Apurva Ashok Email & Phone Number

The Executive Director (ED) is responsible for the successful leadership, overall management, financial health, and operations of the organization according to The Rebus Foundation’s strategic direction and policies. The ED reports to the Board and develops the strategic direction in consultation with the Board. The ED implements this strategic direction upon approval by the Board.

— Develop and implement long-term organisational strategy in collaboration with the Executive Director, senior team members, and Board of Directors.— Develop internal processes while balancing high-demand priorities with limited resources.— Advocate internally and externally to ensure continued prioritization of equity and inclusion in all organizational activities.— Identify strategic opportunities for the organization’s development, while pursuing new avenues for long-term funding.— Other duties as listed under the “Director of Open Education”

— Provide leadership, vision, strategy for Open Education initiatives at The Rebus Foundation, mainly housed under the Rebus Community.— Oversee the Rebus Community unit, including: strategy, long-term vision, fundraising, budget, financial management, hiring and personnel, and overall administration.— Secure and manage substantial grant funding from major philanthropic funders to support organizational projects, including scoping and developing funding applications, managing funder relationships, managing grant budgets, quarterly and annual grant reporting.— Explore and develop sustainable business models, establishing reporting and success metrics, monitoring progress and growth.— Oversee Rebus Community’s financial planning by coordinating with accounting and legal teams to ensure taxpayer accountability and fiscal responsibility.— Develop creative staffing models that balance limited institutional resources with multifaceted and dynamic needs. Responsible for hiring, on-boarding, managing, and mentoring geographically distributed teams (including full-time staff, part-time staff, consultants, and contractors).— Manage the smooth operation, creation, and delivery of professional development courses (Textbook Success Program), webinars, workshops, guides, and presentations.— Conceptualize and create new service-oriented programs in target areas to encourage the widespread development and adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER).— Integrally shape The Rebus Foundation’s institutional values on diversity and inclusion by working with the team to identify structural inequities within the organization and in services provided; encouraging our actions and commitments to be properly conceptualized and implemented.— Represent Rebus at public-facing engagements, events, conferences, and other opportunities.Report to our Board of Directors, funders, key stakeholders via annual meetings, presentations, report writing, or other consultations as the need arises.

Canada

— Leading Rebus Community’s business development by brainstorming a long-term organizational vision.— Identifying strategic opportunities for the organization’s development, while pursuing new avenues for long-term funding. — Integrally shaping Rebus Foundation’s institutional values on diversity and inclusion by working with the team to identify structural inequities within the organization and in services provided; encouraging our actions and commitments to be properly conceptualized and implemented. — Overseeing Rebus Community’s financial planning by coordinating with accounting and legal teams to ensure taxpayer accountability and fiscal responsibility. — Developing creative staffing models that balance limited institutional resources with multifaceted and dynamic needs. Responsible for hiring, on-boarding, and managing new staff on the Rebus Community initiative.— Managing and facilitating the Textbook Success Program (TSP), which trains faculty, librarians, and university staff in best practices for OER production; the TSP has catered to three cohorts over the past twelve months.— Conceptualizing and creating new service-oriented programs in target areas to encourage the widespread development and adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER).— Reporting to our Board of Directors and funders via presentations, report writing, and other consultations as the need arises.Signature achievements: Received the Support Specialist Award for Excellence (2020) from Open Education Global.

Montreal, Canada

— Created and launched the Textbook Success Program to equip faculty, librarians, administrators, and managers with the tools they need to make high-quality open textbooks— Co-authored The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far), which documents publishing workflows and best practices from two years of collaboration on projects— Provided strategic and conceptual support to over 45 OER projects; 7 of these books have generated approximately $260,000 in reported student savings.— Partnered with the Open Education Network to market, organize, and manage logistics for Office Hours sessions, freely offered to the community since 2017. Produced, edited, and coordinated the transcription and captioning of videos, and disseminated these via YouTube. — Supervised the practicum of a McGill Masters of Information Studies student at Rebus; conducted on-boarding training and facilitated their entry into the field of Open Education. Signature achievements: Many supported resources, such as the Introduction to Philosophy series and Blueprint for Success in College and Career, received or were nominated for notable awards.

