Meet the New CC Board Members
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!
Posted 06 March 2025