About
Ryan Smedstad
A decade-plus across Fortune 500s, agencies, and startups, most of it spent building and leading teams. Work now is AI strategy, the systems and tools that carry it, and adoption across marketing and communications.
I'm drawn to how things work and where they are heading. That is the line from agency leadership to Fortune 500 transformation, a company I co-founded, and the AI strategy work now.
The work is shipping products and internal tools, leading teams, and setting strategy the organization can run. Designing technology that serves people is the pull, and writing is how the lessons leave the building.
Current Focus
At GE HealthCare's Marketing & Communications organization, leading AI strategy and solution development. Beyond strategy, I lead and mentor a team while supporting 100+ marketing and communications professionals through consultation, advisory, and applied AI, including an AI champions program that expands adoption and enablement across the organization.
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Strategy & Solutioning
Shaping AI strategy and solution direction across marketing and communications. Designing custom AI tools and workflows. Advising leadership on where AI creates business impact.
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Transformation & Advisory
Advising GE HealthCare's AI steering committee on adoption and tooling decisions. Leading the Marketing & Communications Community of Practice within the company-wide Big Rock Gen AI initiative. Guiding teams through workflow transformation and responsible AI use.
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Independent Development
Building AI-driven apps for content, UX, and discoverability, including agentic QA testing and MCP servers that let AI assistants work directly in Whisk and Cue. I run a team of coding and research agents day to day and track frontier models on capability and cost, then bring what works back to marketing and data workflows.
Project Mural
A running timeline of what I have built and shipped, mostly personal projects outside the day job.
The way I work stays consistent across all of it: understand the assignment first, get the architecture right, then build. That same lens runs through the writing on this site and how the site itself is put together.
A growing wall of things built, shipped, and in use.
- QAT: QA Automation Tool Agentic QA testing for websites, built before Claude Code reached general availability in mid-2025.
- AI Visibility Readiness UX Bench Content Decoder Three lab tools launched with the site itself.
- Whisk Personal recipe manager with meal planning, shopping lists, and an AI assistant.
- Cue Personal movie tracker that maps actor and film connections, plus streaming availability.
- BulkStatus Chrome extension that checks status codes for hundreds of URLs at once.
- The 404 Game A playable Mega Man homage on the site's 404 page.
- Models Frontier models compared on capability, price, and open weights since 2022.
- Markdown Clipper Chrome extension that converts web pages, SharePoint sites, and Confluence spaces to clean Markdown. In progress.
Journey
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2015–2021
Agency Leadership
Led SEO teams at iProspect serving Fortune 500 clients across finance, travel, technology, and retail. Partnered with Paid Search, Content, and Analytics teams. Found patterns in digital discovery that held across industries, and the ones that did not. Selected for Route 500, Dentsu Aegis Network's exclusive leadership development program.
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2017–2024
Entrepreneurship
Co-founded Searics, a Chicago-based digital marketing company for small and medium-sized businesses. Balancing agency work and entrepreneurship taught me to build from scratch, manage operations, and make practical decisions that drive results. Sharpened my ability to see challenges from a business owner's perspective.
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2021–Present
Enterprise Transformation
At GE HealthCare, I've applied everything learned earlier at scale. Beyond the technical work as primary advisor on visibility and solution design, I lead and mentor a team, step in as interim director when needed, and have mentored team members into promotions across Marketing, Product, and IT. Work has evolved from broad multi-domain coverage toward deeper solutions that improve internal operations and external performance.
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2023–Present
AI Innovation
Focused on AI transformation and solution design within global organizations. Rethinking workflows with AI, building tools that show what is possible, and advising on how AI changes digital discovery, user behavior, and operations. Selected by the CMO and Head of Brand and Digital Marketing to lead the redesign of the New Product Introductions workflow through applied AI.
Experience & Industries
Roles
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GE HealthCare
2021 – Present
AI Solutions & Web Experience Lead
- Lead and mentor a team, with team members promoted across Marketing, Product, and IT. Served as interim director during multiple parental leaves.
