What drew you to public relations?

My mom! My mom, Shelli Lissick, has been working in PR for 30+ years and has been a partner at Bellmont Partners for 18 years. Ever since I was little, I watched her write press releases, travel to industry conferences and meet with media. We both shared passion for writing and she encouraged me from early on to pursue it.

For my 13th birthday, she brought me along to a client conference in New York City — and that’s where my interest sparked. It was exciting to see her in action, doing something she truly loved, and it made me want to do the same exact thing one day.

What drew me in then, and what still makes me excited today, is having a career where you can connect with people of all different jobs, areas and walks of life and find ways to tell their stories. PR is truly a field that brings together communication, relationships, and storytelling in a way that makes you feel energized and impacted.

What is it about PR agency life that you love?

The evolution and collaboration. Our industry changes fast and with that, you need to be able to change and learn just as quickly. What I love about agency life is that you’re not doing that alone, you’re surrounded by a team of people who are constantly evolving right beside you. Working at an agency makes it easier to share learnings, test new ideas and learn from one another compared to if you were working as a solo practitioner or on a smaller internal team.

Not to mention, I love how all of our different backgrounds blend together to shape a unique perspective on how we approach client work. Whether a team member has a background in journalism, internal communications or social media, everyone has a unique, impactful perspective on client work.

What drew you to Bellmont Partners?

One thing that is special about Bellmont Partners is the emphasis on connections. The team is intentional on building relationships within all aspects of the business – with companies, media, organizations, influencers and other agencies partners. Even if it doesn’t result in immediate business or an immediate story, the team is extremely open to simply connecting, which isn’t always the norm.

Bellmont Partners takes a long-term approach to doing business. The team prioritizes working with companies that want to build a true partnership where we act as an extension of their team. Ultimately, Bellmont Partners does business with good people, good companies and good products – which is exactly the kind of business I want to work for and am proud to represent.

What are your initial impressions now that you’re digging in?

My first impressions are mainly just feeling inspired by our clients and seeing why they do what they do. Every company, every product and every aspect of the healthcare and medtech business is so different, and it’s inspiring to hear the stories behind them.

For example, one of our clients, Francis Medical, a medtech company that develops technology for patients diagnosed with localized prostate cancer, was founded by Michael Hoey, whose father passed away from prostate cancer. Michael saw firsthand how harsh traditional treatments were and wanted to create a more humane alternative. He then created Francis Medical, which is named after his father, Francis.

Stories from clients like this give real meaning to the work we’re doing. They help me better understand the purpose behind each product and allow me to tell those stories more effectively so they get the love they deserve in the media.

As part of our Health practice group, what appeals to you about working with clients in this space?

Hands down, it’s the impact. Every day, people live with serious health conditions, whether it’s endometriosis, BPH, leukemia or depression. And those challenges create real opportunities for technology that can genuinely change lives. Our Health practice group has the privilege of supporting companies developing solutions that make a meaningful difference, sometimes even a life‑or‑death one.

It’s equally rewarding to help tell their stories to the media. Sometimes, a single local news story can reach someone who has been struggling with a health condition for years and help them find a solution that could meaningfully improve their quality of life.

What can clients and colleagues expect when they work with you?

Clients and colleagues can expect someone who is fully invested. I take the time to conduct deep research on every client and their products, business and customers. One of my favorite sayings is that by being an agency partner, we are an extension of our clients’ teams, and if we are an extension of their team, we should know enough about the company and business that we should be able to work in their trade show booth.

I genuinely love what I do, and because of that, I pour my heart and soul into every project. When I meet with a client on a project, I am not just there to execute, I am there with you as a strategic, long-term partner that is thinking beyond the immediate task and always looking for a way to support your larger business goals. I approach client work with a “yes, and…” mindset since we are truly invested in clients as an extension of their team.

Welcome, Gracie, we are happy you’re on the team (again)!

The post Q&A with Account Supervisor Gracie Lissick appeared first on Bellmont Partners.

Through the years, and now as Partner + Managing Director, Bridget played a major role in getting us here. That’s why it’s particularly gratifying that on Friday, she was recognized as one of Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s Women in Business honorees for her work with our clients, colleagues and community.

During her tenure helping to shape all aspects of our growing agency, Bellmont Partners has thrived. We’ve earned five MSPBJ Best Places to Work and five national Inc. Best Workplace recognitions and spent two years on the Business Journal Fast 50 list of the region’s fastest-growing companies. We work with amazing clients, in industries from health, professional services, public affairs and nonprofits to tech, manufacturing, horticulture and agriculture and tourism and events.

