Semantic Arts, headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado, is a leading provider of innovative data management, specializing in semantic technology and knowledge representation. The company was founded in 2000 and has performed over 100 successful implementation projects. Our team comprises seasoned professionals with deep domain knowledge and technical prowess in designing and implementing cutting-edge data solutions.
Semantic Arts has earned a reputation for delivering high-quality, innovative solutions that drive business value. Our portfolio includes projects ranging from data integration and governance to ontology development and knowledge modeling. We only do one thing: help clients transition from siloed dysfunctional data landscapes to simplified, harmonized data landscapes.
Semantic Arts Team Of Experts
Dave McComb
CEO and Co-Founder
Dave McComb is the CEO and co-founder of Semantic Arts. He and his team help organizations uncover the meaning in the data from their information systems. Dave is also the author of “The Data-Centric Revolution”, “Software Wasteland” and “Semantics in Business Systems”.
For 25 years, Semantic Arts has helped firms of all sizes in this endeavor, including Proctor & Gamble, Goldman Sachs, Schneider-Electric, Lexis Nexis, Dun & Bradstreet, and Morgan Stanley. Prior to Semantic Arts, Dave co-founded Velocity Healthcare, where he developed and patented the first fully model driven architecture. Prior to that, he was a part of the problem.
Mark Wallace
President, Expert Ontologist
Mark is an ontologist and software architect/developer with over 30 years of experience designing and building software and data-centric systems for government and commercial clients. He got into the Semantic Web in 2004, and his experience ranges from pure ontology development to large scale RDF applications with billions of triples. Mark has been an author and invited speaker in the Semantic Web community since 2009. With Semantic Arts, Mark gets to apply a broad range of skills including ontology modeling, software development, and project management.
Mark holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida. Go Knights!
Executive Staff
Steve Case
Data-Centric Ambassador
BA in Marketing/Management from Minnesota State University
Certified Digital Marketing Professional
email: [email protected]
Steve Case has over 25 years in technology consulting business development solutioning for a wide cross-section of industries including healthcare, financial, manufacturing, life sciences, retail and education. At Semantic Arts, Steve’s diverse role includes account management, consultant utilization, corporate branding, marketing, event planning, lead generation, and innovative semantic solutioning.
He brings an insatiable curiosity and thirst for learning new things. Steve is passionate about high integrity relationship building when offering enterprise solutions; seeking to create win/win working scenarios. Outside of work Steve is an avid sports fan, participating in the MN Senior Golf League. He also enjoys grilling/smoking, bicycling with his wife, walking the dogs (Milo-Poodle/Bichon and Reggie-West Highland Terrier), and testing his taste pallet in new dining experiences.
Michael Atkin
Chief Marketing Officer
Michael Atkin has over 35 years of experience as a strategic analyst to financial institutions, regulators and market authorities on the principles, practices and operational realities of data management. His experience spans from the foundations of the information industry to the adoption of semantic technology. Mike has served as a senior advisor to several regulatory bodies in both the US and Europe. He created and taught the Principles of Data Management at Columbia University. He was the founder of the Enterprise Data Management Council and a co-founder of the Enterprise Knowledge Graph Foundation.
Ontologists
Dylan Abney
Staff Ontologist
Doug Beeson
Associate Ontologist
Phil Blackwood
Associate Ontologist
Dan Carey
Expert Ontologist
Steven Chalem | Associate Ontologist
Steven is an ontologist and data modeler with over thirty years’ experience across a wide variety of industries including finance, electronics manufacturing, telecoms, consumer packaged goods, and marketing. Having seen the triumphs and challenges in information technology over the years, he is enthusiastic about using semantic methods and tools to transform and simplify the way organizations realize the value of their data. Steven majored in Philosophy at the University of Chicago, with a particular interest in the philosophies of science, language, and mind.
He grew up in the Chicago area and currently lives in Northern California, where he enjoys hiking, live music, and reading about philosophy, history, and recent developments in science.
