Ralph Poole

Ralph W. Poole is an Information & Knowledge Strategy lecturer at Columbia University's School of Professional Studies, bringing over four decades of global experience in business strategy, technology consulting, and academic leadership.

As Managing Partner at Semantic Modeling LLC, Poole leads initiatives to implement Large Language Models (LLMs) and deterministic AI solutions, construct semantic models, and build knowledge graph databases. His expertise encompasses taxonomy, ontologies, metadata strategies, text analysis, computational data classification, and cognitive search. Additionally, as a Partner and Engagement Director at Iknow LLC, he has directed knowledge management projects for a diverse clientele, including corporations, professional service firms, NGOs, and government organizations. Poole's prior leadership roles include serving as Chief Knowledge Officer at Capgemini and Director at Ernst & Young. He was also a Partner at Bridge Consulting International and held managerial positions at the Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company, where he honed his strategic consultancy skills.

Poole teaches courses on Digital Product Innovation, Ai-Enabled Findability and Semantic Solutions, and Knowledge Processes, Practices, and Governance. He actively contributes to the Program Curriculum Committee for the Information & Knowledge Strategy program, influencing its direction and content. His research focuses on enhancing precision and consistency in AI-generated outputs by integrating LLMs with structured data and curated knowledge sources. His work has been featured in publications such as the Harvard Business Review, CIO, Fortune, and Harvard Business School.

Poole holds an M.S.L.S. from Simmons College and a B.A. from Ithaca College. Celebrating over a decade at Columbia, he continues to shape future leaders through his dedication to teaching and innovative research.