Veteran Open Source leader brings decades of experience advancing sustainability, collaboration and responsible participation across the Open Source ecosystem.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 15, 2026 — The Open Source Initiative (OSI), globally recognized as the steward of the Open Source Definition, today announced the appointment of Duane O’Brien as its new executive director.
O’Brien is a long-time Open Source leader with nearly 25 years of experience as a technologist, community advocate and strategist. He most recently led Collaborative Engineering at Capital One, where he oversaw the company’s Open Source Program Office, InnerSource initiatives, and standards for programming language adoption and implementation. Prior to that, he built and led the Open Source Program Office at Indeed and directed Open Source programs and operations at PayPal.
Throughout his career, O’Brien has focused on how organizations participate in Open Source communities responsibly, with an emphasis on sustainability, transparency and long-term support for the projects they depend on.
O’Brien has also been deeply engaged in the nonprofit and community side of the Open Source ecosystem. He serves on the board of the Open Source Collective and has contributed to initiatives focused on improving the sustainability of Open Source projects and the long-term health of the ecosystem. His work has included advising programs such as the GitHub Accelerator, Hacktoberfest and leading efforts to develop funding models that support maintainers and communities.