Katie Chastain | Staff Ontologist
Dalia Dahleh | Journey Person Ontologist
Dalia is an experienced ontologist with a background in software and mechanical engineering. At Semantic Arts, she has led projects developing ontology models and implementing knowledge graphs in the financial and cybersecurity domains. Dalia earned her master’s degree in information engineering from the University of Toronto, where she focused her studies on knowledge modeling and semantic technologies and published a research paper on the use of semantic solutions in smart city automation. She worked as an ontology engineer in the healthcare industry, building IoT solutions that optimize daily processes at hospitals. She also has experience designing software for professional sports wearables. In her free time, Dalia enjoys cycling long distances, climbing rocks, and performing with hula hoops.
Irina Filitovich | Associate Ontologist
Irina (pronounced Eereena) is a data professional with domain knowledge in the Pharmaceutical industry. She joined Semantic Arts as an Ontologist in December 2022. Irina is passionate about advancing Life Sciences by enabling Data-Centric transformations and supporting FAIRification efforts in many Biotech companies. As a Mathematics major, Irina enjoys understanding the complexity of a domain and finding ways to formalize its information and knowledge. In her free time, Irina loves hiking, backpacking, and woodworking.
Credentials
MS in Mathematics from Saint Petersburg State University
Graduate Certificate in Data Science from Harvard Extension School
System Thinking from MIT xPRO
OEKG1122: Ontology Engineering for Knowledge Graph Applications from Dataversity
Daniel Hadad | Staff Ontologist
Daniel joined Semantic Arts as an ontologist in February 2023. He is a PhD candidate in philosophy at The University of Massachusetts Amherst, where his research is focused on the nature of rational belief. As an instructor he has years of experience teaching formal logic and critical thinking. Daniel is excited about building ontologies across a wide array of subject matters and utilizing semantic technology to usher in a new age of data-centricity.
Outside of work, Daniel loves the company of his family, playing strategy games, and writing fiction.
Ryan Hohimer | Journey Person Ontologist
Ryan Hohimer is a Semantic Technology and Object-Oriented Design zealot. He enjoys creating object models for Artificial Intelligence applications. Although many domains are fascinating, the cybersecurity domain is a passion of his. There is a huge need for computers to mimic human cybersecurity experts. Ryan has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from Washington State University (WSU). Upon receiving his degree, the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) put him to work in data analysis in energy and national security. This led to an exciting career in object modeling for private sector companies.
When asked he states he’s “living my dream”.
Scott Looney | Staff Ontologist
Scott is a PhD candidate at Syracuse University and has been with Semantic Arts since 2021. Prior to joining Semantic Arts, Scott taught symbolic logic at Syracuse. He has expertise in first order logic and set theory and has published on information transfer in peer-reviewed journals. Scott is passionate about analyzing data for both ontology development and data ingestion.
Outside of work, Scott enjoys spending time with his family, nature, philosophy, and science-fiction.
Boris Pelakh | Expert Ontologist
Boris is an ontologist and software architect with over 30 years of experience, including parallel computing, high-performance graph databases, natural language processing for naval intelligence, and work on the Space Shuttle launch control system. With Semantic Arts, he focuses on the design and development of scalable semantic software systems. In his prior work, he has worked primarily with large companies in the financial space.
Credentials
BS degree in Computer Science, West Virginia University
Jessica Singer | Staff Ontologist
Jess started with Semantic Arts as an Entry Ontologist in summer of 2021. She is a passionate ontologist with experience building multilingual ontologies for food traceability and provenance. She earned her degree in Bioresource Engineering from McGill University where she developed her passion for valorizing waste data and streamlining code through the use of ontologies.
When she is not working with ontologies you can find her on the cross country ski trails around Montréal and conquering 160 km ski marathons.
