AI-Era Marketing Leader & Builder

Alex
Henschel

Organic Growth Director and AI Search Strategist with 15+ years driving results across SaaS and higher education. Deep expertise at the intersection of enterprise SEO, GEO, CRO, and AI-driven discovery. One of the few marketers who saw AI search coming early and has the outcomes to prove it.

22%
AI Share of Voice Achieved
91%
Inbound Lead Lift
15+
Years Experience
Alex Henschel
Core Expertise
AI Search & GEO SEO Strategy Executive Influence CRO & Experimentation Web Operations Digital Transformation Cross-Functional Leadership Content Strategy Organic Acquisition Analytics & Reporting Vendor Management Forecasting
Currently

Open to senior digital marketing, SEO/GEO director, and integrated marketing leadership roles.

Career History

Work Experience

Organic Growth Director · Boulevard
2022-2026

Directed the full organic growth function for a high-growth salon and spa SaaS platform, owning SEO, GEO, content strategy, web operations, AI search strategy, and cross-functional digital performance. Reported to the CMO as the single accountable leader across all organic acquisition programs, managing ~$500K in annual operational spend alongside ~$1M in paid media investment and directing 400+ hours/month of external implementation capacity across five agency relationships.

SEO Director · 2U Inc.
2016-2021

Led enterprise SEO strategy and team operations across a 30+ site university partner portfolio, including Yale, USC, UNC, Syracuse, Baylor, and Rice. Managed and coached a team of five SEO analysts, owned stakeholder relationships across complex university marketing organizations, and drove portfolio-wide organic acquisition growth across highly competitive higher education search landscapes.

Marketing Lead · Learn
2015-2016

Led marketing operations and audience growth for an educational organization, managing integrated campaigns across email, events, social, and digital advertising. Drove an 80% increase in newsletter subscriptions and an 18% lift in workshop sign-up conversions through UX and campaign optimization.

Marketing Coordinator · Goodwin University
2012-2015

Supported digital marketing, website operations, and enrollment-focused campaign coordination for a regional university's magnet school programs, focused on prospective student outreach and acquisition.

Recognition
🏆 BouleStars Award · Boulevard, 2023
First-ever recipient recognized for leadership, innovation, and successful execution of key organizational initiatives.
⭐ Crushing-It Award · 2U, 2021
Monthly recognition for outstanding contributions to marketing performance and team success.
💡 Marketing Innovation Competition · 2U, 2020
Led SEO and PPC alignment initiative; findings were adopted and implemented company-wide.
Academic Background

Education

🎓
Master of Business Administration
University of Hartford
Concentration: Management
2018
🎓
B.S. Business Administration
University of Hartford
Major: Marketing
2011
Proof Points

Success Stories

Real outcomes from real challenges: AI discovery transformation, enterprise migration, and team leadership.

Boulevard
AI Discovery Transformation & Executive Influence
Recognized a shift in consumer discovery behavior toward AI-generated answers before most organizations adapted. Built and sold a cross-functional AI-discoverability strategy directly to the CMO, coordinating 400+ hours of work across teams and reshaping the company's entire acquisition approach.
📈 AI SOV: 4% → 22% · Citations: 150 → 1,500 · +35% AI Citations in 90 Days
AI SearchGEOExecutive InfluenceOrg Change
Boulevard
700-Page Website Redesign & Conversion Recovery
Served as operational PM on a full-scale redesign and migration of 700+ pages, completed in 4 months while maintaining acquisition continuity across active marketing programs.
📈 CVR: 2.2% → 4.2% · +91% Inbound Leads
Web MigrationCROProject Leadership
Boulevard
High-Velocity CRO Experimentation Program
Built and operationalized a testing framework from the ground up, running 5-10 experiments per quarter. Included a multi-step form redesign that reduced cognitive friction and dramatically improved lead capture efficiency.
📈 36% Compounded Lift · Form CVR: 8% → 12% (+50%)
CROExperimentationUX
Boulevard
Enterprise Digital Operations & Governance
Built scalable governance systems for web ops, legal compliance, accessibility, QA, and development prioritization, preventing a projected 200+ hour implementation backlog.
⚙️ $500K Annual Operational Budget Managed
Digital OpsGovernanceCompliance
2U Inc.
Enterprise SEO Portfolio Growth & Team Leadership
Led SEO strategy across 30+ university websites while managing and coaching a team of 5 analysts. Built coaching structures that consistently earned near-perfect upward review scores.
📈 14% Annual Organic Growth · 30+ Sites
Enterprise SEOTeam LeadershipCoaching
Boulevard
AI-First Content Strategy & Conversion Influence
Evolved content strategy beyond traffic generation into an AI-first discoverability model, scaling to 700+ pages with industry stats hubs, competitor comparisons, and decision-stage content. Implemented AirOps workflows to enable scalable publishing with SME contribution at speed.
📈 +50% Blog Conversion Touchpoints in 6 Months
Content StrategyAI SearchGEOAirOps
2U Inc.
Enterprise Advisory & Relationship Recovery
Rebuilt fractured stakeholder relationships at Syracuse and Rice by shifting from SEO vendor to trusted strategic advisor, removing referral roadblocks and accelerating approvals.
🤝 SOV: 14% → 29% across competitive categories
Stakeholder TrustAdvisoryInfluence
Perspective

