Smart Communications names Heidi Johnson to lead AI push
Smart Communications has appointed Heidi Johnson as Chief Product and Technology Officer, succeeding long-serving CTO Simon Tindal. Johnson will lead the product and technology organisation with a clear mandate: accelerate the company's AI roadmap while keeping compliance and security front and center.
Tindal will step back from day-to-day responsibilities and remain a full-time adviser during the transition, partnering with Johnson to ensure continuity.
Why this move matters
- IT and Development: Expect AI features that don't compromise auditability, policy controls, or data governance. The emphasis is on secure deployment at scale, not flashy experiments.
- Product: A product-led growth push anchored in regulated use cases. Look for tighter orchestration, measurable outcomes, and guardrails that help teams ship safely.
- PR and Communications: The story is trust plus progress. Messaging ties AI to resilience, compliance, and customer impact-useful for executive comms and stakeholder updates.
Leadership signals
"Heidi brings a proven track record of building and scaling enterprise-grade platforms, with deep expertise across product, cloud, data, and AI in highly regulated environments," said Leigh Segall, CEO of Smart Communications. "With Heidi leading our product and technology organisation, we're well positioned to accelerate our innovation roadmap and AI vision."
Johnson added, "The product suite is built to operate at enterprise scale, with security, compliance, and resilience at its core. I'm excited to build on this foundation and accelerate our product and AI roadmap for customers in highly regulated industries."
Reflecting on the transition, Tindal said, "This company has always been about solving real problems for customers operating in complex, regulated environments. Heidi is an exceptional leader with the right experience and vision to take the platform forward."
Product footprint and scale
Smart Communications' Conversation Cloud spans omnichannel communications, orchestration, data capture, and digital archiving-built for workflows that require audit trails and policy controls.
The platform integrates via 30+ pre-built connectors with systems such as Salesforce, AWS, Guidewire, DuckCreek, OneSpan, and Pega. The company reports more than 60 billion customer conversations processed annually and a base of 700+ enterprises, including Zurich Insurance, Priority Health, The Pacific Financial Group, and The Bancorp.
Johnson's background
Johnson brings leadership experience from Bloomberg, IHS Markit, Komodo Health, and Carta, spanning customer experience, cloud platforms, data, and AI in regulated sectors. She has also served as Chief Product Officer in Residence at Products That Count and mentors with MIT Sandbox.
What to watch next
- AI with guardrails: Features that align with governance requirements-clear audit logs, permissioning, explainability, and safe data handling.
- Deeper orchestration: More automation across intake, decisioning, and outbound communications, with policy checks built into each step.
- Integration-first delivery: Continued focus on out-of-the-box connectors and reference architectures to cut deployment time.
Action items for your team
- Book a roadmap briefing with Smart Communications to understand upcoming AI features and required controls.
- Map current integrations to the company's pre-built connectors to identify quick wins.
- Align InfoSec early on data retention, model usage policies, and human-in-the-loop checks for regulated workflows.
- Refresh customer and regulator-facing messaging to emphasize security, compliance, and measurable benefits.
If you're building team skills around AI deployment and governance, these AI courses by job function can help accelerate enablement.
Your membership also unlocks:
