A GDN Conversation Series

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Women in Leadership in the New AI World

Rewriting the rules of leadership. Reimagining recognition. Powering the future of work.

Across the world, women are not just participating in the evolution of credential recognition and digital learning ecosystems—they are leading it.

The Series at a Glance

From national qualification frameworks to AI-enabled credentialing systems, women leaders are shaping how learning is recognized, trusted, and translated into opportunity. Yet they continue to navigate structural barriers—within policy environments, technology sectors, and global systems historically designed without them in mind.

What You’ll Explore

Across five dynamic sessions, participants will engage with global leaders to explore:

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Leadership across policy, technology, and global mobility ecosystems

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The role of AI and emerging technologies in credential recognition

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Strategies to navigate and challenge gender bias

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Innovative models for recognizing alternative learning

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Building influence and coalitions to scale global impact

Gender Leadership by the Numbers

Leadership in Education & Quality Assurance

Women make up the majority of the global education workforce, yet hold less than 30% of leadership roles in the sector.
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UNESCO reports a 20-percentage point gender gap in education leadership positions globally.
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A global “glass ceiling” persists across all levels of education leadership, from institutions to ministries.

What this means:
 Even in systems where women are the majority, they are underrepresented in decision-making roles—including those shaping credential recognition and quality assurance frameworks.

Women in Technology Leadership (Including EdTech & Credentialing Systems)

Globally, 74% of C-suite roles are held by men, with women significantly underrepresented at the highest levels of leadership.
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In education technology specifically, leadership representation can be as low as 29% women in some digital leadership pipelines.
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Women remain underrepresented in engineering, AI, and technology leadership roles, despite growing participation overall.

What this means: As credential recognition becomes increasingly digital and AI-driven, women are still underrepresented in designing and governing the systems shaping the future of work.

Governance & Boards in Education and Mobility Ecosystems

Women hold approximately 31–37% of leadership and governance roles globally, depending on sector and region.

Even where board representation improves, executive decision-making roles remain male-dominated.

What this means:
 Organizations shaping learner mobility, recognition, and global education policy do not yet fully reflect the diversity of the populations they serve.

The Pipeline Paradox

Women now outnumber men in higher education participation globally.

Yet their representation declines sharply at each leadership level.

What this means:
 The challenge is not a lack of qualified women—it is systemic barriers to advancement and leadership access.

The Opportunity

The data is clear—but so is the opportunity.

Advancing women into leadership roles across credential recognition, technology, and learner mobility is not just about representation—it is about:

Better system design

More inclusive innovation

Fairer access to education and work globally

Five-Part Global Webinar Series

Webinar 1: Leading Across Borders

Women and Strategic Oversight in Learner Mobility Platforms

Wednesday, June 8, 2026 — 10:00 AM ET / 4:00 PM CET

This opening session spotlights women in senior leadership roles responsible for national and multinational credential exchange and learner mobility platforms. It explores how they set strategic direction, align complex stakeholder ecosystems, and build trust across borders.

Participants will gain insight into how women leaders:

  • Navigate authority and credibility in male-dominated policy and governance environments
  • Lead large-scale initiatives involving governments, institutions, and funding bodies
  • Balance cultural expectations while shaping global mobility strategies

This session sets the foundation by examining leadership at the highest levels—where vision, diplomacy, and influence intersect.

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Panelists

Melissa Loble

Chief Academic Officer, Instructure
Melissa Loble is a globally recognized learning futurist and Chief Learning Officer at Instructure, where she works with institutions and organizations to design the future of learning. With more than 25 years of experience across K-12, higher education and workforce development, she helps leaders build connected, evidence-based learning ecosystems that support the new learner, who is balancing education with work and life and seeking flexible, skills-driven pathways. At Instructure, Melissa serves as a trusted advisor to education and industry leaders, helping translate strategy into actionable approaches that support lifelong learning and readiness. She chairs the board of directors for 1EdTech, serves on the CSU AI Workforce Acceleration Board, and convenes the AI and Academic Integrity Working Group, bringing together leaders to advance responsible, human-centered approaches to AI and better align learning with workforce outcomes. An educator at her core, Melissa began her career as a classroom teacher and continues to engage directly with learners and educators. She is a frequent keynote speaker and co-host of Instructure’s podcast.