I’m grateful for Bridget’s many contributions to help shape our agency’s culture, as well as its processes and people. Today, her focus is on elevating the next level of leadership to sustain and improve upon this foundation, allowing her to lean into external priorities, such as expanding local connections, guiding clients on the use of AI in communications, deepening and highlighting agency core capabilities, and consulting on mission-driven client projects across the agency.

She has left her imprint on clients including Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, the City of Duluth, Minnesota DNR Parks and Trails, Centro Tyrone Guzman, Hennepin EMS and many more, combining communications, community relations and cross-sector collaboration. She’s a tremendous leader within the agency and beyond.

Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, Bridget!

The post Bridget Nelson Monroe named a MSPBJ Women in Business honoree appeared first on Bellmont Partners.

Read on to learn more about Maayan’s experience, how AI is shaping Etiometry’s work in healthcare and other insights from this smart, strategic MedTech Master and outstanding client partner!

What is your background in medtech? How did you get started? 

My career actually began outside of medtech, in telecommunications. My first role was as a product manager at a large company, but early on, I found myself drawn to building something new rather than just managing what already existed. I helped launch a new business within the company to support growth and ultimately prepare it for going public. It was a capability our competitors already had, and we didn’t, so it was clear it needed to be built. That experience really shaped my entrepreneurial mindset.

After about five years in telecom, I transitioned into medtech. My husband had started a robotics company in cardiology, and seeing firsthand how technology could directly impact patient care really sparked my interest. That was the moment I caught the “medtech bug.” My first role in the industry was with a small investment group focused on taking early-stage companies to market, primarily in radiology and imaging technologies. It was an incredible learning experience, working across multiple innovations and seeing what it takes to move technology from concept to clinical adoption.

Over time, I became especially drawn to patient monitoring and patient safety, where technology has an immediate and meaningful impact on outcomes. I’ve now been in that space for about 15 years, focused on advancing solutions that improve care delivery and protect patients at their most vulnerable moments.

As we move into a new calendar year, AI continues to be a hot topic — especially in healthcare. Where does Etiometry fit in the AI landscape and why is this unique?

AI adoption in healthcare has reached a critical inflection point. Many of today’s most widely adopted solutions focus on reducing administrative burden, automating documentation, streamlining workflows and easing time spent with electronic health records (EHR). While important for addressing burnout, these tools largely operate around the periphery of care delivery.

Etiometry is different. We apply AI directly to clinical decision support in critical care, where decisions are complex, time-sensitive and directly impact patient outcomes. Our platform transforms existing EHR and monitoring data into actionable insights. Rather than adding more data or alerts, Etiometry provides a standardized framework for understanding patient physiology while still enabling individualized decision-making at the bedside.

What sets Etiometry apart is that we are the only clinical decision support system that enables both standardization and personalization of care escalation and de-escalation. By leveraging hospitals’ existing EHR and monitoring investments, we use AI to continuously assess, learn and improve care delivery, not just for individual patients, but across populations and over time.

Tell us about your role at Etiometry – what are you working on these days and what energizes you? 

Etiometry began in pediatrics, with a strong focus on cardiac critical care, and over time has demonstrated meaningful clinical outcomes, such as reduced time on mechanical ventilation, decreased use of vasoactive medications and shorter length of stay. In recent years, the company has expanded into additional critical care settings and into the adult market, marking an exciting phase of growth.

In my role, I focus on supporting and accelerating that expansion. This includes helping translate clinical evidence into clear, compelling messaging, guiding product enhancements that better support adult critical care environments, and contributing to the company’s growing footprint in markets outside the U.S.

Marketing plays a central role in this work. We act as both the connective tissue and the quarterback, bringing together voice-of-customer insights, market feedback and clinical perspectives to inform product strategy, positioning and go-to-market execution. We maintain a continuous feedback loop with clinicians and customers to ensure what we deliver aligns with real-world needs and demonstrates measurable value.

What energizes me most is working at the intersection of clinical impact and innovation, helping connect sophisticated technology with the clinicians its designed to support. It’s incredibly motivating to see our platform scale into new patient populations, care settings and geographies, and knowing it’s improving how critical care is delivered.

Do you have any predictions about AI’s impact on the healthcare industry in 2026? What will it look like? How will it evolve, etc.?

In 2026, I see AI in healthcare continuing to mature, moving beyond early experimentation toward more practical, trusted use. Many administrative and workflow-focused tools will become more embedded in everyday systems and feel increasingly routine. While these solutions can improve efficiency and help address burnout, they will remain largely supportive rather than transformational.

The more interesting evolution will be the gradual expansion of AI into clinical decision support, particularly in high-acuity settings like critical care. We see a growing focus on tools that can synthesize complex physiologic and clinical data into clearer, more actionable insights, rather than adding additional data or alerts.

