Patrick Masson is the Executive Director of the Apereo Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting open source software for education and research. With over two decades of experience in academic IT leadership and open source advocacy, Patrick has been a driving force in promoting sustainable, community-governed software ecosystems that advance the research enterprise.
His career spans leadership roles at the University of Massachusetts and the State University of New York, where he led efforts to integrate open technologies in support of teaching, learning, and research. As former General Manager of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), Patrick worked to strengthen understanding and adoption of open source across higher education, public policy, and research communities.
A recognized thought leader in open source sustainability, Patrick was invited to serve on the National Science Foundation (NSF) Review Panel for the Pathways to Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE): Phase I/II program, which supports the development of sustainable open source ecosystems in science and engineering. He also served as a project advisor to Ithaka S+R’s initiative, Leveraging OSPOs to Advance the Academic Research Enterprise, contributing his expertise in how Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) can institutionalize open practices.
At Apereo, Patrick leads efforts to build resilient, transparent, and collaborative open source communities tailored to the needs of research institutions. He emphasizes not only code sustainability but also governance, capacity building, and long-term strategic alignment. Through his work, Patrick continues to elevate open source as a foundational component of research infrastructure—ensuring it remains a viable, scalable, and mission-aligned solution for the academic community.