Mary Strain

Generative AI and Machine Learning, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Mary Strain leads strategy for artificial intelligence and machine learning in the US public sector at AWS. Mary began her career as a middle school teacher in the Bronx, NY. Since that time, she has held leadership roles in education and educational technology organizations as a product and strategy lead. Mary has advised higher education, technology companies, and state and local government on innovative policies and practices leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities focused on competency-based assessment; micro credentialing; curriculum design and workforce development. As an advisor to The Education Design Studio at The University of Pennsylvania, The State of NJ AI Task Force and the California State University AI Workforce Acceleration Board. Mary has been on the leading edge of bringing innovative solutions to serve the public interest for two decades. Mary holds a BA from Fordham University and an MPA from The City University of New York.

Webinar 2: From Vision to Implementation

Women Driving Credential Exchange in Tech-Inflected Ecosystems

Moving from strategy to execution, this session focuses on the operational realities of building and scaling digital credential systems. Featuring women leading implementation efforts, it highlights how ideas become functioning platforms.

Participants will explore how women leaders:

  • Drive adoption of digital credentials, interoperability frameworks, and emerging technologies
  • Lead in male-dominated tech environments while building credibility and securing resources
  • Manage stakeholder resistance and align policy, funding, and technical requirements

This session offers practical insight into leading transformation in environments where technology, policy, and power dynamics converge.

Registration opens soon

Webinar 3: Inclusive Leadership for Sustainable Mobility

Women Charting the Future of Recognition and Access

This forward-looking session explores how women are designing more inclusive, equitable, and learner-centered credentialing ecosystems. It focuses on leadership approaches that prioritize sustainability, access, and cultural responsiveness.

Participants will learn how women leaders:

• Embed equity, inclusion, and alternative learning recognition into mobility systems

• Navigate complex governance and funding landscapes

• Build cross-sector and cross-border alliances to advance systemic change

This session emphasizes leadership as a force for shaping not just systems—but the values that underpin them.

Registration opens soon

Webinar 4: Breaking Barriers with Technology

AI, Digital Credentials, and the Future of Women’s Leadership

As AI and advanced technologies reshape credential recognition, this session examines both opportunity and risk—and the critical role of women in shaping this future.

Participants will explore how women leaders:

  • Leverage AI and digital tools to improve recognition, transparency, and access to work
  • Address bias in algorithmic systems and advocate for ethical, inclusive design
  • Position themselves as leaders in emerging, tech-driven ecosystems

This session highlights a pivotal moment: ensuring that the future of credentialing is not only innovative—but equitable.

Registration opens soon

Webinar 5: Power, Influence, and the Next Generation of Leaders

Building Pathways for Women to Lead Systemic Change

The final session turns to sustainability and legacy—focusing on how to expand women’s leadership across the credentialing and learner mobility ecosystem.

Participants will examine how women leaders:

  • Build influence within institutions, networks, and global systems
  • Mentor and elevate the next generation of leaders
  • Create pathways for greater representation in governance, technology, and policy

This session closes the series by shifting from individual leadership to collective impact—ensuring long-term, systemic change.

Registration opens soon

Moderator for the Sessions

Joanne Duklas

Executive Director, The GDN Network
Joanne Duklas is an award-winning leader in higher education who serves as the executive director of the GDN Network while also leading scholarly research projects and her own consulting firm in higher education providing research and consulting support to governments, institutions, and sector organizations. She most recently served as one of the co-founders and executive lead for the MyCreds™ | MesCertif™ National Network in Canada. She is an expert in the higher education field and has authored several publications, presentations, and keynote addresses to advance best practice, standards, transfer, and student mobility including recent chapter contributions on digitization, trust, privacy, and fraud in the Second Handbook on Academic Integrity and Fake Degrees and Fraudulent Credentials in Higher Education.

Be Part of the Movement

This is more than a webinar series—it’s a call to action.
A call to redefine leadership,
to recognize all forms of learning,
and to build systems where opportunity is not limited by gender, geography, or traditional pathways.
Join us—and help shape the future of global learner mobility.

Africa: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/tech-and-ai/our-insights/closing-the-loop-the-quest-for-gender-parity-in-african-tech

Africa: https://disruptafrica.com/2024/08/02/steady-growth-in-female-leadership-of-african-tech-startups-report/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1048984324000870?via%3Dihub

https://www.emerald.com/joepp/article-abstract/2/4/306/237524/The-glass-ceiling-what-have-we-learned-20-years-on?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/featured%20insights/diversity%20and%20inclusion/women%20in%20the%20workplace%202022/women-in-the-workplace-2022.pdf

https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.11746

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1485395/full

https://www.investopedia.com/academic-leadership-by-gender-5101144

India:- https://educationworld.in/fewer-women-in-leadership-roles-in-education-sector-than-men-unesco/

https://mediaindia.eu/politics/unesco-gem-report-flags-gender-gap-in-education-leadership/

https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/14593/