We’re also likely going to see higher expectations around evidence, trust and measurable impact. Health systems will increasingly look for AI that supports consistent, standardized care while still allowing for individualization, and that can contribute to learning and improvement over time across patient populations.

–

Thank you, Maayan, for sharing your insights and experience with us. We’re honored to partner with Maayan and the Etiometry team to share their powerful story and technology with the world. Keep an eye out for our next MedTech Masters coming soon and drop us a line if you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Q&A!

We also hope you’ll join us to meet and learn from MedTech Masters IRL during our inaugural event called The Exchange: Where Creativity Meets Compliance in Medtech Marketing, being held Tuesday, March 3, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at our Bellmont Partners office.

Hear insights and ideas from an all-star panel of experts during a candid discussion on how bringing creativity into medtech marketing can drive differentiation, demand, and growth in one of the most regulated industries, all without compromising compliance, credibility or clinical trust. For details and to register to join in-person or via livestream, visit our event page.

Do you have a life-changing innovation and are looking for help bringing it to market? We’d love to hear more! Contact us for a complimentary PR strategy session and brainstorm.

The post MedTech Masters Q&A: Maayan Wenderow appeared first on Bellmont Partners.

You have been covering the medtech industry for more than 25 years. Can you share a little bit about your career journey and how you got to where you are today? 

Out of college, I got an assistant editor position at a dental publisher on the sponsored content side of the company (the other side published several clinical dental journals). This position rapidly exposed me to a variety of different aspects of publishing, from copywriting to proofreading to article solicitation. As a member of a small team, I was immediately given multiple responsibilities while also supporting the lead editors, who were my supervisors. After two years, however, the dental industry was not holding my interest (nor was the long commute).  

I then got a position as the editor-in-chief of a medical device manufacturing magazine—Medical Design Technology (MDT for those who still remember). The product tabloid editor position presented as a significantly different role from my responsibilities at the dental publisher. While the learning curve for the medical device manufacturing industry was steep, the actual day-to-day was much easier than my previous role. I also began traveling to a few industry trade shows, which was a new experience.  

After several years (and a brief stint as editor-in-chief of another tabloid, Surgical Products, for which I was provided an assistant editor), we transitioned the product tabloid to more of a hybrid publication. Product releases and galleries were still presented, but so too were contributed articles, interviews, and other more traditional magazine offerings. Online was also becoming more of a focus and the website went from being updated once a month with the magazine content to regular updates including news, products, articles, etc. Eventually, our print publication had reduced in frequency, while online was growing and two daily newsletters were being produced.  

In 2015, when the previous editor of MPO and ODT left to pursue another opportunity, I was contacted to consider the position of editor-in-chief of my current brands. I’ve enjoyed the change as event planning became a part of my role with MPO/ODT and that’s been an exciting aspect I hadn’t previously enjoyed.   

You are the editor-in-chief of not one, but TWO medical publications, and to quote your LinkedIn profile, you aim to “facilitate the exchange of information between suppliers, OEMs and consultants.” Why is this so important and how do you and MPO and ODT accomplish this? 

I’ll start with the how first. I learned early on that giving people the opportunity to contribute articles would yield results for me and my brands. I’ve always been a big proponent of putting that offer out to members of industry. I don’t want self-promotional advertorials, but rather encourage contributors to provide educational/experience-based submissions. Most people get it and provide fantastic submissions. It helps me always maintain a wealth of quality content and it helps them to identify as thought leaders.  

It’s important because I don’t know what the real challenges are, what a day-to-day schedule is like for manufacturers, what keeps them up at night. I don’t know, that is, until they tell me. So, I value the contributions and input I get from all corners of the industry. I’ve learned so much as a result and I continue to do so with every new submission I get.  

You have described the health and medtech industry as constantly fascinating, and you have yet to get bored. What are some exciting new technologies and advancements you’re seeing in the space?  

Well, the easy answer at the moment is artificial intelligence. The technology is permeating so many aspects of the industry from enabling rapid iteration to regulatory submissions to being used within the actual healthcare technology itself. I don’t think it’s the cure-all that some seem to present it as, but it will certainly become a wonderful tool that should provide a wealth of benefits.  

Elsewhere, additive manufacturing is still interesting. It’s a mature technology now (or at least more so than it seems). The use of it in conjunction with other processes in a hybrid approach, such as surface treatment and machining, makes it even more useful and increases the scope for its application.  

In the ODT realm, I still think biologics are quite interesting and present how orthopedics should head in the future. Leveraging natural healing to repair bone and muscle should be the ultimate goal in orthopedics, and getting there will take the continued advancement of biologic technologies.   