Michael Uschold, PhD | Ontologist
Michael Uschold has over thirty years’ experience in developing and transitioning semantic technology from academia to industry. He pioneered the field of ontology engineering, co-authoring the first paper and giving the first tutorial on the topic in 1995 in the UK.
As a senior ontology consultant at Semantic Arts since 2010, Michael trains and guides clients to better understand and leverage semantic technology. He has built commercial enterprise ontologies in the non-profit sector, finance, insurance, healthcare, commodities markets, consumer products, electrical device and other product specifications, manufacturing, corporation registration, and data catalogs. The ontologies are used to create knowledge graphs that drive production applications.
During 2008-2009, Uschold worked at Reinvent on a team that developed a semantic advertising platform that substantially increased revenue. As a research scientist at Boeing from 1997-2008 he defined, led, and participated in numerous projects applying semantic technology to enterprise challenges.
Michael is also the author of the book: “Demystifying OWL for the Enterprise”
Peter Winstanley, PhD | Ontologist
Peter is an ontologist in the Semantic Arts team. He has a diverse background with experience in medical research, government, and in standards development. He was a contributor to the W3C “Data on the Web Best Practices” recommendation and an editor of the W3C “Data Catalog” vocabulary recommendation. A former interoperability specialist with the UK Government Linked Data and Data Architects’ Working Groups and the European Commission “Joinup” semantic technologies community, he is currently co-Chair of the W3C Dataset Exchange Working Group.
Rebecca Younes | Senior Ontologist
Rebecca Younes is an ontologist and software developer with nearly 30 years of experience in both academia and the private sector. With an academic background in theoretical and Arabic linguistics, Rebecca began her career in multilingual text-to-speech software development. From her first exposure to semantic technology, she was captivated by the potential of semantic models and knowledge graphs to connect, create, and give meaning to data. Rebecca’s work in semantic technology includes ontology design and development and knowledge graph engineering in a broad range of sectors, including financial services; libraries, museums, and rare book archives; HVAC; digital humanities; and professional services.
In her free time, Rebecca enjoys road cycling, reading, and learning languages.
Credentials
BA in Linguistics from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities
MA in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin
Developers
Jamie Gulden | Lead Data-Centric Developer
Jamie Gulden is a software developer for Semantic Arts and has been part of the team since 2018. Prior to joining Semantic Arts he helped start and worked for several software startups.
Danny Hurlburt | Associate Semantic Developer
Danny Hurlburt is a software developer who joined Semantic Arts in the summer of 2020. At Semantic Arts he helps develop the Data-Centric Architecture and various web applications. For the 15 years prior to coming to Semantic Arts, he worked with several companies developing web applications.
Eddie Thomas | Semantic Developer
Eddie was a traditional software developer in college. After graduating in 2021 he started at Semantic Arts and has since become a full stack developer, trained in the arts of semantics.
Neil Graham | Semantic Developer
Neil Graham is a software developer who joined Semantic Arts in 2018. Found his passion in life through reading biographies, and during that time also found the motivation to teach himself programming. On a whim moved from NJ to Fort Collins, CO to work at the CSU Tree Sappling Nursery. While developing on the side, found Semantic Arts and became obsessed with the simplicity with which data can be represented and accessed. He is now working on an open-source RDF library [rdfhash](https://github.com/NeilGraham/rdfhash) which aims to quickly resolve Blank Nodes subjects into a hash of its triples.
Colton Glasgow | Semantic Developer
Colton joined Semantic Arts as an Entry Semantic Developer in January of 2023. He started working at a young age on the hardware side of IT, building custom computers and fixing any issue you could think of for customers. He made a transition from hardware to software and moved to a cyber security startup where he was introduced to software development and RDF. While working in the cyber security industry Colton utilized semantic technology to help companies deal with risk, growing his passion for RDF and OWL. He has a general curiosity about everything, a passion for learning, and trying new things.
Colton grew up in eastern Washington and moved to Coeur d’Alene Idaho to be closer to the mountains. In his free time he enjoys skiing, backpacking, adventure biking, and climbing (in that order or all together).
