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the e-Assessment Association

Meet The Team

The e-Assessment Association's Executive Team works to deliver the day-to-day activities of the association, and to generate increasing revenue streams to be ploughed back into the eAA services.

The e-Assessment Association Board has the overall responsibility for the governance of the association, as well as shaping the overall strategy and trajectory of the association.

The eAA Board is made up of both individual members and corporate members, as per our constitution, who each agree to serve a three year term to support the aims and objectives of the Association.

Please contact the eAA at [email protected] for more information and full speaker profiles.

The Executive Team

Pat

Patrick Coates

eAA Chief Executive

Patrick Coates eAA Chief Executive

Patrick Coates eAA Chief Executive

International Skills UK, Director

I have worked in e-assessment for over 25 years having worked in all its aspects around e-testing, e-marking and e-portfolio. During this period, I have worked with a diverse range of organisations both as an employee and as a consultant. This has included both large and small e-assessment vendors, UK and International regulators, as well as organisations using e-assessment technologies. In my most recent roles I have been working in companies using AI to support e-assessment and it is technology like this, that is going to create huge changes in our industry and provide opportunities to better support candidates.

As CEO, my focus is to position the e-AA as a global organisation, representing the interests of all our sponsors and members. I want to extend the range of services that the e-AA has available and to educate those outside the industry on the benefits that technology has to offer assessment.

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Anna Cavadias

Content Manager

Anna Cavadias Marketing & Administration Coordinator

Anna joined the e-Assessment Association in February 2020. A versatile marketing professional with a career spanning arts marketing, events, market research, publishing and media promotions.

Working 8 hours a week for the eAA, Anna leads on all of the core membership communications, including maintaining the website e-assessment.com and curating the quarterly newsletters. Anna also provides administrative support to both her colleagues in the Executive Team and the eAA Board.

Anna brings extensive experience to the team including

  • Event marketing - from inception to implementation. Including Wandsworth Arts Fringe, Wandsworth Artists’ Open House, travel exhibitions, launch events, parties and networking events.
  • Brand identity and evolution. Development and roll out of new and existing cross platform brands.
  • Market Research and analysis.  Recruiting and moderating focus groups, preparing and presenting reports, formulating and analysing surveys, working with teams to implement findings.
  • Working with internal stakeholders to align strategic aims and maximize success of marketing communications

Anna can be contacted at [email protected]

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The Board

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Graham Hudson

eAA Chair

Graham Hudson eAA Secretary

GA Partnership Ltd – Independent Consultancy

Graham is a long-standing member of the educational assessment community, having worked in the sector for over 30 years. He has been involved in many of the significant developments in general qualifications, including the introduction of GCSEs, Curriculum 2000 and National Curriculum at Key Stage 4.
Whilst at QCA he was responsible for the marking and collecting data for the Key Stage tests and after a move to DRS Data Services Limited was part of the team responsible for the first implementation for the live marking of UK examinations using scanned scripts.
Graham’s interest in e-Assessment started whilst at QCA where he led a development change programme involving all the regulatory bodies in the UK looking at the uses of new technologies in assessment, having won several £m of funding from the Treasury.
Latterly Graham has owned a franchise helping business to be successful at selling their products and services and now runs his own consultancy businesses supporting organisations in the assessment sector.
Graham’s great passion is to harness technology of all kinds to improve the examination experience that candidates face, the reliability of the assessments and marking accuracy.
Graham is happy to be called upon to speak, with key interests in implementation of development programmes, the approach to procuring e-Assessment and other systems, getting the best from your teams, strategic planning and business development.

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Paul Muir

Paul Muir

eAA Vice Chair

Paul Muir

Paul Muir is Chief Strategy and Partnership Officer at Surpass Assessment where he is responsible for the strategic direction, innovation, and partnership strategy for Surpass.

Paul has worked in the assessment industry for over 20 years, in roles delivering education and curriculum reform projects across the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to transformational roles at Awarding Bodies and Regulators in the UK.

Prior to joining Surpass Assessment in January 2023, Paul spent 7 ½ years at the British Council and was responsible leading their transition from a predominantly Pen and Paper exams business to one led by technology enabled assessment.

Paul has a passion for enhancing access to education globally using technology, especially in parts of the world where this is not always the ‘easy’ path and where innovative and more unique ways of working can be rewarded. Delivering equity in an unequal world of assessment, a ‘Digital Divide’ that was further widened by the Covid pandemic, is where Paul strives to make a significant difference in the coming years.

A regular conference speaker, webinar panellist and blog writer, Paul has also served on the EAA board since 2021 and is also a member of the ATP Security Committee.

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Sarah Hetherington

eAA Treasurer

Paul Muir

Sarah is Director of Legal & Finance for AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd, and is responsible for overseeing the finance function, reporting to the board, and also reviews contracts in conjunction with the Director of Sales.

