Germany. He also holds an MBA from the University of Manchester. Alwaleed voluntarily supports several international organizations, including serving on the board of Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) and advisory board of the Forum for Open Research in MENA (FORM).

In his free time, he enjoys photography and exploring experimental techniques, including macro photography, pinhole photography (constructing a room-sized camera obscura), cyanotype printing, and infrared photography.

Melissa Hagemann

Melissa Hagemann has been at the forefront of the Access to Knowledge movement for over twenty years. She managed the Open Society Foundations’ work to define open access to research through the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and went on to support the development of the global open access movement. To mark the 20th anniversary of the BOAI, she spearheaded the development of new recommendations which emphasize that open access is not an end in itself, but a means to further ends, above all, to the equity, quality, sustainability, and usability of research. Currently she is the Director of the BOAI Org, which advocates for the equitable development of open access globally.

Melissa co-organized the meeting that led to the Cape Town Open Education Declaration, which offered strategies for the growth of the global open education movement. In addition, she supported the advancement of progressive copyright reform at the national and international levels.

She has served on numerous boards, including the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation, as well as the Open Climate Campaign. 

Melissa Omino

Dr Melissa Omino is currently the Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) at Strathmore University, where she oversees the research direction of the leading Eastern African AI Policy Hub and Data Governance Policy Centre with a range of funding partners that includes the IDRC, Hewlett Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Open AIR.

Her research direction is focused on utilizing an African lens and a Human Rights lens. Part of the research conducted under Dr Omino’s leadership at CIPIT involved mapping AI applications in Africa as the initial step in answering the question of what determines African AI and the problems it aims to solve in Africa. Dr Omino is also an intellectual property (IP) expert with a research focus on the development and negotiation of IP provisions in international trade agreements by and with Global South countries.

She has served as an Advisory Board member in several African and Global Projects that intersect between AI and IP, including a National AI Strategy Process, and leading the IP Advisory to a global entity funding AI research in Africa. 

Colin Sullivan

Colin Sullivan is the General Counsel at Patreon, where he oversees the operations teams that ensure the platform remains a safe and stable home for creators. His responsibilities include leading the legal, trust & safety, payment operations, fraud and compliance teams. With a focus on protecting creators and maintaining a trustworthy environment, Colin plays a pivotal role in Patreon’s mission of funding the creative class and safeguarding their creative freedom. Before joining Patreon, Colin founded his own law firm where he served as outside general counsel to entrepreneurs and startups.

A Big Thank You to Alek Tarkowski

Please join us in thanking outgoing CC Board member, Alek Tarkowski who completed his five year term at the end of 2024. Alek is the Director of Strategy at Open Future and brought to the CC Board over 15 years of experience with public interest advocacy, movement building and research into the intersection of society, culture and digital technologies. As a longtime CC community member, in 2005, he co-founded Creative Commons Poland. During his time on the Board, Alex supported the development of CC’s organizational strategy and provided leadership in developing CC’s approach to sharing in the age of AI. Thankfully, Alek won’t be going too far away as he now joins the CC Advisory Council. 

Welcome Alwaleed. Melissa, Melissa, and Colin, and thank you Alek!

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Creative Commons (CC) has—and continues to be—fortunate to have an expert and passionate board of directors, many of whom have been instrumental to the success of CC at both the organizational level, as well as nationally and regionally. A healthy board of directors regularly welcomes new members following its bylaws, which means that we must also say goodbye to board members who have completed their term of service on our volunteer board.

Effective October 30, 2024, Angela Oduor Lungati has been voted by the CC board of directors as CC board chair for a term of two years, replacing Delia Browne who served as chair of the board from late 2022. Glenn O. Brown will continue his service as vice chair of the board. “It has been a tremendous pleasure and privilege to work with Delia and Angela. Their expertise, integrity, global perspectives, and down-to-earth demeanors make them ideal teammates and leaders for the org. I am thrilled to continue to work with Angela in her tenure as chair, with Anna as CEO, and with the great teams they lead,” says Glenn.

Meet Angela Oduor Lungati, CC’s New Board Chair

Angela is a technologist, community builder, and open source software advocate passionate about building and using appropriate technology tools to impact the lives of marginalized groups. She has over ten years of experience in software development, global community engagement, and non-profit organizational management.

