User Profile

@lmascarenaz

theopensystem.org

Co-Founder, The Open Systems Institute

Landon is an educator, writer, and democracy builder. As cofounder of the Open Systems Institute, he partners with leaders around the country to encourage an emerging discipline for openers everywhere. He works at the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) where he is responsible for community-driven economic development through breakthrough partnerships in the Homegrown Talent Initiative, working in sixty rural districts across eight regions of the state. At CEI he helped assemble the Sin Fronteras Education Partnership, a coalition of local, regional, and national organizations co-creating family partnership strategies for New Mexico communities, and he supported the launch of Colorado’s Statewide Family Engagement Center. In 2019, he was appointed by Colorado Governor Jared Polis to the state board for community colleges and occupational education, and now serves as the vice chair. He also serves as chair of the Reisher Scholarship Fund, supporting students across the state to achieve their higher education goals. During the first six months of the COVID crisis, Landon worked with community organizations to deploy the Denver Metro Emergency Food Network, which delivered over 320 thousand free meals to families and elderly people in need. He has previously led partnerships at A+ Colorado, served as a leader in the family engagement department in Denver Public Schools, codesigned the launch of the NACA Inspired Schools Network (a network of indigenous serving schools), led Teach For America–New Mexico, and taught first grade on the Navajo Nation. In 2015 he completed his doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a focus on boundary-spanning leadership. Landon was born in California, raised in Colorado, attended college in Oregon, and began his professional career in New Mexico—leading him to consider the western United States his home. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife and enjoys traveling, learning about ancient history, and developing his meditation practice.