Dr. Richard L. Ballard – Founder and Chief Software Scientist of Knowledge Foundations, Inc. has been a thought leader in knowledge science and semantic technologies for the past 30 years. While at UC Irvine, Ballard was cited for the first application of artificial intelligence to conceptual learning (Expert Systems in Business). A founder of the Apple Education Foundation with Steve Jobs and Mike Markkula in 1978, he began work on semantic web applications in support of educational publishing and game development. His research lead into Star Wars missile defense programs, emerging in the early 1990's with a 2nd generation theory-based semantic decision tool called Mark 2. which was deployed at the highest levels of government. Ballard's knowledge science and 3rd generation Mark 3 Knowledge Platform are now being positioned for release as a key component of future knowledge-based IT infrastructures. Ballard has received 128 software citations, developed 21 Educational Software Workshops, 3 Management Software Workshops, along with a current university approved, 10 Week Professional Knowledge Engineering course. Ballard has been published in 35 publications and technical reports. Ph.D. UC Berkeley; Fellow NASA Institute for Space Physics, Columbia University.