Amber Smith is the Founder and Executive Director of Evolving in Education, a nonprofit focused on strengthening public education through educator-centered innovation. With a background spanning education, entrepreneurship, aviation, and underwater construction, Amber brings an unconventional perspective to education reform: listen first, understand deeply, and build practical solutions. Her work with EIE began with a simple belief: the people closest to education should have a stronger voice in shaping its future. Today, that belief is driving EIE’s development of the Educator Intelligence Platform, designed to help transform educator voice into meaningful insight and better support.

Dr. Liraz, our accomplished Head of Neuroscience, has a PhD and over 15 years of cumulative experience in brain research. Her remarkable journey includes a National Institutes of Health K-12 Scholar Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, Assistant Professor positions, and impactful research publications. Dr. Liraz’s passion for child brain development, fostered by the birth of her daughter, led her to found Little Neurons, LLC, in 2023, with a mission to simplify scientific literature and help children reach their fullest developmental potential. Today, Little Neurons creates blogs, educational videos, and collaborates with local organizations, empowering schools and offering classes to prime young minds for academic and life success. Dr. Liraz is excited to collaborate with EiE’s education reform initiatives, utilizing neuroscience tools to shape a brighter future.

Introducing Emmanuel Obadoni, our Lead Software Architect & Developer and a Machine Learning/AI Engineer and researcher specializing in intelligent systems, large language models, responsible AI, and machine learning infrastructure. His experience includes fine-tuning and evaluating large language models, developing AI reasoning and evaluation systems, computer vision, and building privacy-focused intelligent technologies. He is also the Founder and Lead ML Engineer of Velen AI, a privacy-first AI platform focused on responsible human-AI interaction. At EIE, Emmanuel is helping build the technology behind our Educator Intelligence Platform, developing systems designed to transform educator feedback and data into meaningful insights, identify patterns and support gaps, and provide practical recommendations for better decision-making. His work reflects a strong commitment to building AI that is not simply powerful, but measurable, reliable, responsible, and useful in the real world. Emmanuel is excited to bring his expertise in AI and intelligent systems to EIE’s mission of transforming education through human-centered technology and helping educators and communities turn their experiences into meaningful action.

John Rainford is a globally recognized innovation strategist, systems thinker, educator, and mentor whose work sits at the intersection of science, AI, technology, entrepreneurship, and the future of learning. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Physics Information Institute, and the Lunar Society, John has advised and worked with leading organizations including NASA, Shell, ABB, Rolls-Royce, and General Electric. He has taught Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Creativity at the University of Birmingham Business School and has mentored entrepreneurs at the highest levels, including an Ernst & Young Global Entrepreneur of the Year. As Founder of Systemic Innovators and Chief Imagination Officer, John champions systems thinking, meta-skills, creativity, and human-centered innovation as essential capabilities for navigating a rapidly changing world. His work has influenced leaders, educators, scientists, entrepreneurs, and organizations across the globe. At Evolving in Education, John serves as a Founding Mentor and Visionary Advisor, helping us challenge conventional thinking, connect emerging ideas with practical action, and build an education system capable of evolving alongside the people it serves. His belief that we must change the way we think and learn is deeply aligned with EIE’s mission.

Jonathan Kaka is an Executive Assistant and Psychology/Content Specialist at Evolving in Education, bringing together clinical psychology, research, data, and content development to support EIE’s mission of creating more human-centered education. Jonathan holds a BSc in Psychology and is currently pursuing his MSc in Clinical Psychology. He has completed more than 600 clinical hours across hospital, rehabilitation, and private practice settings, with experience in individual and group counselling, family and couples therapy, rehabilitation programs, and child and adolescent interventions. His clinical experience includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing, Family Therapy, and more. Jonathan is the Founder & Lead Psychologist of JTalk Psychology, where he provides telehealth counselling and coaching to adults and working professionals, with a focus on mental wellbeing, stress, work-life balance, and personal performance. At Evolving in Education, Jonathan supports executive operations while contributing his psychological expertise to content, educator wellbeing, research, and the development of resources that help make education more supportive, accessible, and responsive to the people within it.

Adebayo is a nurse, software engineer, technology executive, educator, and builder whose work sits at the intersection of healthcare, artificial intelligence, education, and digital innovation. He brings together clinical knowledge and technical expertise to design practical systems that solve real problems and expand access to learning. He serves as CTO of Academic Nightingale CBT, a digital learning and examination platform serving more than 60,000 active users, and as CTO of InstitutionApp, an education technology platform focused on modern learning, assessment, community, and AI-powered experiences. Beyond software development, Adebayo is deeply interested in the future of education, intelligent systems, and how emerging technologies can improve the way people learn, work, and build. His work reflects a multidisciplinary approach, combining healthcare experience, engineering, leadership, and education to create technology that is useful, scalable, and human-centered. He is particularly driven by the belief that technology should not exist merely to impress, but to solve meaningful problems and create real-world impact. At Evolving in Education, he brings that perspective to our work as we explore how thoughtful technology and AI can help create better learning experiences and prepare people for the future.