About Us
We are a small team that builds software to support new models for book publishing with an emphasis on helping make educational resources (aka digital textbooks) free for all. We are passionate about open source, open content, open knowledge, open education, and the intersection of books and the web.
Half of our team works from our office in Montréal’s Mile End neighborhood; the other half work remotely from locations across the Americas. The team includes academics, instructional designers, artists, web developers, philosophers, and out-of-the-box thinkers.
Our Goals
We started small but we have big dreams. While Pressbooks is a versatile tool with a myriad of applications, it has grown into the preferred platform for open educational publishing programs. There was a need for an easy-to-use platform on which to create professional educational content in an open and ethical way, and we responded.
Today, we want to drive the open publishing movement by partnering with institutions of higher education around the world. We help our partners compete with large commercial publishers, while supporting their immediate need to get accessible educational content into the hands of students. As we lead the open movement, we will remain good listeners and good actors. We will keep developing products and services that do good in the world. We will be your partner in open publishing.
Our Values
Pressbooks’ tools are developed with educators in mind and so are our business, communications strategy, and team. We’ve looked at the challenges facing higher education institutions and shaped our company accordingly.
We take our values seriously. They aren’t just words we chose to present an ethical image. We wanted a set of guiding principles to help us make the right choices to deliver the best solutions for our users, solving real problems in their lives.
Accessibility
We take a “design for the margins” approach, making software and supporting content that everyone can use.
Customization
We believe that context matters, so we enable faculty to adapt and edit content for any students.
Humanity
We aren’t robots, nor are our users. We use our hearts and our brains to find solutions that work for you.
Interoperability
We play well with others! No software exists in a vacuum. That’s why we take interoperability seriously.
Freedom
We support knowledge producing institutions, and respect user and academic freedom.
Meet our team
Hugh McGuire
Founder & CEO
Hugh McGuire
Founder & CEO
Başak Büyükçelen
COO
Başak Büyükçelen
COO
Steel Wagstaff
Educational Product Manager
Steel Wagstaff
Educational Product Manager
Ho Man Chan
DevOps Engineer and Full-Stack Developer
Ho Man Chan
DevOps Engineer and Full-Stack Developer
Elsie Kluvia
Administrative Assistant
Elsie Kluvia
Administrative Assistant
Elsie graduated from Cuyahoga Community College with a degree in Social Sciences. She moved from Cleveland Ohio to Montreal in 2018. She loves dancing, traveling, building furniture, but most of all she loves sewing, which she taught herself. Her love for sewing and fashion pushed her to start an online clothing business Projet Fador Inc., where she gets to share her African background. You’ll find her at times modeling the colorful designs she creates on Fador’s social media pages.
Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa
Head of Marketing & Communications
Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa
Head of Marketing & Communications
Oscar Arzola
Full-Stack Developer
Oscar Arzola
Full-Stack Developer
Twenty years ago, Os began building annoying flash intros with mouse trailing animations preloaders and obtrusive techno background music loops. Before the WordPress era, he discovered PHP4 and went crazy building hundreds of web apps. Os has a Computer Science degree and Zend Certified Engineer PHP certification. He is in love with trip hop, acid jazz, and Cm/Fm based music. He is also an active open source contributor.
Ricardo Aragón
Full-Stack Developer
Ricardo Aragón
Full-Stack Developer
Ricardo is a passionate software developer with a keen sense user needs. After creating solutions for a wide variety of projects, he learned that technologies, frameworks, and coding languages are powerful tools to create products to make people happier. In his spare time, he loves to cook Argentinian asado for his family and friends and play jazz music on his guitar.
Duncan Tam
Sales Representative
Duncan Tam
Sales Representative
Duncan is a firm believer that sales is not about making the sale. His approach is to collectively engage, educate, and discover beneficial solutions that will enable clients to have a true “Eureka!” moment with regards to their current dilemma. As an avid cyclist, Duncan envisions a Tour de France podium win in an imaginary parallel universe!
Amy Song
Customer Success Manager
Amy Song
Customer Success Manager
Amy graduated from McGill in 2019 with a degree in chemistry. Despite having enjoyed pipetting solutions into tiny vials, she realized that experiencing such opportunities are predicated on the accessibility of resources. Feeling strongly about these ideas, she joined Pressbooks, where she gets to exercise her love of continuous learning while contributing to a meaningful and collaborative environment. On any given day, she spends most of her time watching films, cooking, and enjoying the outdoors.
Sarah Simpson
Sales Executive
Sarah Simpson
Sales Executive
Felipe Dalcin
Full-Stack Developer
Felipe Dalcin
Full-Stack Developer
Felipe, a.k.a Dalcin, is a food enthusiast who happens to work in software development. A graduate in computer science with a major in Big Data, he has a passion for learning and is always excited to create new things. In his free time, Dalcin loves to spend quality time with his wife and dog, play video games, and travel (always trying the local cuisine).
People who love Pressbooks
Work with us
Our team is welcoming, compassionate, and committed to maintaining a safe and encouraging environment for people of all racial backgrounds and gender identities. Our work hours, vacation time, and sick/care leave policies are in place to lift people up and support their dreams. Join our team!
Where is Pressbooks?
Pressbooks is based in Montreal, Canada.
Contact us for more information:
tw. @pressbooks
linkedin. linkedin.com/company/pressbooks
blog. https://pressbooks.com/blog/