Canada

— Oversaw, managed, and supported engagement on the Rebus Community platform, a project management and community discussion space for collaboration and conversation related to open education. — Contributed to, compiled, and formatted A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students, which received an Open Education Award for Excellence in 2018. — Worked to format, layout, and troubleshoot content in Pressbooks, an innovative authoring and editing tool that allows interactive OER to be shared online in multiple formats (web, PDF, EPUB, XHTML, MOBI, Common Cartridge web links, etc).

— Provided multifaceted research support to professors Emine Sarigöllü and Myung-Soo Jo at each stage of their project on two-sided advertising in China, the United States, and India.— Conducted scholarly research to produce a literature review and survey for assessing “Message Sidedness Effects in Advertising Research.”— Collected data using Qualtrics and Amazon Mechanical Turk for analysis with SPSS Statistical software to determine the effectiveness of two-sided advertising in our research contexts.— Edited final reports based on our research.

— Organized training sessions for students to build an awareness of McGill’s organizational landscape and best practices for their work as part of the Arts Student Advisor (ASAP) program.— Served as the first line of support for new undergraduate students on a wide variety of issues concerning academic and campus life at McGill University. — Managed and maintained the office’s social media presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Mcgill University

— Paired newly arriving McGill students with volunteers who served as their first friendly face and helping hand in Montreal as part of The Buddy Program, and followed up on these relationships.— Ensured the smooth running of the program by processing various requests from volunteers and new admittees, and managing the official email account.— Completed front office tasks and clerical work such as filing, photocopying, and answering phone queries.

Dawson Hall, Mcgill University

— Served as a point of reference for Faculty regulations and offered emotional peer support to fellow students.— Represented the Faculty of Arts during orientation events and workshops.— Promoted the Faculty’s services by managing our Facebook presence.

Montreal, Quebec.

— Eased international students’ uncertainties by clarifying McGill University’s health insurance policy.— Maintained the office’s internal coordination and efficiency through clerical and front desk work.

Rabnovitch House, Montreal

McGill Development and Alumni Relations office organizes the student phonathon to raise money for McGill’s Alma Mater and Parents Funds. As a Student Caller, I contacted alumni and students’ parents to fundraise for the university.Significant achievements: Personally raised over $15,000 to McGill as a student fundraiser.

Harf is the only student-run journal and student group for South Asian Studies in North America. As a founding editor, I worked to:— form an editorial board of representative students to oversee production of our inaugural issue— secure funding from McGill’s Faculty of Arts by applying through a variety of grants— publish the first volume in April 2016 (available online)

Montreal, Canada

The Indian Students Association (ISA) is a student run organization that provides the McGill community a microcosm of India’s rich traditions. As VP Communications, I managed the organization's communication strategy by promoting resources and events through the weekly listserv, designing marketing collateral for events, and developing the club website.

Bangalore, India

The Times of India is the world's largest circulating English-daily. As a summer intern, I reported as a journalist in their Bangalore office and completed desk editing tasks. My duties included:— working under the city reporting team covering civic issues.— covering other beats such as the business and features sections, as well as the design team.— assisting the desk team with the copy editing process, page layout, and final editing process.Articles are available on request.

Bachelor'S Degree, Honours English Literature; Marketing (Minor), Distinction

Activities and Societies: Indian Students' Association (VP Communications), McGill Walksafe (volunteer), McGill Nightline (Public.

Master’S Degree, Publishing

Indian School Certificate

Activities and Societies: School Choir, Student Council, Model United Nations, Sophia Brass Band Ensemble.

Indian Certificate Of Secondary Education