Gard Titlestad
Secretary General, International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), Norway
As Secretary General for International Council for Open and Distance Education, ICDE, Gard Titlestad is head of the ICDE Permanent Secretariat. In close partnership with UNESCO, online, open and flexible education including e-learning is positioned to contribute to Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. Before ICDE he served as director at the Nordic Council of Ministers, NCM, in Copenhagen, Denmark. He managed the secretariat for several configurations of ministers including the ministers for education and research, the ministers for health and social affairs, the ministers for labour affairs, and ministers for IT. Gard has been Research Counsellor for Norway and member of the executive team for the Norwegian delegation to the European Union in Brussels. Prior to this, Gard was a senior official in the European Commission, Directorate General Information Society. In Norway Gard worked for the Norwegian Government in research and development agencies. Gard is educated Physiochemist and in legal and management issues.