TestReach Co-Founders Win WMB Woman in Technology Award 2018

Press Release - Dublin, Ireland 9 October, 2018

TestReach company co-founders, Sheena Bailey and Louella Morton, have jointly won the ’WMB Woman in Technology 2018 Award’, which was presented to them at the ‘Women Mean Business’ Conference and Awards held in Dublin.

The WMB Woman in Technology Award aims to recognise the most talented women working in technology companies today. The judges recognised the contribution TestReach’s co-founders have made in not only developing innovative new technology but also their strong business performance.

TestReach’s technology enables organisations to create, mark and deliver exams online removing the need for paper. This is having a transformative impact on the world of examinations and assessment, with the company winning large international clients such as the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply and the Institute of Directors.

TestReach is headquartered at NexusUCD, the Industry Partnership Centre at University College Dublin.

Louella Morton, Executive Director, TestReach said, “We are delighted to be awarded the accolade – WMB Woman in Technology 2018, and it’s terrific to receive recognition for the work we’re doing at TestReach. There has been such a clear demand for innovative technology for running examinations, as evidenced in the speed at which the company is growing. This rapid growth means we are hiring a number of people to join the Dublin office this year.”

Rosemary Delaney, Managing Director, WMB, said, “There was an incredibly high standard from all the entrants in the WMB Woman in Technology award category. Louella and Sheena stood out as joint winners due to the game changing nature of their business. They share a clear vision for TestReach and possess the necessary abilities to drive meaningful and sustained growth. Their complementary skills include the passion necessary to drive a business and also include a clear product development strategy, project management expertise, a deep understanding of their customers and the challenges they face, plus the ability to inspire a growing team.”

Sheena Bailey and Louella Morton established TestReach in response to the massive increase in demand for qualifications globally, a demand that cannot be met by running exams in a traditional manner.

“While there have been huge advancements in the options to scale learning, such as e-learning and virtual classrooms, very little has changed with how exams are run. Candidates still have to go to exam halls and sit exams via paper with essays and multiple choice questions. We set out to change that. The ability to run an exam anywhere, at any time, and have it professionally invigilated over the web by trained supervisors is ground breaking,” said Sheena Bailey, CEO, TestReach.

“It is wonderful to win this award which draws attention to the fact that until this technology was created there was no way to provide professional online invigilation within a single assessment application. It means that our clients can move away from running exams on paper in test centres, which is cumbersome and difficult for both administrators and candidates, to a much more streamlined and flexible approach.”

While online assessment is not new, what is unique about TestReach is that it is a single application to create exams and run them using various delivery methods, including remote invigilation over the web. So a candidate can take an exam anywhere and be invigilated over the web by a trained TestReach supervisor, who monitors them continuously using audio, video and remote screen share, to ensure the integrity of the process. This gives flexibility to both candidates and the organisations running exams – who no longer have to source test centres and in-person invigilators.

Further information on the 2018 Women Mean Business Conference and Awards and complete list of winners available here.