What has been something memorable you’ve covered during your career? Or perhaps favorite article you’ve written? 

Well, on the lighter side, when I first started, I wrote about the potential impact of Y2K on medical device manufacturing. As someone who really knew very little about this industry, I thought that was something I could at least speak intelligently about. I was more familiar with computers at the time than I was with medical devices.  

As far as something memorable, in 2024, I started revisiting my old columns from my start at MDT. While the brand (and company) has been gone for about seven or eight years, I saved every Editor’s Letter I ever wrote. I had a ball sharing them today and inputting my comments about what I wrote as I shared each column. I only got through a handful, but it’s something I’ve been meaning to get back to doing. It’s billed as a “Throwback Thursday” item on the MPO site. It was fascinating to see what technologies captured my attention then and what’s happened to them since—topics such as rapid prototyping, machine vision, wireless medtech, and single-use reprocessing. So hopefully, I’ll get to revisit many memorable technologies through that vehicle and offer my insights on what’s happened with it since.   

For medtech companies who want to pitch you with a story idea, what advice do you have for them? 

Know my audience. MPO and ODT don’t go to doctors, nurses, surgeons, or other healthcare professionals. Sure, they may read an article or two online, but they aren’t the target audience. Similarly, we don’t cover the pharma industry or the manufacture of drugs. I know the term medical products can be broad, but a quick visit to the site will reveal the industry we’re focused on.  

Otherwise, there’s no real secret to it. Reach out (by email; I’m horrible with the phone), ask for my guidelines, pitch an idea, and then send it when ready. I likely won’t have a hard deadline for you (unless you’re specifically targeting a certain print issue) as I’m always seeking contributions. So, get it to me when it’s ready.  

– 

Thank you, Sean, for sharing your insights and experience with us. We (along with many others) love working with you! Keep an eye out for our next MedTech Masters coming soon, shining a spotlight on Maayan Wenderow, vice president of marketing at Etiometry. 

You’re invited to meet and learn from medtech masters IRL during our inaugural event called The Exchange: Where Creativity Meets Compliance in Medtech Marketing. Join us on Tuesday, March 3, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at our Bellmont Partners office. Hear insights and ideas from an all-star panel of experts during a candid discussion on how bringing creativity into medtech marketing can drive differentiation, demand, and growth in one of the most regulated industries, all without compromising compliance, credibility or clinical trust. For details and to register to join in-person or via livestream, visit our event page. 

Do you have a life-changing innovation and are looking for help bringing it to market? We’d love to hear more! Contact us for a complimentary PR strategy session and brainstorm. 

The post MedTech Masters Q&A: Sean Fenske appeared first on Bellmont Partners.

Over the years, we have found a few strategies that have worked for us to incorporate environmental sustainability learning for the team to use every day, both at work and home. Here are four ways we incorporate environmentally sustainable activities or knowledge into our agency:

Listen, take action and communicate

As our team at Bellmont Partners grew and went through an office update, we experienced a pain point in handling waste. We listened to our team members who said trash, recycling and compost bins in the office weren’t large enough, and they needed a refresher on how to best use our waste systems.

The Sustainability Committee upgraded the bins to better fit our teams’ waste quantity needs, while also creating clear labels and a map to communicate proper disposal of waste or unwanted items, including unique offerings like used battery disposal and plastic bag collection.

Get the team involved

Our Sustainability Committee is a group of four people who aim to share resources and information with the rest of the agency so they feel empowered to make their own sustainable choices. The committee has encouraged sustainable actions through:

• Reminders to use the office’s reusable food containers to bring home leftovers and reduce food waste after full-team lunch meetings.
• Creating a sustainability channel on Teams to encourage others to share tips and resources. This channel also serves as our Bellmont Partners in-house Buy Nothing page, offering unwanted-but-still-useful items to give away to other team members, preventing them from ending up in a landfill.
• Sharing timely sustainability tips during monthly staff meetings to keep eco-friendly options top-of-mind for team members.
• Creating a Free Little Library in the office for team members to leave books they no longer need or take new ones to add to their reading lineup.

Bring in outside experts

Our Sustainability Committee strives to research and provide useful tips for our team, but sometimes it’s great to bring in an outside perspective. Our team welcomed Jenny Kedward, Hennepin County Food Waste Prevention Specialist, to our office for a presentation on how to be mindful of using up the food we buy and prevent it from going to waste. Jenny had great tips and resources, and provided engaging content for the whole team.

In 2025, we worked with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce to conduct waste and energy audits to assess our in-office efforts and learn where we excel and areas where we can improve. We welcomed the feedback and also learned about more resources – from recycling education and bin labels to paper towel composting and energy smart ideas – available to us in our efforts to be a highly sustainable business.

