UPCEA 2026 Chief Credential Innovation Officer (CCIO) Convening
10:00-11:30 AM ET, October 13, 2026
Hosted at Convergence 2026: Credential Innovation in Higher Education, Washington DC
Save your seat for the UPCEA Chief Credential Innovation Officer Convening, sponsored by Pearson
The annual convening of representatives to the UPCEA Council for Credential Innovation will engage senior leaders in examining what institutions need to build credential ecosystems that are connected, trusted, and sustainable. Participants will explore how institutions can create clearer pathways across prior learning, noncredit offerings, microcredentials, and degrees; demonstrate credential quality and value through meaningful evidence, employer engagement, and skills verification; and modernize the policies, governance structures, and internal practices needed to bring innovation to scale. Members of the CCI Leadership Team will share concise, authentic accounts of institutional experiments, pivots, persistent challenges, and lessons learned. These perspectives will be followed by guided small-group conversations designed to surface barriers, promising practices, and the kinds of guidance institutions most need. Rather than presenting finished solutions, the convening will invite participants to help shape the Council’s annual plan of work and a companion series of practical resources focused on learning mobility, credential value, and institutional readiness.
Format: The annual Chief Credential Innovation Officer Convening provides senior leaders in online and professional education with an opportunity to connect with peers, consider the most pressing issues shaping credential innovation, and contribute to a shared agenda for the field. Curated by the leadership team of the UPCEA Council for Credential Innovation (CCI), the convening employs a highly participatory roundtable format organized around three themes of import: advancing learning mobility, strengthening credential value, and accelerating institutional readiness. Brief, candid examples from CCI leaders will serve as provocations for facilitated table conversations, collective sense-making, and reporting out. Insights gathered through the convening will help inform the Council’s programming and practical resources throughout the coming year.
What is a Chief Credential Innovation Officer?
For more information or for any questions please contact info@upcea.edu.
UPCEA is the online and professional education association. Our members positively impact millions of lives by continuously reinventing higher education. We advance the professional field through cutting edge research, professional development, networking and mentorship, conferences and seminars, and stakeholder advocacy. Our collaborative, entrepreneurial community brings together decision makers and influencers in education, industry, research, and policy interested in improving educational access and outcomes.
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