Nurbek Teleshaliyev joined Open Society Early Childhood Program in September 2016 as a program officer for the ECI portfolio. Before joining Open Society, Teleshaliyev worked at the Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan (1995-2004), UNICEF-Kyrgyzstan (2005-2009), and UNICEF- Lesotho (2009-2011) as an education specialist with a focus on teacher policy, community involvement, social partnership, out-of-school children, community-based kindergartens, donor coordination, and qualitative research methods. Teleshaliyev completed a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2016 and was a recipient of a scholarship from the Open Society Scholarship Programs. His thesis is on teacher nonpositional leadership and teacher policy in Kyrgyzstan. He has also been a consultant to the Ministry of Education and Science in Kyrgyzstan as a member of a team from Columbia University.