Martin Bean is Vice-Chancellor of Open University, a position he has held since October 2009. Prior to that he was General Manager within the Education Products Group at the Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington. Having held senior executive positions in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe, and with more than 20 years in training and education, Martin Bean is a recognised industry leader around the world. He has held executive management roles in leading organisations, including Novell Inc., Sylvan Learning Systems and Thomson Learning. Martin Bean is actively involved in the advancement of education policy and the reform of education to meet the needs of today's workforce. He has presented to the US Senate on the importance of IT in the Workforce Investment Act and has testified on behalf of the Workforce Coalition before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Prior to moving to the UK, Martin Bean was a member of the National Board of Directors of Jobs for Americas Graduates, and a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Computing Technology Industry Association, chairing its Public Policy Committee from 2002-04. From 1986-7 he was President of AIESEC International, (Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales) the international, not-for-profit organisation run by students and recent graduates.

Martin Bean is participating in the Opening learning: new ambitions for higher education in a Web 2.0 world session.