Henson | Allen
About Our Team
A small team of seasoned professionals who put AI, automation, and data science to work on real-world problems, minus the jargon.
How It All Started
Henson Allen started by solving our own problems first. Running the Smith Allen Group business brokerage as a lean company meant building data pipelines, automation, and AI-assisted workflows just to keep the team moving and serving clients well.
As the AI noise ramped up over the past year, some of it genuinely promising and some of it just spreading fear, Charles's private clients started coming to him for a straight answer on what it all means and whether any of it makes sense for their small businesses. Henson Allen grew out of those conversations, and with long-time friend and government advisor Brad Henson on board, our mission is to be the trusted source small businesses will lean on as they sort through what is coming.
Charles Allen Smith
Founder & Technical Lead
Charles Smith has spent the last fifteen years in technology and software development. As Managing Director of Smith Allen Group, he developed a tech-first approach to growing the his business brokerage brand, running AI and automation across marketing, operations, and social media.
Charles has a deep understanding of how complex technical systems fit together and how data should be structured so it stays clean, scalable, and easy to move between tools. He favors practical systems that are simple to maintain and hold up once real work runs through them, the kind a small team can actually own and grow into.
One of his more rewarding projects and one that helped the formation of Henson Allen is with Neurovascular Diagnostics, where he serves as a Data Scientist, building custom trained models that will one day help detect unruptured brain aneurysms.
Brad Henson
Founder & Head of Government Relations
Brad Henson is a senior executive whose career spans environmental affairs, energy innovation, government relations, and large-scale operations. As a founding executive of Henson Allen, he brings the structure, relationships, and business development it takes to build a professional services firm.
Brad has extensive experience across regulated industries, federal policy, and emerging technology, giving him direct knowledge of the grant-driven, compliance-heavy environments that universities, research labs, and businesses with government contracts deal with every day.
Brad has overseen projects exceeding $45 million and teams of over 250, which gives him the depth to run complex technical engagements as structured, deliverable-based work. His background in political strategy and civic leadership, including work on Presidential and Congressional campaigns and board service for organizations advancing democratic accountability, sharpened how he communicates across very different audiences and builds trust.