# patrickaudley.com — Full corpus > Complete content as machine-readable Markdown. Per the llmstxt.org spec, this is the long-form companion to /llms.txt. Canonical site: . License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA CAv2.5. --- ## Home page # Patrick Colm Audley *Hacker · Full-Spectrum Technologist · Polymath* A seasoned technologist with thirty years of international startup experience and a broad palette of scientific, business and computing skills. Currently splits time between [Blackcat Informatics® Inc.](https://blackcatinformatics.ca/) — the consultancy he's run since 1996 — and applied research at the intersection of topological data analysis, manifold learning, and large-language-model semantics. ## Currently - Helping organisations shape AI and large-data strategies through the current technology inflection - Researching emergent semantic-graph relations in high-order vector spaces - Building [coding-ethos](https://github.com/paudley/coding-ethos): policy-as-code for AI coding agents ## Featured open source - **[coding-ethos](https://github.com/paudley/coding-ethos)** (Go) — Policy-as-code enforcement for AI coding agents. MCP server + CEL policies + git hooks + SARIF + static-analysis guardrails so an autonomous agent can't ship code that fails your team's standards. - **[nonlinear-semantic-graphs](https://github.com/paudley/nonlinear-semantic-graphs)** (Python) — Discovering emergent knowledge-graph relations in high-order semantic vector spaces — manifold learning + spectral analysis applied to LLM embeddings to surface relations that aren't explicit in the source corpus. - **[ai-notes](https://github.com/paudley/ai-notes)** (Shell) — Working notebook for local-model experimentation, ML papers worth tracking, and small reusable bits of inference plumbing. Public so the notes serve as their own changelog. - **[lru_cache](https://github.com/paudley/lru_cache)** (C++) — Fast, thread-safe Least-Recently-Used cache as a C++ template, with a comprehensive unit-test suite. First written in 2004 and still useful — the kind of small library that just needs to work. ## Publications - **Emergent Knowledge Graphs from High-Order Semantic Spaces** (2025-10-01). Working paper · Blackcat Informatics Inc. (2025). - **OXBench: A benchmark for evaluation of protein multiple sequence alignment accuracy** (2003-10-10). BMC Bioinformatics 4:47 (2003). doi:10.1186/1471-2105-4-47. - **Evaluating Usability and Security: All Ages** (2007-04-30). CHI 2007 — Workshop on Usability and Security. ## Patents - **Globally Aware Authentication System**. US 2008/0222706 A1, published 2008-09-11. - **System and method for user polling over a network**. US 13/538,858, published . ## Contact - Email: - Phone: +1 (780) 670-0484 - LinkedIn: - GitHub: - ORCID: - Mail care of: Blackcat Informatics® Inc., 112 Westbourne Rd., Spruce Grove, AB, Canada T7X 1R6 --- Copyright © 2003–2026 Patrick Colm Audley. Original written content licensed [Creative Commons BY-NC-SA CAv2.5](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/). Generated 2026-05-10T02:36:29-06:00 (deploy d310bca6c3d6254bb294fc961d7fff75e7df21af). --- ## Curriculum vitae # Patrick Colm Audley — Curriculum Vitae *Hacker · Full-Spectrum Technologist · Polymath* Spruce Grove, AB · · +1 (780) 670-0484 · · ORCID [0000-0003-4382-7625](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4382-7625) --- ## Summary **My career is, in essence, a single sentence: I translate the impossible to the real.** The pattern repeats across thirty years of consulting via [Blackcat Informatics® Inc.](https://blackcatinformatics.ca/) — fractional **CTO**, **researcher**, and **architect** engagements where the brief is the same: turn around the technical-team situation that everyone else has written off as unfixable; rescue the pre-launch data problem the in-house team has run out of ideas on; find signal in noise that prior teams have given up trying to extract. The solutions are usually unconventional, and they usually work. Scope spans regulated capital markets, geospatial intelligence, fintech, security, bioinformatics, and high-performance computing. I have certified financial filings as a CFO of a Canadian reporting issuer, raised institutional capital as a founder, operated petabyte-class data systems, and shipped to governments, public-market portfolios, and enterprise buyers. Currently focused on AI-agent governance ([coding-ethos](https://github.com/paudley/coding-ethos)) and emergent knowledge-graph research from high-order semantic spaces ([nonlinear-semantic-graphs](https://github.com/paudley/nonlinear-semantic-graphs)). ## Selected Outcomes - **Certified financial filings as CFO** of a Canadian reporting issuer; bridged regulated capital markets with cryptocurrency tokenisation (ABT Capital Markets, 2018–2024). - **Founded a UK security startup; raised £1.2 M** and contributed to a portfolio of 12+ adaptive-authentication patents (Cogneto, 2006–2007). - **Operated a 30 TB PostGIS geospatial pipeline** running near-real-time wildfire detection on heterogeneous satellite feeds; served multiple governments and commercial customers (Tanka Technologies, 2017–2022). - **Lead architect on a national PKI buildout** for a CLEC: 2,000+ systems, 1,000+ networks, 16 cities; led data-forensic investigations as a CSIRT member (GT Group Telecom, 1997–2001). - **Built a 100-processor research cluster** with custom PXE / imaging