Thought Leadership

Insights on AI-driven discovery, digital strategy, and organizational transformation.

2025
Why AI Search Changes Everything (And What Most Teams Are Missing)
Search fragmentation is here. Consumer discovery now spans AI answers, Reddit, video, and community platforms. Traditional SEO programs built for rankings are being left behind.
Read More →
2025
From SEO to Ecosystem Discoverability: The Strategic Shift
How I convinced executive leadership to stop thinking about search rankings and start thinking about brand presence across every surface a buyer might encounter before making a decision.
Read More →
2024
Building AI-Readable Content at Scale
Structured data, entity optimization, and LLM citation patterns: a practical playbook for making your content visible in the next generation of search experiences.
Read More →
Built by Me

Tools & Agents

AI-powered tools and automation workflows I've built to solve real marketing and operations problems.

🤖
GEO Audit Agent
Automated agent that analyzes a website's AI-discoverability posture, checking structured data, entity coverage, LLM citation potential, and content readability for AI systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
GEOAI SearchClaude
Live
📊
Content Performance Classifier
AirOps workflow that classifies content by funnel stage, conversion influence, and AI-retrieval potential, enabling smarter editorial prioritization at scale with SME contribution velocity.
AirOpsContentAnalytics
Live
⚡
SEO Brief Generator
Automated content brief generator that pulls search intent data, Semrush/Ahrefs gap analysis, and AI-answer patterns to produce publication-ready briefs in minutes.
SEOSemrushAI
In Development
🔍
Competitor Comparison Analyzer
Scrapes and analyzes competitor comparison pages to surface positioning gaps, keyword opportunities, and AI-citation angles. Built with Clay and Claude to output structured research briefs.
ClayCompetitive IntelSEO
In Development
Tech Stack
AI & Agentic
Claude · Claude Code · ChatGPT · Codex · Gemini · Grok · Co-Pilot · AirOps · Clay · Perplexity · Apollo.ai
AI Visibility & SEO
Profound · otterly.ai · Semrush · Ahrefs · Moz · Majestic · BrightEdge · Search Console · Screaming Frog · Social Verdict
Analytics & BI
GA4 · BigQuery · Tableau · Sigma · Hockeystack · Data Studio · GTM · Data Layer
CRO, Experimentation & Conversion
Optimizely · Hotjar · CrazyEgg · Microsoft Clarity · Unbounce · ChiliPiper · Lean Data
CMS & Web
Webflow · Sanity · WordPress · Contentful · Storyblok · Shopify
Marketing & CRM
HubSpot · Marketo · Salesforce · Google Ads · Meta Ads
Project Management
Asana · Jira · Confluence
Compliance & Technical
Osano · Regex · Python · VS Code
Let's Talk

Get In Touch

Whether you're looking for a marketing leader, want to collaborate, or just want to talk AI search strategy, I'd love to connect.

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