Principal AI Architect · AI Governance
Bob Rapp
Helping enterprises ship good AI and prevent bad AI — by making governance something you can run, test, and prove.
About
Bob Rapp is a Principal AI Architect at the General Motors AI Center and co-founder of the AiGovOps Foundation, a nonprofit community that turns AI governance frameworks into executable, testable controls.
At GM, Bob leads AI Center work on AI tool literacy, builder enablement, and process transformation for a workforce of thousands. His career spans more than three decades in cloud, data, and AI architecture across automotive, telecommunications, healthcare, and software, including roles at Microsoft, IBM, VMware, Vodafone, and GE Healthcare.
His focus is policy-as-code: translating the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, ISO/IEC 42001, and the EU AI Act into controls that run in CI pipelines, agent patterns that separate read from act, and evidence that auditors can verify. He also mentors Central Washington University capstone students and publishes weekly bilingual (English/Spanish) action lists for practitioners.
Current roles
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Principal AI Architect · General Motors, GM AI CenterPresent
Enterprise AI architecture, enablement, and governance for one of the world's largest automakers.
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Co-Founder · AiGovOps Foundation2024 – present
Co-founded with Ken Johnston. A 501(c)(3) community of governance practitioners building open, executable AI-governance tooling.
Selected work
AiGovOps Beacon
Verifiable-evidence layer that translates NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001 into executable controls and audit-ready records.
AiGovOps Lantern
Human-readable companion to Beacon, so leaders and auditors can read what the controls actually prove.
Policy Foundry
Manufacturing AI-governance demo: agents propose, deterministic gates enforce, signed evidence supports verification, humans approve.
Umbrella-GovOps
Open-source policy-as-code in Rego with end-to-end tests, chaos testing, and evaluation harnesses for regulated AI.
Speaking
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Proving AI Value: ROI Strategies and Insights · TDWI Transform 2026, Anaheim2026
Leadership panel on measurable AI value, accountable ownership, and operating controls at enterprise scale.
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Intro to AI Governance · TDWI Transform 2026, Anaheim2026
Tutorial session on practical, executable AI governance.
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AiGovOps Beacon · AI House Seattle2026
Presentation of the Beacon audit and compliance framework.
Expertise
Quick facts
- Based in
- Seattle, Washington
- Education
- Executive MBA, University of Washington · B.A., Northwest Nazarene University · M.S. Machine Learning & AI in progress, Colorado State University Global
- Certification
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
- Patents
- Subscriber identity module (SIM) for mobile stations — US 9,369,938 B2 (2016) and continuation US 10,021,568 B2 (2018), assigned to Microsoft
- Off hours
- Hiking the Cascades with Larry the Lab, and baking bread
FAQ
Who is Bob Rapp?
Bob Rapp is a Principal AI Architect at the General Motors AI Center and co-founder of the AiGovOps Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds open-source, executable AI governance.
What does Bob Rapp do at the AiGovOps Foundation?
Bob Rapp co-founded the AiGovOps Foundation with Ken Johnston and leads its automation work: policy-as-code gates, checks, and tools such as AiGovOps Beacon that produce signed, verifiable evidence for AI governance.
What is Bob Rapp known for?
Bob Rapp is known for treating AI governance as engineering — turning NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, and EU AI Act requirements into tested controls that run in deployment pipelines — and for enterprise AI and cloud architecture at General Motors, Microsoft, IBM, GE Healthcare, and Vodafone.
Where is Bob Rapp based?
Bob Rapp is based in Seattle, Washington.
Press kit
Short bio (50 words). Bob Rapp is a Principal AI Architect at the General Motors AI Center and co-founder of the AiGovOps Foundation. He turns AI governance frameworks — NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, the EU AI Act — into policy-as-code controls that run in pipelines and produce evidence auditors can verify.
One line. Bob Rapp is a Principal AI Architect at the General Motors AI Center and co-founder of the AiGovOps Foundation.