Jessica Reid Sliwerski

Chief Executive Officer

Jessica became CEO of Open Up Resources in May, 2018, after leading our work with districts nationally as our Chief Academic Engagement Officer. Previously, Jessica was the co-founder and Chief Academic Officer at the adaptive literacy software company LightSail Education. Her instructionally-focused product vision brought numerous awards to the organization, including the Digital Promise and Edsurge Digital Innovation in Learning Award, two ASU-GSV Return on Education VentureEd awards, and a Readers’ Choice Top 100 recognition from District Administration magazine. Jessica also served as the Senior Vice President for Academic Research and Development at Noodle Markets, a pioneer in the K–12 procurement space. She began her career as a Teach For America teacher in the Bronx, NY before becoming a founding teacher then an Assistant Principal at Success Academy Charter Schools. Wanting to bring instructional best practices from the charter world to district schools, she became a network Literacy Specialist at The Urban Assembly, a New York City-based nonprofit organization overseeing more than 10,000 students in secondary schools. Jessica’s work in K–12 education was profiled in The Wall Street Journal and Steven Brill’s book Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools, and she participated in the documentary film The Lottery. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UCLA and a Master’s in Education from Pace University. Jessica enjoys writing—Penguin has published her children’s book Cancer Hates Kisses—yoga, mentoring young women, and reading to her daughter.