After a degree in Classics at the University of Cambridge, Sarah trained as a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC), working in the Manchester, Cambridge and Belfast offices. During and after qualification Sarah specialised in public sector audit, particularly in local government and the health sector. Following on from this, Sarah worked as a GP fund manager and a School Bursar, whilst bringing up a family, and in 2008, moved into the charitable sector in Northern Ireland, until moving back to England. During Sarah's time in Belfast, she also taught the Accountancy module for Level 3 Professional Studies for the School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering in Queens University for three years.

Sarah joined AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd in January 2017.

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Tim Burnett

Tim Burnett

Independent Assessment Marketing Consultant.

Tim is on a mission to build thriving communities within the educational technology sector and has been a member of the eAA board since 2015.

Tim is an experienced and active member of the global educational technology community, enthusiastic about the evolution of learning & assessment, passionate about building communities and has a strong reputation for the creative use of technology in marketing.

Over the years, Tim has grown a personal network stretching from North America, Europe and Asia to Australia and New Zealand. He loves to meet interesting new people to share ideas with and collaborate on exciting projects.

Since his days as a trainee teacher, Tim has been interested in advancing learning and assessment through the fair and innovative application of technology.

Tim is proud to be an active member of the eAA and the education community. In addition to supporting the eAA, Tim works as an Edtech marketing and community consultant, supporting some of the most innovative and well-respected providers of technology in education.

Connect with Tim here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tburnett/

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Viral Shah

Viral Shah

Viral Shah heads International Business and Solution Engineering for the education focused unit of Tata Consultancy Services – TCS iON. With more than 18+ years of experience, he has been the innovator of more than 100+ solutions. Under his leadership, TCS iON has been able to open up 8 new international geographies within a very short span of time, as well as, ventured into hardware design which led to breakthrough innovation of transmitting digital content without any form of network.

With the dream to put India on the world map for building great products for Education, he started the journey by transforming one of India’s largest university/ college entrance online in 2011 and then many more by conducting 210 million+ assessments till date. He believes in the power of AI/ ML and has setup research teams focused on NLP, auto marking, voice/ video/ text/ image processing.

Viral has filed more than 25 patents on security of assessments, scanning, question authoring, distribution etc which has helped organisations achieve zero question paper leakage. He has been awarded “Serial Innovator” award by TATA group recognising his contribution towards innovation which has been given to only 3 people in entire TATA group till date.

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Romana Moss

Romana Moss

I have worked in education for over 20 years. I have worked in Universities, a Royal Medical College, a Membership Body, a Conservative and now I work in an Award Organisation. I have vast experience of working in CBT, process enhancement, LMS systems, implementing RI and core system digital transformation. I specialise in innovating education with technology whilst enhancing the value of technology in the workplace across operations.

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Matt Wingfield

Matt Wingfield

With 34+ years’ experience within the education market as a teacher, working for awarding organisations, technology suppliers and as for former chair and CEO of the eAA, Matt has built-up significant understanding of the issues relating to the use of technology enabled assessment in all education sectors.

Matt works as an independent consultant providing business development and strategy support to technology suppliers, as well as providing procurement and deployment strategy support to assessment organisations.

He is focused on helping organisations maximise the positive impact of technology on formative and summative assessment delivery, so that all candidates can demonstrate their true potential.

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Teresa Jacobs

Teresa Jacobs

Teresa found her true passion when she exchanged teaching and management for an internationally focussed role with a leading UK awarding body. She found genuine satisfaction achieving the vital but complex task of ensuring every learner received the result they deserved.

Teresa has held several assessment related roles, with professional and OFQUAL regulated awarding organisations and regulators.  Teresa has achieved transformational change in the construction of assessments and supporting processes through IT enablement. For example, Teresa drove a transformation from paper-based examinations to 100% e-assessment, facilitated by remote invigilation, making that organisation an early adopter of assessment technology, while improving overall take up and quality of assessments.

Teresa is currently Executive Director – Learning with International Skills Development Corporation, a company which promotes access to UK qualifications powered by IT and e-assessment in India. In this capacity Teresa supports and creates partnerships with UK universities, awarding and professional bodies to support the ambitions of the Indian Government to radically transform education.

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Emma Hall

Emma Hall

Emma is Head of Business Development at Surpass Assessment and has more than a decade of experience in the e-assessment industry.

During that time Emma has worked closely with a diverse range of assessment organisations to help them explore how they can make the best use of technology, whilst understanding and tackling the challenges that moving to a new assessment system can involve.

Since 2018, Emma has led the Business Development team at Surpass Assessment’s UK head office, where she works to guide awarding organisations and assessment providers around the world through the process of selecting and implementing new assessment solutions.

Emma’s work with new e-assessment adopters has given her a keen interest in how we can better support people facing this change, to ensure the least stressful experience for every e-assessment user and candidate, and to this end Emma has also been a board member of the e-Assessment Association since 2018.