Angela is the Executive Director at Ushahidi, a global non-profit technology company that helps communities quickly collect and share information that enables them to raise voices, inform decisions, and influence change. In addition to her service on the CC board of directors, Angela is a member of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap team board of directors. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Data Equity, and was recently named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2024 and a Mozilla 2024 Rise25 Honoree. 

Angela joined the Creative Commons board in 2021. Her tenure as board chair begins at the same time as CC launches its refreshed strategic plan, which charts the path for sustaining and advancing CC’s open infrastructure of sharing, and advocating for and defending a thriving creative commons. As the first CC board chair from Kenya, Angela’s commitment to centering the global community at a time of immense change and innovation will steer CC into a future of sharing in the age of generative AI.

“I’m thrilled to be appointed the chair of the CC board of directors by my fellow board colleagues. I look forward to collaborating with the CC team and, of course, open advocates and all those who contribute to a thriving commons globally. In particular, I’m keen to support CC as it shifts towards a model of movement building alongside a global community as we accomplish more together than we can apart,” says Angela. 

Celebrating and Giving Gratitude to Delia Browne

This is also a bittersweet moment for CC as we celebrate the accomplishments of Delia Browne, who has been the CC board chair since 2022, and a board member since 2018, as she steps down from the board following the end of her term. Delia’s energy, directness, and unwavering commitment to CC will be sorely missed and we are so thankful for her many contributions over the years. For those of you who haven’t had the chance to meet her, Delia is a copyright lawyer and policy advocate who leads the National Copyright Unit (NCU) in Australia, providing specialist copyright advice to Australian Schools and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes with a focus on the rapidly changing digital teaching environment. Delia is a co-founder of Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) and a board director of the Australian Digital Alliance. She is also a member of the editorial board of Media and Arts Law Review and has taught Intellectual Property at the University of New Wales, Griffith University, and the University of Auckland (her alma mater). Delia has also represented Creative Commons at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) at the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. Perhaps most significantly for us, though, Delia is a long time member of the CC Global Network.

Delia’s contributions to CC are far too many to list, but we’d like to highlight a few in an effort to capture the powerhouse that is Delia Browne:

• Delia has attended every CC Global Summit since 2007.
• Delia represented CC at the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights and is dedicated to furthering the WIPO Limitations and Exception agenda, particularly with regard to education.
• Delia was a key member of the community team that authored CC’s Global Network Strategy in 2017.
• Delia oversaw and supported a CEO transition in early 2024.
• Delia was CC’s first chair appointed from outside the United States, providing a global lens to CC’s strategy and priorities at the board level.

“Throughout my time on the CC board of directors, we’ve navigated immense change and capitalized on opportunities that drive us towards CC vision. It has been an honor to work with my fellow board colleagues and collaborators over the last seven years and I’m so pleased to hand the baton to Angie who will continue to guide the organization into the future,” says Delia.

Thankfully, Delia won’t be going too far as she will now join the CC Advisory Council and will be actively involved in supporting CC’s strategic efforts with regards to sharing in an age of generative AI. On behalf of the CC global community, board of directors, and team, we wish to thank Delia for her unwavering support, and we look forward to working with you in this new capacity.

Other CC Board Updates

The CC Board’s Governance & Nominations committee is currently wrapping up new board member recruitment and anticipates that we will welcome several new board members in the coming months.

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We are at a pivotal moment in the development of Creative Commons. As we focus on CC’s strategic goal of accelerating better sharing and prepare for the first CC Global Summit since 2019 in Mexico City this October, the insights of Marta, James, and Luis will be invaluable.

Their appointment was made possible through an open nomination process steered by the Governance and Nominations Committee Chair, Carolina Botero, who harnessed the insights of the CC Global Network. I would like to thank the committee for their work, and a hearty welcome to Marta, James, and Luis. Let us all welcome them with open arms as they embark on their journey with us.

