Dr Don Olcott Jr is Chief Executive of The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (OBHE). Dr Olcott leads The Observatory and on a variety of international research and partnership projects with numerous worldwide organisations.

Dr Olcott serves on the UK’s Council of Validating Universities, the Board of Directors of the University of London’s Distance Education Council and the External Strategy Board of the Open University. He is also an elected Fellow of the UK’s Royal Society of the Arts. Don is immediate past-Chairman of the United State Distance Learning Association Board of Directors and served as president from 2006 to 2007. He is currently serving on the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s Online Learning Task Force and the British Council's internationalism index project as a member of the panel of experts.

Dr Olcott previously held senior leadership and faculty appointments with a variety of institutions across the USA. He has over twenty five years of public and private sector experience in the design, delivery, and evaluation of higher education continuing and distance education programs. He is a member of the editorial boards for a range of journals and is published extensively.

Dr Olcott received bachelors and masters' degrees from Western Washington University and a doctorate in Higher Education Leadership from Oregon State University, USA.

Dr Don Olcott Jr is participating in the New global regionalism: competition and collaboration session.