Kerry Hoerth, Founder of EmberRidge AI

Generative AI Enablement & Literacy Trainer

Kerry Hoerth founded EmberRidge AI with a simple belief: technology should lift up communities, not leave them behind. Rooted in Knoxville, she partners with schools, businesses, government agencies, and community members to build confidence with emerging AI tools—making innovation approachable and meaningful for everyday life in East Tennessee.

Kerry is a leading voice in AI literacy. She has trained hundreds of educators, parents, seniors, and business teams. Through supportive communities and hands-on workshops, she makes AI less intimidating and more empowering. She brings together expertise in AI literacy, IT modernization, internal communications, and enterprise training to ensure that new tools are not only introduced but also fully adopted and sustained.

Her leadership is grounded in more than 25 years of service and problem-solving across information technology, national defense, and emergency management. As a U.S. Air Force Captain during global crisis operations and later with FEMA, she learned the importance of resilience, clear communication, and teamwork—skills she now brings to technology training and community enablement.

Most recently, Kerry spearheaded the USDA’s Axon+ Digital Workspace migration, scaling the intranet to 250,000+ monthly visits, delivering 120+ Microsoft 365 automations, and pioneering enterprise adoption of generative AI governance and rollout strategies. This experience reflects her ability to bridge federal-scale IT leadership with local community impact—bringing best practices from national transformation efforts into East Tennessee classrooms, businesses, and civic spaces.

Kerry’s expertise spans Microsoft 365 (Copilot, SharePoint Online, Teams Premium), Google (Classroom, Gemini, NotebookLM), and ChatGPT. She delivers AI enablement strategies and AI training that streamline operations, protect data integrity, and unlock innovation. Her literacy support is based on the U.S. Department of Labor’s AI Literacy Framework.

Kerry’s academic foundation includes dual master’s degrees in Engineering Management from the George Washington University and Financial Planning from Bentley University.

Her recent notable contributions include:

• Led USDA Axon+ Digital Workspace migration, completing rollout in 6 months; platform now serves 8,000 users with 250,000+ monthly visits, and fully integrates generative AI features

• Spearheaded Microsoft Copilot AI adoption across USDA; selected as 1 of 30 leaders from 100,000+ employees

• Directed development of Smart Search AI Agent in Copilot Studio—transformed 12,000+ monthly SharePoint queries into natural language experiences
• Founded a USDA MS Copilot Champions Community—lead 75+ members through onboarding, training, and adoption of generative AI
• Launched a USDA SharePoint Online Community—supported 150+ members through training, newsletters, and social platforms
• Empowered hundreds through direct training and mentoring on their available digital tools (Microsoft and Google products)

• Delivered high-impact training and exercise programs for federal teams—advancing adoption, privacy, and digital transformation
• Led strategic communications and outreach campaigns—boosted public trust, digital adoption, and operational readiness
• Led AI literacy workshops at the Pellissippi State Community College (Life Learning), Farragut Community Center, West Knox Senior Center, and Episcopal School of Knoxville, helping educators and community members navigate digital change
• State & Regional Judge, 2026 Presidential AI Challenge: Evaluated innovative AI applications for the inaugural national competition, providing expert assessment on technical merit and local impact.