David Wallice |
Clients & Projects
Consumer Products [3]
Arbonne
Designed a structured approach to keep track of the complex sharing arrangements among upstream and downstream sellers
Carlei Green Vineyards
Built a distribution system based on an enterprise ontology for this wine importer and distributor
Procter and Gamble
Harmonized the language across multiple domains via the development of an enterprise ontology to support initiatives in research and development
Data Publishing [12]
Center for Internet Security
Designed cyber security ontology and are migrating their controls, benchmarks and safeguards to the model
Dun & Bradstreet
Built a faceted metadata mapping system to allow them to map data sets and APIs across product lines
Equifax
Strategic advisory on the use of semantics after one of the largest data breaches in history
Euromonitor
Architectural design to unify detailed product and pricing taxonomies
Industry Building Blocks LLC
Designed the ontology and built a knowledge graph of of over 24,000 industries to enable analysis for M&A, joint venture exploration, brand strategy, segmentation and targeted marketing
LexisNexis
Built an enterprise ontology from existing logical models into a single ontology for integrating case law with other statutory product lines
McGraw Hill-Platts
Designed an ontology and loaded supporting metadata to harmonize commodity symbology in support of complex analytics and trading arbitrage
Moody’s Corporation
Customized training on semantics and knowledge graph
Reed Buisness Inc
Customized training on semantics and knowledge graph
S&P Global Commodity Insights
Built a knowledge graph of information about specific combinations of commodity grade, location, terms, etc. that affect the pricing of commodities
S&P Global Platts
Customized training on semantics and knowledge graph
Wolters Kluwer
Built an ontology of their corporate tax and accounting solutions area
Extractive [1]
Chevron
Strategic advisory on ontology and knowledge graph related to semantic reconciliation of enterprise metadata and information exchange across repositories
Financial Services [11]
Broadridge
Unified and integrated three back-office processing engines as part of a major data fabric initiative
Capital One
Strategic advisory to help stand up their ontology practice for the 360-degree client service initiative
Citi
Strategic advisory and training on how to design and build ontologies
Credit Suisse
Strategic advisory and training on how to design and build ontologies
Federal Reserve Bank NY
Strategic advisory on the integration of structured and unstructured data
Freddie Mac
Created an ontology of the mortgage industry and helped them reconcile enterprise architecture initiatives that had drifted apart
Goldman Sachs
Delivered a series of projects on their financial inventory taxonomy, risk ontology and resolution planning system
JP Morgan
Strategic advisory and training workshop for their Bournemouth group
Morgan Stanley
Multiple projects supporting their adoption of RDF graph and semantic knowledge base to answer domain-specific questions, formulate classification recommendations and deliver quality search to their internal users
Sallie Mae
Built an enterprise ontology for loans to facilitate a single view of their customers loan portfolio
Wells Fargo
Customized training on semantics and knowledge graph
Government [14]
Central Intelligence Agency
Strategic advisory on the application of semantic capabilities to support the Agency’s mission
Colorado Child Support Enforcement
A series of projects to help them understand their future architecture including how to simplify implementation using a common semantic model
International Atomic Energy Agency
Strategic advisory services and workshops on the application of semantics to detect unauthorized use of radioactive material
Joint Planning and Development Office (JPOD) & Alion Science and Technology
Strategic advisory on a joint project including the FAA, NASA, Department of Transportation and the Airforce
MIMOS Malaysia
MIMOS Malaysia – we conducted training and led strategic planning on the adoption of semantics for this strategic R&D arm of the Malaysian government
Mississippi Department of Transportation
Mississippi Department of Transportation – we provided strategic advisory services on information systems architecture
Swiss Chancellery
Customized training on semantics and knowledge graph
Texas Teacher Retirement System
Designed an enterprise architecture to help keep track of the pension funds of both active and retired teachers
US National Agricultural Library
Customized training on semantics and knowledge graph
US Navy
Strategic advisory on the development of their enterprise cost management framework
Washington Department of Labor and Industries
Strategic advisory and long-range systems architecture for continuity planning and technology risk mediation