Celebrate!

Our team loves a good party, so we always find reasons to come together and celebrate! During Earth Month in 2025, we did just that with our first Bellmont Partners Sustainability Bash. We used this time not only to celebrate our sustainability efforts, but also to provide information to the team about the upgraded waste, compost and recycling systems, along with guidance for other sustainable practices everyone can tap into in our office and at home.

Plus, we had a little fun! We had snacks and beverages, including our signature cocktail, the Sustainable Sangria, made with wine we already had on hand from a previous gathering. We also encouraged team members to wear their best “slow fashion” outfit – one that was thrifted, purchased through consignment, swapped, has been in their closet more than a year, made of natural fibers or other eco-friendly options.

When it comes to environmental sustainability at Bellmont Partners, we welcome all voices and aim for small actions, not perfection. The momentum from small actions keeps us going and adds up over time!

If you’re looking to start or join a sustainability project, remember it’s OK to start with a tiny step. And if your company is looking to share its sustainability work more widely, reach out to info@bellmontpartners.com! We would love to help!

The post Four Ways We Incorporate Environmental Sustainability Practices Into Our Agency appeared first on Bellmont Partners.

From there, we headed to MD&M Midwest along with members from our Health team to dive into the world of medtech and advanced manufacturing. A highlight? Ryan Frederick’s presentation on the macro impacts of AI, automation and robotics – thought-provoking and timely as these technologies continue to reshape the landscape. It was also great to connect with industry media who were attending the event as well as several clients and friends who were sharing their latest innovations with attendees.

We wrapped up the month by supporting the Arrowhead Manufacturers & Fabricators Association’s Tour of Manufacturing, where students and community members got the opportunity to visit local manufacturing and fabrication facilities in the Arrowhead region. One standout stop was ME Elecmetal, featured in a great segment by WDIO/ABC Duluth that captured student reactions and insights from the plant manager.

Manufacturing Month reminded us why we love working with clients in this space: it’s innovative, essential and full of passionate people. Let’s keep the momentum going – see you at the next event!

The post Recapping Manufacturing Month: Highlights from Across Minnesota appeared first on Bellmont Partners.

That’s the topic that Shelli Lissick and I tackled in our “The Trust Factor: Building Brand Authority in Healthcare Through Thought Leadership” session at this year’s Minnesota Health Strategy and Communications Network (MHSCN) Fall Conference.

Thought leadership – defined by HubSpot as “A tactic content marketers use to build credibility for themselves or leaders in their company. The main goal of thought leadership is to become recognized as an expert and used as a go-to resource in your field” – can be a powerful, effective tool for building trust, no matter what industry you do business in. And the health industry is no exception.

A decline in trust

Over time, distrust has become Americans’ default emotion, with a decline in trust reported in polling results conducted by the AAMC Center for Health Justice from 2021 to 2024 across eight of nine sectors, including pharmacies, hospitals, social service agencies, fire departments, universities, police departments, public health departments and libraries. Local schools were the exception. And a recent study from Johns Hopkins University found that public trust in the U.S. healthcare system fell from 71.5% in 2020 to 40.1% in 2024.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. According to this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer, doctors continue to be among the most trusted voices. In fact, they are far ahead of leaders in any other institution. This is why thought leadership is more important than ever – there’s a critical opportunity for health care leaders to step into a more visible role to strategically bolster trust with patients, prospective patients, their families and caregivers, stakeholders and partners, employees, prospective employees, the community, media and more

What does thought leadership look like?

Thought leadership can take many shapes and forms, including:

• Bylined content: Trade and some business and consumer media outlets accept contributed content or opinion pieces about newsworthy topics or issues, so long as it isn’t blatantly promoting your organization, products or services. You can check media outlets’ websites for editorial opportunities and author guidelines.
• Blog posts: Consider starting a blog on your website to share your leaders’ and subject matter experts’ (SME) insights on topics that matter to your organization. Or offer to provide content to other existing blogs that reach your target audience(s).
• Podcasts: Reach out to podcast hosts that cover the topics or issues your SMEs and leaders can address. Or consider starting your own!
• Speaking opportunities: Are you already attending conferences and trade shows? Many of them include speaking opportunities that could be a good fit for your SMEs and leaders. They often seek out speaker submissions up to a year in advance, so it’s important to plan ahead.
• Awards: Award opportunities abound for both organizations and individuals, from local to national. Think through the areas where your organization, SMEs and leaders excel, and choose award opportunities that reward those strengths. When you win, be sure to share the news!
• White papers: White papers or other long-form content can be a great way to showcase meatier topics and issues. Incorporate research and data to support and reinforce your points. White paper content can also be sliced and diced into shorter blog posts, media and byliner pitches and social media content, too.
• Webinars: Webinars are already inherently set up to provide a platform to educate on everything from broad issues to the most niche of topics. It’s also a great way to capture information for lead generation.
• Social media: Share content from all of these thought leadership activities – blog posts, bylined articles, podcasts, photos from speaking opportunities, announcements about award wins, etc. – on your social media platforms. And consider incorporating thought leadership into your SMEs’ and leaders’ LinkedIn presence to build credibility and authority.

