Emmy Tsang joined the OLS Board of Directors in 2021. In March 2024, she concluded her service and stepped down from the board. With this post (although 3 months delayed), we recognise and celebrate Emmy’s hard work in OLS during her time as a Director of Finance and Operations.
We thank Emmy for her friendship, professional support in OLS and continued service to the broader open science.
Emmy’s Involvement in OLS from the Beginning
The OLS team had been collaborating with Emmy since 2019 through the Mozilla Open Leadership program and the ELIXIR network. The OLS’s first cohort, co-founded by Yo, Malvika, and Bérénice, was developed in close collaboration with the scientific journal eLife’s cohort of Innovation Leaders, which Emmy was leading. These efforts were jointly announced at the ELIXIR-hosted Biohackathon Europe 2019 (we even designed a joint flyer and wrote a blogpost!).
Catch a glimpse of them from 2019 where they developed the first draft of Open Seeds curriculum.
As the eLife cohort concluded and Emmy moved to her next role, it was a natural progression for her to join the OLS team to continue working with grassroots communities in open science through the cohort-based program, Open Seeds.
Scaling OLS’s Finance and Operations
With other OLS directors, Emmy was involved in scoping the CZI grant and responsible for managing the finances as we learned how to scale sustainably.
As the Director of Finance and Operations, Emmy focused on finance management, implementing HR processes, managing microgrants, accounting, and honoraria. She also led OLS’s participation in the Catalyst project, supervising Tajuddeen Gwadabe (Taj), who is the Program Manager for the consortium.
Emmy stepped down from the Board of Directors in March this year to focus on her role as the Engagement Lead at Invest in Open Infrastructure, which she joined in 2022.
The OLS’s current Board of Directors thank Emmy on behalf of the OLS team and Governance Advisory Committee for her leadership and exemplary work during a significant period of OLS’s growth.
Continuation of OLS’s Operations and Catalyst engagement
Yo Yehudi has stepped in to lead OLS’s workstream in Catalyst, while Taj continues as the program manager of the project. Taj will also be working with Malvika to deliver an Open Seeds program for the consortium.
Patricia Herterich has been promoted to Chief of Staff at OLS, taking on responsibilities for finance and operations, onboarded by Emmy. Bethan Iley has also transitioned from Resident Fellow to Finance Manager to support Patricia in her new role.
As OLS continues to grow and sustain itself, we are proud to move forward on the solid foundation that Emmy was instrumental in establishing, furthering our shared mission of promoting open science for all.
We wish Emmy all the best!
P.S. Emmy, as we have our Directors Retreat this year without you, we miss you immensely. We will continue to cheer for you as you push the boundaries of equity and accessibility of funding and infrastructure in open science. Love - Yo, Malvika, Bérénice