The SmartEducator Team
Meet the team behind SmartEducator: a passionate collective of veteran educators, AI innovators, and learning designers. United by a shared mission to elevate teaching and learning, we blend deep pedagogical insight with cutting-edge technology to empower every classroom.
Our Story
At SmartEducator, we believe teachers and trainers deserve tools that make their lives easier. We saw how outdated systems and endless paperwork were holding educators back from doing what they do best, supporting learners. That’s why we built an AI-powered assessment platform designed to transform the entire process, making it faster, simpler, and more accurate. Today, SmartEducator is trusted by schools and colleges across the UK to streamline assessment, reduce workload, and give teachers more time to focus on helping every learner reach their full potential. We’re proud to be part of their journey, making education smarter for everyone.
![Sendient-125[1]](https://www.smarteducator.ai/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Sendient-1251-scaled.jpg "Sendient-125[1]")
Rowland Johnson
Founder / CEO
Head of Sendient, Rowland is a serial entrepreneur and tech enthusiast who is passionate about artificial intelligence, cyber security and challenging assumed norms. A highly focused individual, he loves ‘building things’, whether that is products, teams or companies.
Alex Bryant
Full Stack Developer
Alex is a full-stack developer with a background in biometrics and facial recognition technology. With extensive experience in web development across the full stack, he enjoys building products from the ground up and tackling complex challenges along the way. Passionate about AI and automation software, Alex is driven to develop intelligent systems that enhance everyday efficiency.
Coner Mckeever
Full Stack Developer
Conor is a full-stack engineer in the SmartAssessor Team, focused on creating solutions that are both intuitive to use and visually appealing. He graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with a Master’s in Software Engineering, where he honed his interest in UI and UX. Based in Manchester, Conor is an active supporter of local Irish communities, playing for the local GAA team and is involved with the Irish Language Community in Manchester
Fraser Johnson
Marketing Co-ordinator
Fraser is a digital marketer at Sendient, he excels in social media management, content creation, and data analytics. Currently in his third year at Oxford Brookes University, Fraser combines academic knowledge with practical skills to drive impactful marketing campaigns. His expertise in SEO and performance tracking makes him a vital asset to his team.
Jade Haley
Executive Assistant
Jade is a seasoned administrator with over 16 years of experience in managing and streamlining office operations within a technology environment. Known for her organizational strong communication skills enable her to liaise effectively with vendors, clients, and internal teams, ensuring all parties are aligned and informed.
![Sendient-119[1]](https://www.smarteducator.ai/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Sendient-1191-scaled-portrait-64427e39aece676cb5c0774e5c6fd54d-.jpg "Sendient-119[1]")
Karen Emerson
Advisor
Karen is the Advisor to the leadership team, partnering with the founders to shape the people and culture that underpins a high performing, Agile AI organisation.
Nathanael Farley
Lead Application Engineer
Nathanael is a full stack developer with a passion for leveraging cutting-edge technologies to build innovative solutions. With a PhD in Particle Physics from the University of Birmingham, he brings a unique perspective and strong analytical skills to his work.
Sam Benson
Product Manager
Martin Watts
CRO
Martin has spent his career immersed in technology sales and marketing, driving enterprise performance and growth. At the weekend Martin can be found on a variety of sports fields unsuccessfully attempting to inspire the next generation.
Chris Lock
AI Researcher
Chris is an AI Researcher with a focus on harnessing artificial intelligence to drive impactful solutions. As an offer holder for Computer Science at Durham University, he blends a strong academic foundation with a passion for innovation, aiming to contribute meaningfully to the future of AI.
Corrina Follet
Accounting Director
Corrina is an Account Director with strong relationship management skills, having many years’ experience in account management, sales management and bid management. Corrina has spent the majority of her 30 year career working in IT organisations, with the last 14 years specialising in cyber security.
Giancarlo Duran
Software Engineer
A full-stack engineer with a preference on design, and a passion for security and AI, Giancarlo is a graduate Cyber Security Engineer holding both Cisco CCNAv7 and CNSS. His passion for cloud and new technologies places him first in line for solving the “how can we make it happen” question.
Jordan Burge
Dev-Ops Engineer
Jordan is a DevOps Engineer, specialising in Azure who helps create and maintain our infrastructure and streamline and enhance our product development lifecycle. Jordan has a BSC in Chemistry from the University of Sussex. Outside of work, he love sports, particularly playing football and boxing.
Mimi Glenn
Head Of Marketing
Mimi Glenn leads marketing across Sendient’s portfolio of AI products; SmartEducator, SmartAssessor, and SmartDetector. With a career spanning SaaS, technology, and high-growth brands, Mimi specialises in go-to-market strategy, product positioning, and growth.
Panayiotis Pouroullis
AI Data Scientist
Pano is an AI Data Scientist at Sendient, building robust testing infrastructure for our AI marking systems. With experience spanning production data engineering at Dee Set and research machine learning at Dyson, he brings both practical engineering skills and research depth to our edtech mission.
Stephen Browett
AI Consultant
With a PhD in Space Physics from the University of Southampton, Stephen applies the culture of scientific rigour to his work in AI. He specialises in the development and deployment of bespoke AI applications that can extract information from written and numerical data.
Stan
Office Dog
Stan spends his days sunbathing in every patch of rare British sunshine, snoring contently through meetings, and proudly patrolling the office in search of treats and head scratches.
Ben Densham
CTO
Boasting an impressive track record in technology, for the last 17 years Ben has held a series of leadership positions in global technology and cybersecurity organisations. He loves working on technical problems, business challenges and enabling success in people, products and customers.
Chris Lovering
Engineering Manager
Chris is an Engineering Manager with a focus on leading teams to design and deliver effective engineering solutions. With a strong background in software development and team leadership, he combines technical expertise with strategic thinking to drive projects forward efficiently. Passionate about developing people and fostering collaboration, Chris ensures that his team consistently delivers high-quality results that align with business goals.
Enrik Nako
Full Stack Developer
Enrik, a full-stack developer with a PhD in Diamond Science, combines academic rigor with industry expertise. He focuses on mentoring and empowering his team, driving software process improvements, and fostering collaboration to create a cohesive and efficient work environment.
Ian Blackburn
AI consultant
Ian is an experienced data professional with a background in computer science and a decade-long journey spanning diverse industries. With robust commercial acumen and deep technical expertise, Ian has tackled complex challenges with analytical understanding and a passion for data-driven solutions.
Julia Kuskowska
Software Engineer
Julia is a software engineer specialising in backend development, with a focus on implementing production-ready algorithms developed by AI/Research team. Also collaborating closely with frontend engineers and devops engineers on developing SmartEductor.
Mohammed Ajwad Ali
AZURE AI Consultant
An AI enthusiast coming from an Azure background, Mohammad loves testing and using new AI capabilities to solve problems. You'll find him diving deep into the latest AI trends, fuelled by a mix of curiosity and a drive to make cool things happen, or if not that, then playing sports!
Robert Vallance
AI Consultant
An AI consultant with a PhD in Particle Physics from the University of Birmingham which involved a stint at the LHC at CERN, Switzerland, Rob is experienced at working with big data, having made an impact in the US healthcare privacy sector as a data scientist.
Wiam Nasr
Full Stack Developer
Wiam has a foundational background in business and data analysis, with a career that has evolved into software engineering, where he specialises in Python, JavaScript, and TypeScript. He has cultivated a robust skill set through both formal education, such as a full-stack engineering bootcamp, and hands-on experience in dynamic startup environments.