The team
The SMART founding team spans watermelon-industry leadership, systems engineering, AI and software, electrical engineering, agronomy and finance.
Board
Director / Chairman
Former Executive Chairman of SMA Marketing — Australia’s leading watermelon supplier.
Also Executive Officer of the Lachlan Valley Horticultural Network, with a long advisory history across NSW Department of Primary Industries, NT Farmers Association, the NT Mango Industry Association and the Northern Australian Beef Research Council.
Director / CEO
30+ years making real machinery do exactly what it should, reliably, when it counts — across mining, rail, water, manufacturing and agriculture.
Through his engineering consultancy Qualitiv, he designs and delivers SCADA and PLC control across food and agribusiness, and takes electronics products from design through to creation — including the SMART tap hardware devices themselves. Direct and hands-on: he cares whether it works in a dusty plant at 3am, not whether it looks good in a brochure.
Director / CTO — Software
R&D specialist leading the design and development of SMART’s software, machine learning and analysis platforms.
Expertise spans R&D project management, experimental design, AI development and integration, data processing and SCADA development. Drives grower co-design and is the technical link between the field-trial program and the platform roadmap. Holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Queensland.
Director / Chief Engineer
50+ years across electrical, mechanical and industrial automation.
Owner and executive of Tronlec, with a background spanning electrical design, PLC/HMI systems, agricultural machinery automation and factory design — including a decade as Electrical Engineering Manager at Agridry.
Director / Operations
Agribusiness executive with 30+ years in Australia’s vegetable seed industry.
A career across sales, product management and general management — working with growers, distributors and international breeding organisations. Brings deep horticultural knowledge together with experience in governance, strategic planning, risk management and market development.
Field operations & advisors
Manager — Field Operations
25+ years across primary production, agronomy and applied environmental research — the centre of SMART’s ground-truth maturity labelling expertise.
Agronomy graduate (University of Queensland), 20+ years managing a family farming enterprise, and a senior agronomy role with Nutrien Ag Solutions.
Finance Advisor
15+ years across investment banking, venture capital and infrastructure advisory.
Career spanning Jefferies, Gennext Ventures, Sydney Water and PwC. Brings financial rigour and an investor lens to SMART’s commercial foundations, and mentors agritech, cleantech and water founders at EnergyLab, Startupbootcamp and CSIRO ON.
Why this team
Rod’s chairmanship of SMA Marketing and Justin’s 25 years in primary production mean SMART speaks the customer’s language — and has been trusted in the customer’s field for decades.
Richard’s three decades of mission-critical systems engineering, Sidney leading software, AI and analysis, and Murray covering electrical and hardware mean SMART can build the integrated tap-and-platform stack end to end.
Hafeez brings 15+ years of investment banking, venture capital and infrastructure advisory rigour to how SMART plans, invests and reports.
Every board member is also a shareholder. Directors currently work unpaid under an employee share scheme — unusual, and evidence of the team’s commitment to the long game.
Talk to us about bringing the SMART platform to your farm, your shelves or shopping trolley.