All of these thought leadership tactics can play an important role in driving AI search results, too. AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and Google Gemini are shaping how organizations are discovered and described, and your digital footprint determines how AI talks about your organization. Earned and owned media are key drivers of this perception. According to Hard Numbers, large language models (LLMs) rely on editorial media for 61 percent of their content about brand reputation and owned media (e.g. blog posts, website and social media content) for 44 percent – another reason to develop your organization’s thought leadership program.

OK, cool, so where do I start?

Maybe thought leadership is a new concept and you’re looking for guidance on how to jump in. Perhaps implementing a thought leadership program sounds great but with limited resources, it feels out of reach. Or, maybe it all just feels overwhelming and you don’t know where to start. Here are a few tips to meet you where you’re at and help you get started:

• Just try it – progress over perfection. Pick a topic or issue, and identify a subject matter expert that can authentically address it. For starters, try writing a blog post or LinkedIn post about it.
• Repurpose existing content. For example, if the blog or LinkedIn post performs well, use it to draft a media pitch or op-ed.
• Harness the power of the brainstorm. Bring in additional perspectives from other team members.
• Treat new initiatives as pilots and know that you can always switch gears or try something different if you’re not getting the results you were hoping for.
• If leaders or SMEs are hesitant to participate, find examples of other leaders they admire (or competitors!) who’ve put themselves out there and how it has benefited them and their businesses.
• Look beyond your CEOs, VPs, etc., for other subject matter experts and passionate spokespeople.
• Remember that you don’t need to take a stance on everything – select issues and topics that fit and you, and that you can speak to with authenticity.

Interested in learning more? We’d love to share more about what we covered in our presentation and talk about these ideas, along with how to navigate common internal challenges and roadblocks. If thought leadership is something you want to consider as part of your 2026 marketing plans, please get in touch at health@bellmontpartners.com. We’ll be happy to provide resources, tips and best practices and/or set up a one-hour complimentary thought leadership brainstorming strategy session.

P.S. For more about building trust, check out this great blog post written by Bellmont Partners team member Sara Grasmon on the power of focusing on the people.

The post The Trust Factor: Building Brand Authority in Healthcare Through Thought Leadership appeared first on Bellmont Partners.

In a recent Bellmont Partners article on AI and GEO, we explored how earned media continues to dominate AI search results. Large Language Models (LLMs) create a hierarchy of source credibility when generating responses, with earned media, such as news coverage, carrying significantly more weight than owned content, such as blogs or social posts. While both types of content play a role in visibility, not all content is treated equally by AI tools or search engines.  

This evolving landscape presents a powerful business opportunity: when used strategically, AI can supercharge existing thought leadership efforts, amplifying your unique point of view and increasing visibility across both traditional search engines and AI-driven platforms alike.  

Lead With Your Voice, Use AI as a Thought Partner 

AI is a powerful tool, but it’s your expertise that builds thought leadership. Your unique point of view — shaped by experience, context and human insight — is what makes you a thought leader. When used strategically, AI can support your efforts by helping you generate ideas, repackage content and extend the reach of your message. But it should never replace the perspective that only you can provide. 

Content rooted in your thought leadership not only builds awareness, but also feeds back into the AI ecosystem, reinforcing your reputation across both traditional search engines and generative platforms. This is where SEO and GEO converge, shaping how your organization is discovered and understood. 

Earned media continues to carry the most weight, but owned content plays a vital supporting role. Repurposing earned coverage across owned channels ensures your insights reach wider audiences and remain discoverable in an increasingly AI-driven world. 

Lead with your voice. Use AI as a thought partner. And build a reputation that stands out — because AI can’t think like you. 

Supercharge Existing Thought Leadership Activities with AI 

Thought leadership has always been a proactive strategy — one that requires clarity, consistency and a strong point of view. In today’s AI-driven landscape, it’s also a powerful tool for shaping how your organization is perceived across both traditional search engines and emerging generative platforms. 

Building a strong reputation now means optimizing for both search engine optimization (SEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO). These dual strategies ensure your expertise is discoverable not only through conventional search but also through AI tools that summarize and synthesize digital content. 

