For the special issue of the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education dedicated to the memory of Jim Greer, this paper highlights some of Jim's extensive and always-timely contributions to the field: from his early AI-focussed research on intelligent tutoring systems, through a variety of applications deployed to support students in university courses, to learning analytics tools for instructional experts and university administrators. A substantial quantity of his work included some aspect of open learner modelling, and/or involved core issues that are also central to open learner modelling. Accordingly, this paper identifies Jim's profound influence throughout an open learner model research programme.