Washington Secretary of State
Feasibility, requirements analysis and design of a system designed to replace their existing registration systems
Washington State Department of Transportation
Designed an ontology of transportation and Service Oriented Architecture for SOA messaging
Washington State Employment and Security Division
Built an ontology and helped them implement a modular strategy for data integration designed to reconcile the content from multiple proprietary systems
Washington State Office of Financial Management
Strategic advisory on how to reduce the complexity of their financial activity records management
Healthcare Delivery [4]
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Built an ontology for covid and cancer comorbidity as part of their knowledge base for precision oncology
Mount Sinai
Assisted the hospital system with conforming data sets to their clinical ontology
Providence Healthcare
Strategic advisory and analytics training for their semantic technology group
Sentara Healthcare
Developed an integrated ontology for secure healthcare delivery focused on asthmatic hospital admissions and external data sources
Insurance [2]
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Strategic advisory assessment of their existing enterprise data model and plan on how to leverage the EDM to create messages for their service oriented architecture
Nationwide Insurance
Built an ontology of the insurance industry and then conformed several data sets to it to answer domain-specific questions
Manufacturing [7]
Dupont
Strategic advisory to help them understand how to apply semantic capabilities and knowledge graph to their internal processes
International Surface Preparation Corporation
Perfomed a risk assessment and strategic plan on the integration of legacy systems
Juniper Networks
Designed an enterprise ontology and conformed several data streams (software defects, product configurations, sales data) to trace clients impacted by newly discovered software flaws
Koch Industries
Strategic advisory to their Data-Centric Counsel
Schneider Electric
Built an enterprise ontology to support the complexity of their product catalog including all physical and electrical characteristics, product compatibility and conformance to standards
ThermoFisher
Strategic advisory on the design of their data catalog
Xylem Design
Strategic advisory on integrating their various accounting systems
Media [2]
APM Music
Created a taxonomy of music genres to enable clients find music tracks in context
Disney
Designed a digital asset management system to unite various digital properties and support cross-division marketing
Non Profit [3]
EDM Council
Led the design of the loans and mortgages portion of the Financial Industry Business Ontology (FIBO
Institute for Advertising and Media Statistics
Strategic advisory on semantic capabilities for IRM
International Monetary Fund
Constructed an enterprise ontology and internal knowledge graph covering the core business of the IMF for integrating both structured and unstructured data
Pharmaceutical [7]
Amgen
Implemented ontology modeling and knowledge engineering projects designed to develop a common language for drug discovery, biologics production, animal studies and research for product development
AstraZeneca
Strategic advisory on ontology and knowledge graphs for their research and development group
Bayer
Strategic advisory and training on semantics and knowledge graph
Eli Lily
Strategic advisory on how semantics can be used as the basis for a Service Oriented Architecture
European Bioinformatics
Strategic advisory on knowledge management for a consortia of pharmaceutical companies
Johnson & Johnson
Strategic advisory and training on how to design and build business ontologies
Novartis
Customized training on semantics and knowledge graph
Professional Services [5]
Institute for Defense Analyses
Designed their enterprise ontology to support data integration between their existing systems
McKinsey
Strategic advisory and customized training on the practical implications of semantics and knowledge graph
PwC
Developed and built an ontology of proposals, projects, key people and areas of consultant proficiency to support business development and the assignment of talent
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
A series of advisory projects to facilitate data integration
YogaHoly-Days
Designed an ontology for destination yoga
Religion [2]
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Strategic advisory on the use of semantic capabilities for genealogy record keeping
Treasury of Lives
Built an ontology for their online encyclopedia of Tibetan and Buddhist teachings
Software [13]
BeInformed
Strategic advisory on the redesign of their work flow management system in the material and safety data area
Cerebra