- Selected by CMO and Head of Brand and Digital Marketing to lead redesign of the New Product Introductions workflow, guiding the work hands-on, transforming a core marketing process through applied AI
- Co-lead 15-person AI Marketing Incubator (cross-functional with IT and regional marketing); lead Marketing & Communications Community of Practice within company-wide Big Rock Gen AI initiative spanning 15 CoPs and 450+ employees
- Drive AI strategy and solution development across the Marketing & Communications organization, partnering with 100+ professionals on AI adoption through consultation, advisory, and pilot programs
- Partner on global enterprise web platform migration (AEM) aligning 50+ internal stakeholders with Conductor and Adobe technology partners (UK and Germany sites went live in March 2026)
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iProspect (Dentsu Aegis Network)
2015 – 2021
Associate Director, SEO (Lead → Manager → Associate Director)
- As Associate Director, built and led the Chicago SEO practice for Fortune 500 clients across finance, travel, technology, hospitality, and healthcare; led and mentored a team, including SEO Managers with their own teams; selected for Route 500, Dentsu's leadership accelerator
- Promoted from SEO Lead to SEO Manager to Associate Director while leading and mentoring a team; advocated for and secured promotion of a team member alongside my own; managed full performance lifecycle including hiring, development, and performance counseling
- Hired for own and sister teams as a trusted interview reviewer; partnered cross-channel with Paid Search, Content, and Analytics teams on integrated client work spanning Amazon, YouTube, and App Store
- Drove new business through tailored pitch strategies (3 client onboardings); delivered enterprise SEO programs spanning mobile optimization, structured data, and app store optimization
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Searics
2017 – 2024
Co-founder
- Chicago-based digital marketing consultancy, run concurrently with agency and enterprise roles
- Client work spanned B2B and B2C: SEO consulting, YouTube and video optimization, local awareness and lead generation, and B2B strategy
Industries
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Ecommerce
Agency work with Fortune 500 retailers and GE HealthCare's digital selling initiatives. Deep understanding of product discovery, conversion optimization, and marketplace strategies.
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Finance & Insurance
Developed digital strategies for Bank of America and leading insurance clients. Skilled in trust-building content, regulated environments, and balancing compliance with visibility.
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Travel & Hospitality
Led SEO for Holland America Cruises, achieving top search visibility for "Alaska cruise." Experienced in seasonal demand, experience-driven decision-making, and competitive travel markets.
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Technology
Guided Samsung and Sony on international web architecture and localization strategies. Strong understanding of global targeting, technical SEO, and user experience design.
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Healthcare Manufacturing
Supporting GE HealthCare's global digital initiatives across brand, product, and program teams. Experienced in complex B2B sales cycles, accessibility, and regulatory requirements.
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The Pattern
The job across those industries is the same: make the thing findable, keep the infrastructure honest, and change the workflow when the channel changes.
Capabilities & Impact
Capabilities
- Team Leadership & Manager Development
- Talent Development & Hiring
- Executive Communication & Stakeholder Management
- AI Strategy & Solution Design
- AI Adoption & Enablement
- AI Transformation & Workflow Design
- Product & Tool Building
- Technical SEO & Global Targeting
- Content Intelligence
- Performance, Accessibility & Analytics
- Automation & QA
Impact
- Multiple GE HealthCare Impact Awards for AI delivery and cross-functional leadership: 2026 AI Champion recognition, AEM Migration UK & Germany Go-Live, and the QA Automation Tool that improved testing and publishing efficiency across global web platforms.
- Mentored team members into promotions across Marketing, Product, and IT during current GE HealthCare role; step in as interim director when needed.
- 35%+ year-over-year growth in GE HealthCare's global web performance, driven through discoverability and conversion optimization.
- Built and led the SEO practice (with SEO Managers leading their own teams) as Associate Director at iProspect; selected for Route 500, Dentsu's global leadership accelerator.
Education
- Valparaiso University B.S., Business Administration, Marketing
- Northwestern University, School of Professional Studies Graduate Certificate, Digital Marketing
- Section School Product Strategy, Generative AI Strategy certifications
Connect
LinkedIn or email if you want to talk about AI strategy, digital discovery, or working together.