About the new board members:

Marta Belcher

Photo courtesy of Marta

Marta Belcher holds multiple esteemed positions in the tech and legal sectors, notably serving as President and Chair of the Filecoin Foundation and the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web. Additionally, she is the General Counsel and Head of Policy at Protocol Labs. She also lends her expertise to the Electronic Frontier Foundation as a Special Counsel. Marta is also a Board member of the Blockchain Association and the Zcash Foundation, and a member of Paradigm’s Crypto Policy Council. Marta is a pioneer in blockchain law and policy, and has testified in Congress and state legislatures, as well as speaking in European Parliament. Marta was previously an intellectual property litigator at Ropes & Gray, and has submitted briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. appellate courts for high-profile public interest organizations, including EFF, the Center for Democracy & Technology, Public Knowledge, the Cato Institute, the National Consumers’ League, the Blockchain Association, and Project Gutenberg. Marta has been recognized by the Financial Times Innovative Lawyer awards, by Law360’s list of Top Attorneys Under 40, by CryptoWeekly’s list of Most Influential Women in Crypto, and as Business Intelligence Group’s Woman of the Year.

James Grimmelmann

Photo courtesy of James

James Grimmelmann is the Tessler Family Professor of Digital and Information Law at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School. His work is primarily focused on how laws regulating software affect freedom, wealth, and power. His role often involves helping lawyers and technologists understand each other, and he’s applied concepts from computer science to tackle legal problems. He’s also written a casebook titled “Internet Law: Cases and Problems” and over fifty articles on a range of topics within computer and internet law. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and an A.B. in computer science from Harvard College. Before law school, he worked as a programmer for Microsoft; after graduation, he clerked for a federal appellate judge. He is an affiliated fellow of the Yale Information Society Project. He previously taught at New York Law School, Georgetown, and the University of Maryland. He has written for Slate, Salon, Wired, Ars Technica, and Publishers Weekly; he is a regular source of expert commentary for major news media including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and All Things Considered. He and his students created the Public Index website to inform the public about the Google Books settlement.

Luis Villa

“Luis Villa” by Myleen Hollero / Wikimedia Foundation, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Luis Villa has made significant contributions to the open community since the late 90s, taking on a multitude of roles. He started as a developer, later transitioning into legal and board positions. His experience spans renowned organizations like Mozilla and the Wikimedia Foundation, where he held critical positions. In addition, he has provided legal counsel to a spectrum of companies, from small startups to giant Silicon Valley firms. His involvement in the open-source community extends beyond his professional roles. As a community member and informal advisor, he has worked with organizations such as Open Street Map, the Open Knowledge Foundation, the World Wide Web Consortium, and OpenETdata.org. Luis is also a co-founder and General Counsel at Tidelift, where the mission is making open source work better for everyone, including the maintainers behind the projects we all rely on, and the enterprises benefiting from their creations.

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These outstanding new Directors were selected following an open nomination process that harnessed the insights of the CC Global Network, led by Governance and Nominations Committee Chair Carolina Botero. Please join me in thanking Carolina for that service and in extending a warm welcome to Jeni, Angela, and Glenn!

About the new board members:

Angela Oduor Lungati

Angela is a technologist, community builder, and open-source software advocate who is passionate about building and using appropriate technology tools to create an impact in the lives of marginalized groups. She’s a first class honors’ graduate from Strathmore University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology. She has over ten years of experience in software development, global community engagement, and non-profit organizational management. She currently serves as the Executive Director at Ushahidi, a global non-profit technology company that helps communities quickly collect and share information that enables them to raise voices, inform decisions and influence change. She previously served as the Director of Community Engagement, creating and managing programs for Ushahidi’s diverse global community. She is also a co-founder of AkiraChix, a non-profit organization that nurtures generations of women who use technology to develop innovations and solutions for Africa. Angela joined us as a keynote speaker at this year’s Creative Commons Global Summit, and she was recently featured on an episode of our Open Minds podcast. 

Glenn Otis Brown

Glenn O. Brown works with a range of organizations on brand and identity, audience development, team building, and fundraising. In addition to advising start-ups and corporations, Glenn is on the board of directors of nonprofits The Texas Tribune and Words Without Borders, and is a senior advisor at MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication. Glenn has worked in creative and business roles at the intersection of media and technology at The Obama Foundation (Chief Digital Officer 2016-2020), Betaworks (Entrepreneur in Residence 2015-2016), Twitter (co-founder of Twitter Amplify video marketplace 2011-2015), and YouTube (head of U.S. music partnerships 2007-2011), and Google/YouTube (product counsel, 2005-2007). From 2002-2005, Glenn was CEO of Creative Commons, where he managed the launch of the first CC licenses and visual design framework, coined the phrase “Some Rights Reserved,” and drove early CC adoption among creators, communities, and platforms around the world. Glenn is a long-time movie buff, book lover, and amateur musician. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Austin, Texas.