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Dan Howard

Dan Howard

Dan Howard

Dan has worked in the employability and skills sector for over 12 years. Passionate about the life-changing power of education, Dan actively collaborates with key influencers in the skills and employability industry to ensure everyone has access to the best curriculum, products and services to give equal access to learning for all.

Prior to its integration into NCFE in 2021, Dan was the Managing Director at Skills Forward. He led the repositioning of the Skills Forward business within the sector, shaping and growing the business to become an award-winning market leader in educational assessment, and skills resources.

After graduating with a degree in business management and employment law, Dan went on to work within Welfare to Work supporting long-term unemployed individuals back into employment in some of the most socially deprived areas of the UK. He has since worked across the employability and skills sector holding senior positions in FE Colleges and Independent Training Providers, implementing, and successfully managing complex government funded contracts including navigation of Skills Reform and national roll-out of the Apprenticeship Levy.

Dan is a member of the Institute of Directors and has been awarded a fellowship of both the Institute of Employability Professionals, and Chartered Management Institute. He is currently a judge for the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards and has a strong focus and commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Dan is also the chair of governors for a School in East Yorkshire, and is a Non-Exec Director for a group of Independent Training Providers.

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Rajeev Menon

Rajeev Menon

An accomplished sales and product innovation specialist in the assessments space, Rajeev has over 18 years of experience with multiple global assessment providers. He has played important roles in the development of the assessments space in India as part of the leadership team at MeritTrac, one of India’s foremost assessment services company with a global footprint now.

He was involved in creating and introducing some pathbreaking assessment and delivery products including automated spoken English assessments, candidate authentication service for high stake exams, digital marking in India and behavioral assessments for front line sales and leadership positions. He was responsible for establishing an offshore marking practice in India for exams in Europe. He has also worked extensively with experts in the field of IRT as well as item analysis and equating of large volume data in high stakes exams. At Talview, he has been instrumental in some of the key assessment product and services such as Talview Behavioral Insights and Proview – Talview’s remote proctoring solution. 

He also currently provides strategic advice to Recruitment Tech and Ed Tech companies on assessment products.

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Priya Dutta

Priya Dutta

My two-decade career has been dedicated to education. As an Assessment Manager at AlphaPlus, I am part of the team responsible for delivering assessment research and development services to clients, with an increasing focus on online and adaptive assessment.

A deputy head and teacher for many years, I have extensive experience of education management, curriculum design, teaching methodologies and assessment. Prior to that, I worked at Pearson Education in both editorial and operational roles, when educational publishers began integrating digital offerings into their business models.

I am keen to bring my experience and insights of both corporate life and teaching practice to the e-Assessment Association. I am uniquely positioned to offer insights on both digital assessment design and production as well as in-school delivery.

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Tim Downie

Tim Downie

Founder of Adactia Consulting Ltd. which provides business and market strategy advice to Assessment and Ed-Tech organisations around the world.

I have worked in the Assessment and Ed-Tech industries for 30 years. This includes 10 years as Sales & Marketing Director for RM Results developing the UK and international e-marking and e-assessment business and senior roles with technology providers to Education and the Public Sector. More recently I worked with organisations, including some E-AA sponsors, from the USA, India, Australia and the UK to help with strategy development and execution.  

I believe in strengthening the foundations of the E-AA so that we have the influence and revenues we need to serve our members and to promote best practice and innovation across the global assessment community.

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Sue Martin

Sue Martin

Sue has spent the last 30+ years in a variety of senior management and consultancy positions in the international certification area, starting her career in the pre-Internet era as Regional Manager for Central & Eastern Europe for what is now Prometric. This was followed by global and EMEA management roles with Pearson and Promissor. In 2006 Sue rounded off the profile by “crossing the great divide” from vendor to client to become Global Head of Certification at SAP and then went on to her current position as Global Head of Certification for TÜV Rheinland. She has always been passionate about helping the industry make certification count, particularly in diverse international environments and geographies with high labor mobility.

Sue has served on a variety of committees and in several industry roles over the years, for example as European Chair of the Association of Test Publishers, British Computer Society Learning & Development Committee member and Strategic Advisor to the EU Digital Skills Initiative.

Sue’s team won the e-Assessment Association Best Practitioner Award in 2022 for the international rollout of online testing which includes practical exams, MCQs, portfolio assessments, oral exams and essays in 10 languages to 45 countries around the world.

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Martin Lowder

Martin Lowder

Martin Lowder is Head of Global Exams Services at the British Council, which is the world’s most trusted exam service partner by more than 140 assessment & educational organisations every year.

Martin is particularly interested in how assessment builds trust, creates opportunity and drives change. Martin also has a passion for education and understands how exams can be life changing and how important the test day experience is for candidates and clients too. He has considerable experience in both the test development and delivery space and keeps abreast of the fast evolving landscape of technology enabled assessment to ensure his clients can take advantage of the latest developments and reap the benefits.

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