Providence, October 2026 — OpenEyes Technologies took the stage in October at the Institute for Credentialing Excellence’s I.C.E. Exchange 2026, joining certification and credentialing leaders to explore two forces reshaping the field: the adoption of AI, and an increasingly uncertain regulatory landscape. 

The conference brought together credentialing bodies, accreditation professionals, psychometricians and technology partners. Many sessions and conversations focused on practical change: how AI fits into item development and program operations, what accreditation and governance expectations mean today, and how programs can stay defensible as both their tools and the policy environment evolve. 

OpenEyes brought two panels to the stage at the Rhode Island Convention Center on October 21. 

Trushant Mehta, Co-Founder and CTO, joined Anna Critz Rubin, Manager of Professional Certification Programs at Cisco, and Vikas Wadhwani, Director of Global Training and Credentialing at Meta, for From Lighthouse to Launchpad: Guiding AI Adoption in Certification Programs. Drawing on experience from some of the world’s largest technology certification programs, the panel explored what organizations need in place before AI can support their work in a way that holds up to scrutiny. 

“Most programs don’t need convincing that AI is coming. What they need is a practical path to adopting it without weakening what makes their credential defensible. In Providence, that’s what every conversation came back to,” said Trushant Mehta, Co-Founder and CTO, OpenEyes Technologies. 

Later that afternoon, Wade Delk, EVP Government Services and Customer Success, took part in Certification in a Time of Disruption: Navigating Uncertainty in a Shifting Political Climate, alongside Alan Arguello, Chief Operating Officer of the National Registry of EMTs; Shannon Fleming, Senior Vice President of Credentialing at BOC; and Mina M. Larson, Chief Executive Officer of the National Certification Board for Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine. Framed around the question “To regulate or not to regulate,” the discussion examined how credentialing organizations can plan, govern and stay defensible as the policy landscape shifts around them. 

“When the policy landscape is uncertain, the programs in the strongest position are the ones that can show exactly how their credential is built and who is accountable at every step,” said Wade Delk, EVP Government Services and Customer Success, OpenEyes Technologies. 

Beyond the sessions, the OpenEyes team met attendees from certification programs of every size at Booth 229, where OE, our road-tripping mascot, arrived for the finale of the Road to I.C.E. campaign. 

5 Things We Learned at I.C.E. Exchange 2026 

1. Readiness is a bigger bottleneck than technology. 
The question has moved from whether AI belongs in credentialing to how to adopt it. Many programs, though, still lack a documented process that AI can plug into, and without one, AI adds confusion rather than efficiency. 

2. The SME role is shifting from author to reviewer. 
Subject matter experts are spending less time writing first drafts and more time evaluating and approving items. Programs are now asking how to prepare SMEs for that role, and how to document their judgment. 

3. Regulatory uncertainty is now a planning variable, not a background risk. 
Shifting policy is pushing programs to plan for several possible regulatory futures at once. The organizations best placed to adapt are those whose processes are already documented and defensible, whatever direction policy takes. 

4. Permission follows evidence. 
Accreditation’s core expectations haven’t changed: a documented process, defensible decisions and clear human accountability. Programs that can show these are having easier conversations with boards, accreditors and regulators than programs still waiting for outside clarity. 

5. Candidate trust is becoming part of defensibility. 
Defensibility used to mean satisfying psychometricians and accreditors. More and more, it also means being able to explain to candidates how their exam was built, including where technology helped and where people made the decisions. 

 
About OpenEyes Technologies 

OpenEyes Technologies is a global provider of GovTech, EdTech, and nonprofit-focused solutions designed to create fair, transparent, and impactful digital ecosystems. From AI-powered credentialing and competency systems to collaborative learning and assessment platforms, OpenEyes builds technologies that empower organizations while prioritizing responsibility and trust.