Jeni Tennison

Jeni Tennison is the Vice President and Chief Strategy Adviser of the Open Data Institute, which is a UK based non-profit with a mission to work with companies and governments to build an open, trustworthy data ecosystem. She earned her PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Nottingham in the UK, then worked as an independent consultant, specializing in open data publishing and consumption. She was the technical architect and lead developer behind legislation.gov.uk, before joining the ODI as Technical Director in 2012, becoming CEO in 2016, and Vice President in 2020. She has a long-standing interest in open and web standards, served on the W3C’s Technical Architecture Group from 2011 to 2015, and co-chaired the W3C’s CSV on the Web Working Group. She is the co-chair of the Data Governance Working Group within the Global Partnership on AI, and sits on the Advisory Boards for the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and the Information Law and Policy Centre. She loves board games and is the proud co-creator of the open data board game, Datopolis.

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As Chair of the Creative Commons Board of Directors, I am ending 2019 with a special sense of gratitude for the CC community. This has been a year full of challenges and opportunities for CC. Our staff has risen to the occasion with remarkable energy, collegiality, and grace. Interim CEO Cable Green deserves special recognition for taking on new responsibilities with his typical insight, steadiness, and dedication. He is backed by an outstanding team that includes the rest of the CC staff, our Board of Directors, and the Advisory Council. The CC community also includes the CC Global Network and the millions of educators, librarians, technologists, creators, and activists who use our tools to help grow the global commons. And of course, it includes the generous donors—including visionary foundations and individual CC community members—who make our work possible. (Not a donor yet? Please contribute here!)

At our most recent Board meeting, we recognized two extraordinary members of the CC team. 

Johnathan Nightingale and Tom Rubin have completed their terms of service as members of the CC Board of Directors and will now join our Advisory Council. 

Johnathan Nightingale has served on the CC Board of Directors since 2015, including as Chair of the Development Council. Among the many highlights of his service, Johnathan provided key technical and management expertise as we built the team and the technology behind CC Search, and served as a trusted mentor to our technical and project staff.

Tom Rubin has served on the Board of Directors since 2013, including as Vice-Chair. Tom contributed critical legal expertise and strategic guidance in support of CC’s mission and vision, always holding the organization to the highest standards of performance and professionalism.  

We extend our deepest appreciation and gratitude to Johnathan and Tom for their outstanding contributions, dedicated service, and steadfast devotion to CC’s mission and vision. We look forward to continuing to rely on them as they take their new roles as members of our Advisory Council. 

If you are reading this, then you too are a member of the Creative Commons community. Thank you for sharing our commitment to open knowledge and creativity, and for supporting our work. 

We end this year with gratitude and excitement for continuing our work in 2020!

Molly Van Houweling | Creative Commons Board Chair

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Creative Commons is delighted to announce two new appointments to our Board of Directors, Johnathan Nightingale and Katherine C. Spelman.

Johnathan Nightingale is the Chief Product Officer at Hubba, and was formerly the head of Firefox for Mozilla. In his role at Mozilla he was responsible for the engineering, product management, marketing, and design of the Firefox web browser on desktop and mobile platforms; a suite of products developed by a global community, used by over 400 million people worldwide, and localized into more than 80 languages. He has been an invited expert to the UK’s House of Lords on issues of surveillance and tracking, sat for 3 years on the W3C’s usable security working group, and has spoken often at industry conferences on issues of technology and security. He was among the first to graduate from the University of Toronto’s Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence program in 2001. He is an avid photographer, a Wikipedian, author of the ubiquitous Linux command line tool, “beep”, and a proud parent.

Kate Spelman, partner at K&L Gates, represents many of the players in the content distribution ecosystem: author, university, nonprofit, publisher, and technology developer both nationally and internationally. She serves on several copyright task forces and advisory committees, among them the American Bar Association Intellectual Property Section Task Force on Copyright Reform; American Law Institute Restatement of Copyright; and the American Intellectual Property Law Association Amicus Committee.  A graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison and the University of Michigan, Kate also has further education in technology and engineering from the University of California Berkeley.