and Sun Grid Engine for the University of Dundee School of Life Sciences (2002–2004). - **30+ year Vancouver / Alberta startup-community veteran**; 25+ launches as a fractional executive via Blackcat Informatics; deep network across founders, funders, and operators (1994–present). - **Co-author of OXBench** (BMC Bioinformatics 2003), a foundational benchmark for protein multiple-sequence alignment that has guided the field for two decades. ## Experience ### Blackcat Informatics® Inc. · 1994–present **Founder & Principal Management Consultant** · *Management Consulting · Fractional CTO* High-end IT and management consulting for the Vancouver and Alberta startup communities. Domain expertise across high-performance and cloud computing, military-grade security, carrier-grade networking, blockchain, bioinformatics, machine learning, satellite imaging, and cryptology. - CTO-at-large engagements: high-level management, executive oversight, hands-on execution. - Solution architecture for complex technical problems — sparse-resource design and future-proofing. - Cloud navigation: clusters, grids, lambdas, microservices; devops automation across providers. - Startup process and execution from idea through early-stage funding. ### ABT Capital Markets Inc. · 2018–2024 **President, COO & CFO** · *Fintech · regulated capital markets · tokenisation* FinTech firm developing a compliant blockchain platform for tokenisation of Private Equity, Venture Capital, Real Estate, and other alternative assets. Asset Backed Tokens™ enable retail access to traditionally institutional markets. - Operated a Canadian reporting issuer for several years; certified financial filings as CFO. - Bridged regulated capital markets with the wild west of cryptocurrency. - Performed deal due diligence and led legal vetting. - Authored Solidity contracts and worked across multi-blockchain solutions. ### Tanka Technologies Inc. · 2017–2022 **CTO** · *Geospatial intelligence · satellite imagery analysis* Global-scale, high-throughput, real-time geospatial analysis and event-correlation systems — fusing public satellite feeds (GOES-R, MODIS, VIIRS, Himawari) with statistical and ML detection. - Built a worldwide early wildfire-detection pipeline with NRT analysis of heterogeneous satellite feeds. - Delivered data to multiple governments and government agencies plus commercial customers. - Operated a 30 TB PostgreSQL / PostGIS data store and routinely tuned heavy spatial queries. - Collaborated with university research clusters on LiDAR integration and forest-composition analysis. ### Strutta · 2015–2021 **CTO** · *Social marketing · brand engagement platforms* Built social-promotion platforms with a team of social-marketing experts; instrumented and shaped brand engagement at scale. - Ran the dev teams over several product iterations: hiring, team-building, training, direction. - Set the broad technical direction of Strutta and its fleet of related companies. - Operated as senior management inside a public-company structure. ### Mobio Technologies Inc. · 2013–2021 **Managing Director, Technology** · *Cloud platforms · public-market incubator* Owned the technical landscape across the Mobio / LX Ventures portfolio: acquisition due diligence, budget planning, cloud infrastructure, hiring, team management. *Mobio was acquired by LX Ventures, which subsequently rebranded back to Mobio.* - Built a large-scale cloud stack supporting an Alexa top-5000 site (2014). - Led multi-platform deploys across AWS, GCE, and Heroku. - DBA of last resort for the portfolio — fixing the evil problems no one else would. - Executive-team duties for a public-market incubator. ### Cogneto Development Inc. · 2006–2007 **Founder & CTO** · *Cognitive biometrics · adaptive authentication* Founded Cogneto in February 2006; raised £1.2 million; assembled a world-class engineering team and built a tightly-coupled user-centric / high-security software programme. - Contributed to a rich patent portfolio spanning over twelve patents. - Drove the meshing of user-centric design with adversary-aware security engineering. - Touched almost every facet of building a first-rate startup — funding, hiring, IP, GTM. ### University of Dundee · 2002–2004 **High-Performance Computing Manager** · *Computational biology · academic HPC* Specified, provisioned, and operated research-grade computing for the School of Life Sciences. - 20 TB IBM-based SAN with Tivoli Storage Manager — 2 Gbps pure NFS. - New Cisco-based network backbone with NAT and intrusion detection. - 100-processor research cluster on custom PXE / imaging, Sun Grid Engine, and a bespoke deployment package. - Self-discovering monitoring tools that mapped switch topology and surfaced problem areas as the network grew. ### GT Group Telecom · 1997–2001 **Sr. Ecommerce Architect — PKI & Cryptography** · *Competitive Local Telco · founding-team security* Founding-team security and PKI architect for a national CLEC. Designed and supervised construction of two high-security PKI vaults and the surrounding infrastructure. - Coordinated a national audit of GT's networks: 2000+ systems, 1000+ networks, 3 autonomous routing domains, 16 cities. - Key member of GT's Computer Security Incident Response Team; led several data-forensic investigations. - Designed PKI-based applications in Perl, C, C++, and PHP — including the Realtorlink Hybrid Authentication system and Secure Private Internet Messaging (SPIM). - Provided sales-support for PKI and security products. ## Earlier Roles - **2022–2023** — Senior Developer, Ardan Labs · *Go consulting · training & knowledge transfer* - **2022–2022** — Park Board Candidate, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver · *Civic engagement · Vancouver politics* - **2020–2022** — CTO, ESG Analytics · *Impact investing · ESG data* - **2017–2018** — Technical Advisory Board Member, Calyx Bio-Ventures Inc. · *Bio-ventures advisory* - **2015–2015** — Acting CTO (interim), PlaceSpeak Inc. · *Civic tech · location-based consultation* - **2011–2013** — Chief Architect & VP Engineering, Mobio Technologies Inc. · *Lean-startup cloud · payments* - **2011–2011** — Integration Architect, Dominion Enterprises · *Enterprise integration* - **2010–2011** — Sr. Developer, one45 Software · *Medical-education software* - **2008–2010** — VP Technology, Chaordix · *Crowdsourcing platforms* - **2008–2008** — Hacker — Security & Code Uplift, Galaxy Telecom · *VOIP · code-base auditing* - **2004–2006** — Sr. Software Architect, Adzilla New Media · *ICAP · inline web modification* - **1996–1997** — System Administrator / MIS, Axion Internet Inc. · *ISP infrastructure* ## Selected Open-Source Work - **[coding-ethos](https://github.com/paudley/coding-ethos)** (Go · MIT) — Policy-as-code enforcement for AI coding agents. MCP server + CEL policies + git hooks + SARIF + static-analysis guardrails so an autonomous agent can't ship code that fails your team's standards. - **[nonlinear-semantic-graphs](https://github.com/paudley/nonlinear-semantic-graphs)** (Python · MIT) — Discovering emergent knowledge-graph relations in high-order semantic vector spaces — manifold learning + spectral analysis applied to LLM embeddings to surface relations that aren't explicit in the source corpus. - **[ai-notes](https://github.com/paudley/ai-notes)** (Shell · MIT) — Working notebook for local-model experimentation, ML papers worth tracking, and small reusable bits of inference plumbing. Public so the notes serve as their own changelog. - **[lru_cache](https://github.com/paudley/lru_cache)** (C++ · GPL-2.0) — Fast, thread-safe Least-Recently-Used cache as a C++ template, with a comprehensive unit-test suite. First written in 2004 and still useful — the kind of small library that just needs to work. ## Publications - [Emergent Knowledge Graphs from High-Order Semantic Spaces](https://github.com/paudley/nonlinear-semantic-graphs) · *Working paper · Blackcat Informatics Inc. (2025)* · 2025-10-01 - [OXBench: A benchmark for evaluation of protein multiple sequence alignment accuracy](https://bmcbioinformatics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2105-4-47) · *BMC Bioinformatics 4:47 (2003)* · 2003-10-10 · doi:[10.1186/1471-2105-4-47](https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-4-47) - **Evaluating Usability and Security: All Ages** · *CHI 2007 — Workshop on Usability and Security* · 2007-04-30 ## Patents - [Globally Aware Authentication System](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20080222706A1) · US 2008/0222706 A1 · granted 2008-09-11 - [System and method for user polling over a network](https://patents.google.com/?q=13%2F538%2C858) · US 13/538,858 · *pending* ## Education - **School of Hard Knocks (Internet Edition)** — Young Hacker · 1993–1995 ## Languages English (Native) · French (Limited working proficiency) ## Skills & Technologies Software Architecture · Data Science · Spatial Analysis · Machine Learning Security Operations (MLSecOps) · Cloud Computing · Agile Methodologies · Software Development · Databases · Start-ups · Integration · Web Applications · Unix · Linux · E-commerce · Security · Mobile Applications · MySQL · SaaS · Software Design · Subversion · Mobile Devices · Architecture · Amazon Web Services (AWS) · Web Development · Scalability · Apache · Software Engineering · OOP · Product Development · Entrepreneurship · Network Security · Web Services · AJAX · Scrum · Cryptography · LAMP · Android · Managed Services · Data Center · PKI · REST · Program Management · STL Metaprogramming · Security Management · Open Source · Cryptocurrency · Go · Python · C++ · Ruby · JavaScript · Perl · PHP · jQuery · XML --- *Generated 10 May 2026 from ; build d310bca6c3d6254bb294fc961d7fff75e7df21af. Also available as [HTML](https://patrickaudley.com/cv.html), [PDF](https://patrickaudley.com/cv.pdf), and [plain text](https://patrickaudley.com/cv.txt).* --- ## Notes (full bodies) # Notes — Patrick Colm Audley *Working notes, position pieces, and short essays. Cross-posted from various platforms so they outlive any one of them.* Author: [Patrick Colm Audley](https://patrickaudley.com/) · License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA CAv2.5 · Canonical homepage: Each post is also available as standalone Markdown at `/posts/{slug}.md`. --- ## Engineering principles should be runnable policy, not slide-deck nostalgia **Date:** 2026-05-01 · **Cross-posted from:** [Reddit (r/GeminiCLI)](https://www.reddit.com/r/GeminiCLI/comments/1t146xk/keep_your_agents_in_line_codingethos_turns/) · **Tags:** `ai-agents`, `policy-as-code`, `coding-ethos`, `mcp`, `static-analysis` > If your team's standards live in a slide deck, your AI agents will violate them. coding-ethos compiles one YAML file into linter configs, git hooks, agent prompts, and an MCP server so the rules cannot drift between human and machine readers.

