Cherie Diaz

Cherie Diaz is Chief Partnerships & Product Officer, leading OUA’s partnership strategy and product innovation to deliver sustainable growth, innovation, and impact for learners and partners.

She is a passionate advocate for:

• Widening participation in education and enabling lifelong learning.
• Strengthening alternative pathways, flexible study options, and digitally enabled education.
• Designing innovative, data-informed products that meet learner and workforce needs.
• Developing strategic partnerships to improve learner outcomes, deliver shared value, and meaningful impact.

Cherie brings more than 20 years’ experience across education, edtech, and digital transformation, with a strong track record in building trusted, values-driven partnerships and delivering customer-centric education products, at scale. She is recognised for combining strategic and commercial acumen with a deep understanding of learner experience, market dynamics, and the power of sector collaboration.

Prior to joining Open Universities Australia, Cherie held roles including Executive Director, Education Innovation at Western Sydney University, where she led industry-aligned education initiatives, edtech innovation, and major cross-sector partnerships with industry, and Managing Director, Australia at OpenLearning, an ASX-listed edtech company that supports more than 300 education partners and 3 million+ learners globally.

Cherie holds a Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts from Australian Catholic University, a Master of Arts from Macquarie University, a Master of Education from the University of Technology Sydney and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.