Organizations with robust public relations programs are already ahead of the curve. Those investing in earned media, strategic messaging and consistent thought leadership are well-positioned to thrive in the future of internet search. While the digital landscape may feel uncertain, the backbone of building thought leadership remains: clarity of voice, credibility of source and consistency of message. 

AI plays a valuable supporting role in this process. It helps repurpose and amplify your thought leadership across channels, extending the reach of earned media, speaking engagements, bylined articles and media interviews. Owned content like blogs, social posts, email campaigns, advertising and proprietary research can be refreshed and redistributed with the help of AI, making your insights go further. 

The key is to lead with your unique perspective. AI can assist with brainstorming ideas or pulling out the best quotes from a meeting transcript — but it can’t replicate your experience, intuition, or understanding of the broader context. Your point of view is what drives visibility, credibility and trust. 

Put AI In Its Place, Lead with your Unique POV 

AI is no substitute for human insight. Thought leadership is developed by communicating your clear, confident point of view built upon years of real-world experience — something AI will never be able to replicate. While AI excels at pattern recognition and summarizing existing content, it lacks the ability to read the room, understand nuance or anticipate the human impact of business decisions. 

Your one-of-a-kind perspective is shaped by countless social factors including how you were raised, the community you call home, personal relationships and professional experiences. You understand how current events shift public perception, how messaging lands with different audiences and how to navigate complex challenges with clarity. AI doesn’t have that vantage point — but it can support it. 

Used strategically, AI can assist with creative ideation, helping you brainstorm new angles or formats for existing insights. Research from Boston Consulting Group highlights this potential: 90% of participants improved their performance on creative tasks when using GPT‑4, with a 40% overall boost compared to those who worked without it. Even top performers saw a 17% improvement. 

The same study also reveals AI’s limitations. When GPT‑4 was used for business problem-solving — a task requiring judgment and strategic thinking — performance dropped by 23%. The control group, which didn’t use AI, solved the problem more accurately and with greater diversity of thought. In fact, GPT‑4 use reduced diversity of ideas by 41% in group settings. 

The takeaway? AI can enhance your work, but it shouldn’t lead it. Your unique point of view is what drives visibility, credibility and impact. AI is a thought partner, not the thought leader. 

The post AI Can’t Think Like You — How Your Unique POV Drives Thought Leadership & Digital Visibility appeared first on Bellmont Partners.

Coming from a healthcare family, you could say Chris’ passion for health and medtech is in his DNA. Read on to learn more about Chris and his journey of going from an education in chemistry and being on the technical side of things to making his way to becoming an extremely talented and successful commercial leader. 

What is your background in medtech? How did you get started?  

I’ve been around healthcare my whole life. Both of my parents worked as healthcare professionals so I guess you could say it’s in my DNA? I got my start in laboratory science and contract pharmaceutical research as a chemist, which gave me early professional experience in solving problems with data and evidence. But after a few years in the lab, I realized I was more energized by interacting with customers and what problems they were trying to solve. Like many technical to business career stories, I pursued an MBA at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business to get out of the lab and in front of customers. 

That led me to Smiths Medical, where I spent nearly a decade learning the ins and outs of bringing medical devices from concept to market through a series of escalating roles in product management. With an interest in both product and service delivery, I shifted gears and joined NAMSA to help medtech developers navigate the complex world of contract research and regulatory strategy leading marketing, product management and commercial operations teams. Both career experiences have given me incredible appreciation for how interdisciplinary the medtech industry has become and how passionate the people in our industry are driven to make an impact on healthcare. 

Tell us about your role at NAMSA – what are you working on these days and what energizes you?  

I lead our marketing, product mangement and commercial operations teams to create awareness and connect clients with the incredible people at NAMSA with expertise spanning laboratory science, clinical research and regulatory affairs (ranging from early-stage startups to large multinationals) so they can move from idea to market approval as smoothly and quickly as possible. 

Lately, I’ve been diving into how we can help clients accelerate timelines by integrating strategic outsourcing and cross-disciplinary process improvement, particularly in areas like biological safety, preclinical research and market research. We’ve also grown our lab capabilities through recent acquisitions, which means we can offer more support for cutting-edge devices. 

What energizes me most is seeing our work translate into faster, safer patient access to life-changing technologies and knowing the work we do every day plays a crucial role in shaping the future of healthcare. 

It’s no secret this year has been a rollercoaster for many industries including medtech with tariffs, FDA cuts and economic uncertainty. What are some of the challenges facing your customers and how are you helping navigate them?  

