We partnered with the Open Technology Fund on the search for a Chief Operating Officer. Open Technology Fund (OTF) is an independent nonprofit organization committed to advancing global Internet freedom.

The search resulted in the recruitment of Gary Roebuck to the role. Roebuck, CAE has over 20 years of experience in the association and nonprofit sectors.

In this role, he is responsible for oversight of all of OTF’s day-to-day IT, compliance, financial, and administrative functions.

Previously, Roebuck spent over 16 years at the Association of Research Libraries, serving most recently as Deputy Executive Director where he was responsible for oversight of all financial, information technology, human resource, and business matters in addition to the operationalization of the organization’s annual action plan. Earlier in his tenure with ARL, he served as Director of Information Technology where he led the modernization of internal business systems and as Technical Operations Manager for Statistics and Measurement where he oversaw the re-development of systems that provide a variety of assessment tools used by over 1,300 academic libraries worldwide.

Prior to joining ARL in 2007, Roebuck served as Manager of Development Operations at the National Park Foundation where he was instrumental in the re-engineering and improvement of processes surrounding its fundraising practices.

Earlier in his career, he served as a fundraising systems consultant at Blackbaud Inc. where he helped improve information systems and business processes surrounding donor cultivation and solicitation for clients throughout North America, and as Director of Operations at the Merit School of Music (the nation’s third largest community music school), where he oversaw the $3.7 million renovation of the school’s permanent home in the west loop of Chicago.

Roebuck serves on the board of the Cathedral Choral Society and formerly on the board of the Gay Professional Men of Color (Washington, DC). He has also remained active as a classical singer, serving as a professional cantor and chorus section leader in various congregations for over 25 years.

Roebuck holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Performance Certificate in Vocal Performance from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. He earned a Master of Science degree in Information Systems from DePaul University, and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Baltimore. He earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) in 2017 and was selected as part of the 2019–2021 class of ASAE’s Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP).