Hailey began her career in open education as a student leader at the University of Lethbridge. As Vice-President and then President of her Students’ Union, she co-organized the province of Alberta’s inaugural #TextbookBrokeAB campaign and brought the matter of open education forward to policymakers at the institutional, provincial, and national level in Canada. As a direct result of this work, Hailey has been invited to speak nationally and internationally about her leadership experience in open education advocacy. In 2020, her hometown of Lethbridge, Alberta recognized her as a Top 40 Under 40 for her work in student leadership and open education advocacy.
Hailey joined SPARC in 2018 and has since grown several of the organization’s program initiatives into mature, regular offerings with proven impact. She supported the Open Education Leadership Program (an 8-month professional development program for academic professionals) through a major milestone of graduating over 100 fellows who now lead successful open education initiatives at institutions across North America. She also co-founded and instructs the SPARC Foundations in Advocacy Skills program (a 4-week intensive course designed to equip academic professionals with technical advocacy skills), and has been contracted to provide abbreviated versions of this training by several institutions and conferences.
The majority of Hailey’s work focuses on the Open Education Conference, the open education field’s largest annual gathering of over 1600 educators and advocates from across the globe. In 2020, she supported the conference through a pivotal transformation to community-led leadership. Each year since, she’s developed and implemented the Call for Proposals process, contracted keynote speakers, lead sponsor outreach and coordination, managed over 200 volunteers plus a community-elected advisory board, and more.
Most recently, she has also provided strategic direction to the spinup of the Open Education Association, a newly formed membership organization of individual advocates and practitioners that serves as the national voice for open education in the United States.
Hailey is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, gardening, spending time with her family and friends, and spending time outdoors near the Rockies.