Smart Automate Me

Richard Ralston — Resume

Richard Ralston

Enterprise AI Automation Architect | Fractional Chief Automation Officer
Principal AI & Automation Solutions Architect | Fractional Technology Advisor

Enterprise Workflows | Integration | Security | Responsible AI

linkedin.com/in/richard-r-ralston

Executive Profile

Enterprise AI Automation Architect and founder-consultant with 25+ years of experience designing, modernizing, securing, and operating complex technology environments. Combines executive discovery, enterprise architecture, applied AI, workflow orchestration, systems integration, and hands-on implementation to turn operational friction into reliable, accountable systems. Advises business owners, independent professionals, multi-brand operators, and enterprise teams on automation strategy, use-case selection, technical roadmaps, architecture decisions, and production delivery.

Built Smart Automate as an execution-first automation platform that connects WordPress, third-party APIs, publishing networks, monitoring, audit logs, credential controls, retry logic, and failure handling. Brings the discipline of mission-critical enterprise environments to modern AI and automation initiatives — helping organizations move from experimentation to secure, maintainable operations.

Executive, Advisory & Consulting Focus

Fractional automation leadership • AI and workflow opportunity assessments • Process discovery and prioritization • Transformation roadmaps • Architecture reviews • Build-vs-buy guidance • Solution and integration design • Implementation oversight • Responsible AI operations • Security and reliability controls • Executive decision support • Technical mentoring and cross-functional alignment

Core Expertise

  • AI & Automation: Applied AI architecture, enterprise automation strategy, LLM integration and model evaluation, n8n orchestration, human-in-the-loop design, repeatable structured workflows
  • Architecture & Integration: Solution architecture, requirements analysis, REST APIs, webhooks, WordPress and third-party integrations, multi-tenant and multi-brand patterns, architecture reviews
  • Security & Reliability: Security-by-design, privacy-by-design, auditability, observability, credential isolation, token lifecycle monitoring, retry logic, rate limiting, change management
  • Platforms & Engineering: Python, PowerShell, Bash, Docker / WSL, VMware vSphere / ESXi / Horizon, Windows Server, Linux / RHEL, Active Directory, storage, high availability, disaster recovery

Professional Experience

Founder & Principal Consultant / Fractional Chief Automation Officer — 2021–Present

Mercury Security · Titan Digital LLC · Smart Automate Me

  • Founded and lead an independent consultancy delivering automation, applied AI, digital transformation, and business-process improvement — from executive discovery and technical strategy through architecture, implementation, and operational handoff.
  • Advise SMB leaders, independent professionals, consultants, trainers, multi-brand operators, and technical teams on where AI and automation create measurable value; translate business needs into prioritized roadmaps, solution options, governance requirements, and implementation plans.
  • Architected and shipped Smart Automate, an execution-first workflow platform integrating WordPress, third-party APIs, n8n, and multiple publishing networks while preserving customer configuration, credential, and execution boundaries.
  • Designed SmartSocial Autopilot for production reliability across LinkedIn, Facebook, Mastodon, and Bluesky, including platform-aware formatting, proactive token-expiry alerts, connection monitoring, audit logs, automatic retries, rate limiting, and isolated failure handling.
  • Engineered modular n8n architectures based on reusable sub-workflows and standardized interfaces, reducing new-workflow build time by 80% and improving maintainability across client and platform implementations.
  • Created multi-tenant and multi-brand architecture patterns that separate customer settings, workflow execution, platform integrations, and credentials while supporting unified oversight and scalable onboarding.
  • Evaluated local LLMs through Ollama and LangChain for structured extraction and downstream automation; selected models for repeatability, traceability, and operational fit while developing AI readiness and governance frameworks grounded in enterprise architecture, security, privacy, and accountability.

Principal Systems Technologist | Raytheon Technologies — Billerica, MA — 2017–2021

  • Served as technical lead for reliability, automation, and lifecycle architecture across a 300+ virtual-server environment; identified high-impact improvements and drove solutions across infrastructure, application, security, and operations teams.
  • Architected a self-healing validation solution for file counts and capacity across several hundred NFS volumes, replacing manual per-volume audits that could take up to a day each with continuous, zero-impact verification.
  • Led the migration of environment backends to SSL using multi-SAN certificates, reducing registration overhead while engineering a fail-safe that preserved network troubleshooting capability.
  • Designed reusable AIDE file-integrity monitoring templates across diverse application types, including a complex Cognos deployment, standardizing security monitoring and operational evidence.
  • Automated application credential rotation and recurring operations with PowerShell and Bash; standardized vulnerability remediation and change processes to improve audit posture and reduce repeat findings.

Information Technologist | Columbus Technologies · Contract to Raytheon — Billerica, MA — 2015–2017

  • Supported enterprise infrastructure modernization, system upgrades, migration planning, validation, and implementation for critical systems.
  • Coordinated delivery across infrastructure, application, database, and security teams, translating dependencies into executable technical plans.

Senior IT Solutions Architect | NCI · Contract to Air National Guard Readiness Center — Andrews AFB — 2010–2015

  • Re-architected the backend switch fabric of a NOSC-standardized virtualization environment, expanded the platform with a second cluster, and integrated Dell EqualLogic storage for scale and performance.
  • Designed a DMZ virtualization proof of concept that earned formal approval, extending the platform architecture into a new security zone.
  • Redesigned VDI end to end for a security-sensitive environment and created a security-by-default zero-client model enforced automatically through DHCP before desktop access.
  • Designed and tested USB device-control policies that blocked unauthorized peripherals while supporting sanctioned exceptions.
  • Re-engineered profile management to synchronize only required registry data, cutting profile load times from approximately 20 minutes to faster than a local-disk desktop; also defined Active Directory synchronization and patch-management automation.

Senior VMware Engineer | Netcentric · Contracted to Department of Army – Pentagon — 2008–2010

  • Operated and tuned enterprise VMware environments, supported storage and replication, resolved complex SAN reliability issues, and developed automation approaches for large-scale migrations.

Selected Corporate & Consulting Value

Executive-level discovery and decision support • Architecture ownership from concept through production • Translation between business, operations, security, and engineering • Practical modernization of legacy environments • Production-grade automation that survives API, credential, and platform change • Reusable standards that accelerate delivery without sacrificing control

Education & Technical Training

Electrical Technical Training — Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) Program, Adelphi, Maryland

Connect

Reach out via LinkedIn.