Keri Tietjen Smith, Founder of The Wildfire Group, unveils a new approach to talent acquisition designed to help organizations navigate AI integration, operational maturity, and workforce transformation in high-stakes environments.
-- As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape the workforce landscape, organizations are facing growing pressure to modernize how they evaluate, hire, and scale talent. In response, Keri Tietjen Smith, a leading Human Systems Consultant and Founder of The Wildfire Group, has announced a new strategy designed to help companies navigate the structural, psychological, and compliance challenges emerging as AI becomes embedded in hiring systems.
The framework is designed for mid-to-large organizations facing rapid growth, regulatory exposure, or operational strain as AI enters their talent acquisition workflows. With more than two decades of experience building and repairing talent systems, Smith has developed a methodology that guides companies through high-stakes transitions, including hypergrowth, IPO readiness, and AI integration.
Her flagship offering, the AI-Ready Hiring System Audit, helps organizations assess their existing talent acquisition practices and surface vulnerabilities, inefficiencies, and compliance gaps before they become material risks. Organizations leave the audit with a clear risk map, prioritized system fixes, and a readiness roadmap for scaling hiring responsibly in an AI-driven environment.
This announcement marks a significant step in the evolution of workforce strategy, as businesses confront a future where automation increasingly influences human decision-making. Smith’s approach combines operational maturity with applied psychology and systems thinking, giving leaders practical tools to build scalable, resilient hiring systems without sacrificing accountability or human judgment.
The AI-Ready Hiring System: A New Standard in Talent Acquisition
At the core of Smith’s approach is the AI-Ready Hiring System Audit, a comprehensive evaluation of an organization’s talent acquisition function. The audit examines operational breakdowns, AI vulnerabilities, compliance exposure, and systemic inefficiencies that often go unnoticed in traditional talent reviews. Its purpose is not simply modernization, but structural readiness for the realities of an AI-powered workplace.
“We’re at a turning point in how companies approach hiring,” Smith says. “The old social contract is collapsing, and organizations need to rethink how they assess human potential. Hiring systems aren’t failing because people are broken. They’re failing because the systems designed to evaluate them no longer reflect how work actually happens. My goal is to help organizations redesign their hiring infrastructure for what comes next.”
Smith’s background includes scaling organizations through periods of intense growth and scrutiny. At NetSuite, she helped grow the company from 400 to 5,000 employees, building talent systems capable of sustaining rapid expansion. Her experience also includes advisory and consulting work with Oracle, the U.S. Department of Defense, and large-scale public sector workforce initiatives. Across SaaS, AI, federal agencies, and startups, Smith has worked inside the pressure points where hiring systems are most likely to break.
Integrating AI Ethics and Organizational Psychology into Talent Acquisition
In addition to operational strategy, Smith is recognized for her work in AI ethics and algorithmic accountability. As automated tools increasingly shape hiring decisions, organizations face growing exposure to bias, discrimination risk, and regulatory scrutiny. Smith helps leaders understand how these risks emerge and how to design systems that are transparent, accountable, and aligned with evolving legal standards.
As an Applied Psychology Practitioner, Smith integrates behavioral science with systems design. Her work emphasizes that true transformation in talent acquisition requires more than deploying new technology. It requires understanding how human behavior, identity, and decision-making interact within complex organizational systems.
“AI isn’t destroying hiring,” Smith explains. “It’s exposing the weaknesses that were already there. When organizations automate broken systems, those systems fail faster. My work helps leaders see what’s actually happening beneath the surface and rebuild hiring systems from the ground up.”
Transforming Workforce Strategy for the Next Era
Smith’s expertise is grounded in real-world experience navigating workforce inflection points. In addition to her private-sector work, she played a leadership role in workforce operations for the 2010 U.S. Census and has advised on both public- and private-sector workforce strategies. Her approach supports organizations preparing for moments where scale, scrutiny, and complexity collide.
“My mission is to give executives an unfiltered, data-driven view of their talent systems,” Smith says. “Leaders need to understand how their hiring processes actually function, not how they’re assumed to function. If companies want to remain competitive in the next era of work, they have to redesign their systems now, not after a failure forces the issue.”
Through The Wildfire Group, Smith works with organizations to integrate AI into talent acquisition strategies while ensuring readiness for the ethical, legal, and human consequences of automation. Her work enables leaders to make clearer decisions and build hiring systems capable of sustaining long-term growth without compounding risk.
About Keri Tietjen Smith and The Wildfire Group
Keri Tietjen Smith is a Human Systems Consultant, Applied Psychology Practitioner, and Founder of The Wildfire Group. With more than 20 years of experience in talent acquisition and organizational strategy, she specializes in helping organizations navigate high-stakes transitions, including hypergrowth, IPO preparation, and AI integration. Through The Wildfire Group, Smith delivers AI-Ready Hiring System Audits, leadership advisory services, and strategic guidance to organizations building modern, scalable, and ethical talent systems. She is a recognized voice in AI ethics, algorithmic accountability, and workforce transformation.
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