2025 has presented a series of challenges for medtech organizations. Tariffs on medical devices in some instances are more than 100% for imports, which have caused supply chain volatility and driven up costs industry-wide. Many companies are reevaluating sourcing strategies, with some shifting production out of affected regions and investing in U.S. manufacturing. Economic uncertainty has also led to budget tightening with public reports sharing that over a third of medtech companies have halted hiring, with a significant portion delaying new product development and capital expenditures until 2026. This is compounded by FDA budget cuts and layoffs and with the most recent government shutdown new product applications are currently on hold. This will have a major impact on approvals for new devices and create backlogs that will challenge startup companies and larger organizations alike. 

Our response to these challenges is to help organizations remain agile by offering strategic outsourcing solutions to cover gaps caused by resource constraints, regulatory delays, or unexpected staff turnover. Our service teams are trained to step in to accelerate clinical trial recruitment, support compliance with evolving regulatory standards or rapidly mitigate audit findings.  

How can communications strategies be helpful in navigating some of the challenges medtech companies are facing?  

Effective communications are mission-critical in a medtech landscape shaped by regulatory complexity, healthcare policy and public opinion. In times of change and uncertainty ranging from supply disruptions, product recalls, or changing regulatory standards I feel that having a playbook with robust communication tools ensures information is disseminated promptly, accurately, and in a way that builds trust with clients, clinicians, regulators, and patients. In 2025, leveraging digital communication and collaboration platforms are essential to facilitate rapid updates, synchronize cross-functional teams, support regulatory dialogue and coordinate responses given how dispersed work has become across time zones and hybrid work teams. 

Why do you think the health care and medtech industry is so prominent in Minnesota?  

There are many reasons for Minnesota’s leadership, but what stands out to me is the collaborative culture that brings clinicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, payers, regulators and public health leaders routinely together to partner across boundaries to drive progress. This network effect is possible through organizations like Medical Alley and programs like Minnesota MedTech 3.0, which align stakeholders around shared goals. There are more than 500 medtech companies of all sizes in this state alone, which creates a vibrant community of professionals all driven to make an impact on healthcare.  

Is there anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t asked about?  

One last thing that deserves attention is how medtech organizations are adapting to the convergence of digital health, AI and real-world data analytics. The integration of software as a medical device (SaMD) and the increase in machine learning enabled tools are reshaping not just the regulatory landscape, but also how companies demonstrate value to increasingly sophisticated procurement and payer audiences. As medtech becomes more technology-intensive, the need for professionals who can bridge clinical, technical and commercial expertise is greater than ever. 

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We’re sure glad Chris made the decision to get out of the lab and “come to the dark side!” And we’re also so appreciative that he took the time to share his wonderful insights with us here. You can also hear more from Chris in a recent podcast interview he did on The MedTech Experience. 

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out our previous Q&As with Frank Jaskulke, vice president of sales and business development at Avio Medtech Consulting; Mark Gardner, founder and managing partner of Gardner Law and Chrysalis Incubator; Amanda Pedersen, senior editor of MD+DI; Kylle Jordan, business development manager at Destination Medical Center; and Chris Newmarker, editor in chief, life sciences for MassDevice and Medical Design & Outsourcing. 

Do you have a life-changing innovation and are looking for help to bring it to market? We’d love to hear more! Contact us for a complimentary PR strategy session and brainstorm.    

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We’ve seen Micah shine brightly since joining our team in January 2025. His ability and willingness to tackle high-level, high-quality work have quickly proven him to be an integral member of our technology and manufacturing teams, working with clients like DigiKey, The Malco Group and Trimble. He is an excellent writer and has a knack for finding the angle or story and telling it in a compelling way. He is an inquisitive and wise team member, always bringing a fresh perspective and thoughtful questions, whether supporting clients or agency initiatives.

Micah also cares about the community and strives to make an impact. Through work with our pro bono client, the Midwest Manufacturers Association, he has provided guidance and expertise that have helped spread awareness of an integral association for our local manufacturing industry. Recently, his tenacity on this work has led to significantly increased media coverage in the lead-up to their annual Tour of Manufacturing, including this St. Cloud Times story.

In addition, he uses his Bellmont Gives Back paid volunteer time to serve weekly as a janitor at Hope City Church, which works directly to feed and clothe neighbors. He is also a natural community organizer and self-described hobbyist. As a Duluth resident, his passions for outdoor recreation and fostering community merge in his organization and promotion of local rock climbing, mountain biking and other activities that bring people together and showcase the region’s natural assets.

These are just a few examples of Micah’s willingness to continuously learn and share his knowledge, creating a ripple effect that strengthens not only our agency but the entire community. We are grateful to have you on our team, Micah! Congratulations to you and all the other honorees!

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