Kate and Jonathan were formally elected to the Board on Sunday, December 6 and will serve a 4 year term through 2019. We look forward to their many valuable contributions to the Creative Commons community.

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It is with our deepest gratitude that all of us at Creative Commons offer a bittersweet sendoff to Board members Hal Abelson, Michael W. Carroll, Laurie Racine, Eric F. Saltzman, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, and Esther Wojcicki whose Board terms will come to a close at the end of this year. It is impossible to overstate the tremendous leadership and dedication that these Directors have contributed to Creative Commons, and we remain proud to carry on the important work that they so tirelessly stewarded.

CC has benefited greatly from the exceptional commitments from these Board members to help support a smooth transition. All have graciously accepted our invitation to join CC’s esteemed Advisory Council or other CC affiliate organizations in order to remain engaged in the guidance and stewardship of the organization in the years to come. We are grateful for an extended year of leadership service from Board Chair Paul Brest who will remain as Chair throughout 2016.

With our deepest gratitude, we wish Hal Abelson, Michael W. Carroll, Laurie Racine, Eric F. Saltzman, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, and Esther Wojcicki our warmest farewell.  We look forward to keeping them all very close, and look forward to their ongoing contributions to Creative Commons in their roles on CC’s Advisory Council and CC Affiliate teams.

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Consensus Resolution re: Bassel Safadi 

WHEREAS: Creative Commons is hosting its bi-annual Global Summit in Seoul, South Korea from Oct 15-17, 2015, an event that has previously been attended by Bassel Khartabil, where he was an active and valued contributor, and where he is today profoundly missed by his friends and colleagues.

WHEREAS: Mr. Khartabil has served faithfully and diligently as the Public Lead of CC Syria since 2009, and among other immeasurable contributions:

• Built Aiki Lab Community Center in Damascus that has hosted talks from key figures in the open web movement in support of Creative Commons communities in the Arab region;

• Volunteered on countless free culture projects including Creative Commons, Mozilla, Wikipedia, and Openclipart;

• Participated in and was a leader of several Creative Commons Arab Regional Meetings, including work to forge a unified Arabic translation of important CC licensing and public domain concepts;

• Was named in 2012 as a one of the Top Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy for insisting on a peaceful Syrian revolution; and

• Was awarded by Index on Censorship the Digital Freedom Award in 2013.

WHEREAS: Mr. Khartabil’s contributions to Creative Commons have always inspired collaboration, community, and the sharing of culture and knowledge, including his leadership in the development of the #NewPalmyra, and his activism and involvement in the CC community and open internet community is deeply missed since his arrest and imprisonment without trial or assistance of counsel in March 2012.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: that the Board of Directors hereby calls on Mr. Khartabil’s captors for his immediate and safe release.

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I’m delighted to announce that Paul Brest has been elected chair of the Creative Commons board. Paul will begin as chair in December, coinciding with CC’s tenth anniversary celebrations.

Throughout his career, Paul has bridged the worlds of law, philanthropy, and academia, most recently as president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and, before that, dean of Stanford Law School. He’s widely recognized as an expert on constitutional law, problem solving and decision making, and philanthropic strategy, having written books and taught classes at Stanford on these subjects.

I can’t think of a better choice than Paul. He has that rare combination of strong instincts and the knowledge and rigor to back those instincts up. He’s the leader we need to carry CC into the next decade.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to recognize Joi Ito for his years of service as chair. During Joi’s time as chair, he’s helped CC grow as an organization, both in global influence and in its relevance to a changing technology landscape.

Please join me in thanking Joi and welcoming Paul.

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The Directors received an update on 4.0 license revisions and a report from the Audit Committee on the FY 2011 audit. A budget for 2013 was presented, as were fundraising projections through 2014. The Board passed a resolution honoring former CC VP Mike Linksvayer for his outstanding contributions to the organization.

The Directors considered how CC could best implement its mission in the future and reviewed a strategic plan. Project proposals in the areas of educational publishing, policy organizations, open licensing courseware and big data were also discussed. The Board expressed its desire to incorporate technical innovation as the bedrock of all program activities and to focus more resources on development of innovative technical capabilities that would encourage the use of CC licenses in today’s platforms and digital devices. Additional appointments to the Board were also proposed.

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