The thing I keep running into with multi-agent setups is that the engineering principles a team actually cares about — how to handle errors, when to wrap shell calls, what counts as a critical path — live in a wiki page or a slide deck nobody reads. That's already a problem for humans; for an LLM agent it is a guarantee of policy violation.

coding-ethos is the position I've taken: those principles belong in a single coding_ethos.yml file, and from that one file the build emits everything that needs to know about them — CLAUDE.md / GEMINI.md agent instructions, Ruff / Pyright / golangci-lint configs, compiled Go pre-commit hooks, agent tool-use guards, and an MCP server the agent can query at runtime.

The key invariant: the engine that writes the markdown rules is the exact same engine that evaluates CEL expressions at the git-hook level. They cannot drift. If the hook denies an action, the agent gets back a structured skill_id hint instead of a generic exit code — so the feedback loop closes inside the agent's own context rather than landing on a human's screen.

Heavily opinionated, currently slanted toward Python and Go, in active development. Posted on r/GeminiCLI with worked examples; read the original thread if you want the implementation walk-through, and feature requests are welcome on the repo.

*Standalone: · Canonical anchor: * --- ## Standard Graph Neural Networks need curved semantic manifolds **Date:** 2026-04-22 · **Cross-posted from:** [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7458177770238681088/) · **Tags:** `topological-data-analysis`, `graph-neural-networks`, `manifold-learning`, `knowledge-representation` > Standard GNNs are structurally constrained when mapping complex text attribution; linear aggregation in flat Euclidean space inevitably forces semantic drift. Looking to connect with researchers in TDA, geometric deep learning, and spectral graph theory.

Standard Graph Neural Networks are structurally constrained when mapping complex text attribution: linear aggregation in flat Euclidean space inevitably forces semantic drift. To map high-dimensional knowledge faithfully you have to transition to curved semantic manifolds, where the geometry itself carries the relational structure.

Across thirty years of building scientific analysis pipelines — genetics, satellite imagery, multi-continent high-resiliency financial applications — the through-line has been the same: representations must remain mathematically faithful to their underlying geometry, or they stop being interpretable the moment the data leaves your dev set.

I've recently open-sourced a framework that discovers emergent knowledge-graph relations in high-order semantic vector spaces through manifold learning and spectral analysis. Initial proofs, a small teaser, and the Python codebase live at paudley/nonlinear-semantic-graphs; the working paper that motivates the design is in Publications.

I'm looking to connect with researchers and applied scientists specialising in Topological Data Analysis, Geometric Deep Learning, and Knowledge Representation — especially anyone working on geodesic aggregation or spectral graph theory — to push these ideas into robust enterprise deployments. Comment on the LinkedIn original or drop me a line directly.

*Standalone: · Canonical anchor: * ---