Strategic advisory and training curriculum for their server based semantic engine
Commerce One
Strategic advisory and training curriculum for this eCommerce firm
discourse.ai
Built an ontology of conversations to help clients respond to changes in their environment
Electronic Arts
Several projects to help the marketing department design and build ontologies and taxonomies of electronic games
Fiserv
Strategic advisory on the use of long duration business transactions (and model driven development) in the design of their systems
Global IDs
Strategic advisory on data profiling and identity resolution
Omatic Software
Designed the ontology for HVAC and plumbing resellers and conformed their product catalog data for project management and budget control
Payzer
Designed the ontology for HVAC and plumbing resellers and conformed their product catalog data for project management and budget control
RevenueBase
Strategic advisory on tools and platforms for taxonomy management
Siemens Digital
Helped design a new model to subsume data from many of their most complex products to facilitate semantic enterprise search
Stone River
Domain modeling, architectural planning and training to teach their enterprise architects RDF and OWL
Visual Meaning
Developed an ontology and visualization tool of “Highways England” to help users understand their data and to facilitate integration with other sources
Telecom [2]
PCCW Global Telecom Network
Managed the transformation from multiple data silos into a single knowledge graph to enhance customer service and optimize their capital investments
Verizon
Built a knowledge graph as a single source of privacy metadata to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements
Transportation [1]
Sabre
Customized training on semantics and knowledge graph
Awards & Accolades
Silicon Review
Northern Colorado’s fastest-growing private companies on the 2024 Mercury 100 list.
INC. Magazine
Recognized for 81% 3-year growth
CEO Views
One of the Top 30 Innovators of the Year 2022
Economic Development Council of Colorado
2022 Colorado Companies to Watch recipient
Silicon Review
The 10 Most Disruptive Leaders to Follow in 2023
Silicon Review
The 30 Innovators to Watch 2021 award
Careers
Join our team of ontologists. We are creating a list of pre-screened and experienced candidates who demonstrate flexibility on start dates and are willing to be considered as future opportunities develop. Successful completion of our interview process will position you as “first in line” as a preferred candidate for upcoming projects.
To Be Considered
1. Review the job description to make sure you are a fit: Ontologist Job Description
2. Complete our job application found here: Semantic Arts Ontologist Application
3. Email your resume to [email protected] (after completion of the application)
More About Us
Semantic Arts is a leading digital transformation consulting firm that helps transform large enterprise IT systems using semantic technologies and knowledge graphs. We have been promoting a vision of data-centric architectures for more than 20 years. Learn more at: Data-Centricity
Semantic Arts is growing quickly and expanding our domains, projects and roles. We have assembled the largest team of individuals passionately dedicated to this task, making Semantic Arts a great place to develop skills and grow professionally. We aren’t your traditional consulting firm.
Here are a couple of ways we are different:
Pay Equity: We don’t expect long hours for low pay. Our pay is formulaic, based on the hours worked and productivity. More information provided during the interview process.
Flexibility: We are fully remote, with no rigid hierarchy. We expect our people to bring their best to work, and in exchange refuse to micromanage.
Travel: At most 3 days every 3 weeks (most travel less)
Learning Fund: We have a ‘set aside’ amount for skill development and training for each employee.
Collegial Atmosphere: We have built a culture defined by respect, knowledge sharing, and fun. Ask us more about this during the interview process.
Applicants can expect to hear back from HR within a few days. Qualified candidates can expect up to 4 interviews:
1 – with HR
2 – individual
1 – final small group
Semantic Arts is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. In keeping with our commitment, we will take steps to assure that people with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We respect and seek to empower each individual and support the diverse cultures, perspectives, skills and experiences within our workforce. We support an inclusive workplace where employees excel based on merit, qualifications, experience, ability, and job performance.
Semantic Arts participates in the federal E-Verify program and will provide the federal government with the information required to confirm work authorization upon hiring. Learn more at e-verify.gov
