Our story
Skylight was launched in June of 2017. We're currently made up of 44 people and one ferret. A lot of us originally worked for civic-oriented groups such as 18F, the U.S. Digital Service, and the Presidential Innovation Fellows. Now, as part of Skylight, we're working hard to cultivate an incredible team and culture.
What brings us together is a passion for creating better outcomes for the public through great government digital services. We're basically impact junkies. But we're also engineers, developers, designers, product managers, consultants, writers, speakers, inventors, roboticists, gamers, authors, veterans, entrepreneurs, parents, and more. Such a diverse team always gives us a unique perspective on things.
Our official headquarters is in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but we're a distributed and remote-friendly team currently spread across 20 different states. Sometimes the nature of our client work calls for closer proximity to their location. So far, we've worked with clients located in places like Washington DC, Hartford (Connecticut), Montgomery (Alabama), Baltimore (Maryland), and Ottawa (Canada).
We're also certified by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) company. This special SBA designation means we're committed to revitalizing local communities through job creation. In turn, we're granted privileged access to federal government contract opportunities, including up to $4M per contract award.
Meet the team
Chris Cairns
Digital Transformer
Chris served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow, and co-founded 18F and Technology Transformation Services, both housed within the General Services Administration. He specializes in digital leadership and transformation, digital procurement, and product development and management. Chris lives in Florida.
Nicole Campbell
Product Manager
Nicole is a product manager with a passion for building technology that solves complex user problems. Most recently she worked as a consultant at Pivotal Labs/VMware to help transform the way large enterprises and startups build software. She specializes in extreme programming, lean product management, and user-centered design. Nicole lives in Illinois.
Victor Zapanta
UX Designer
Victor co-founded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Design+Tech team, and served as a member of 18F. His design leadership spans multiple high-profile projects, including data.gov, foia.gov, my.uscis.gov, and cloud.gov. He specializes in design leadership, service design, user experience design, and design research. Victor resides in New York.
Maya Benari
UX Designer
Maya is a former member of 18F where she worked on improving the user experience of government and developed the U.S. Web Design System. She specializes in front-end development, UX design, accessibility, and design systems. She's also a former Code for America fellow. Maya lives in California.
Lara Kohl
UX Designer
Lara is a former member of the U.S. Digital Service, where she served as the UX lead over the Veteran Appeals Modernization initiative. She's also a former professor at NYU, SUNY, and Pratt Institute. Lara specializes in design leadership, design research, service design, and user experience design. Lara lives in New York.
Shashank Khandelwal
Digital Transformer
Shashank is a former member of 18F, where he held multiple leadership positions, including Director of cloud.gov. He's also a former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Design+Tech fellow. Shashank specializes in digital leadership and transformation, digital procurement, software engineering, and cloud computing. He lives in Maryland.
Laura King
UX Designer
Laura is a UX researcher, strategist, and designer. She loves to solve complex problems by empathizing with and understanding the needs of users. Laura lives in Colorado.
Josh Dorothy
DevOps Engineer
Josh is a former member of the U.S. Digital Service, with an interest in building both great platforms and great products. He specializes in DevOps engineering, cloud computing, and user-focused software development. Josh resides in Virginia.
Abby Raskin
Product Manager
Abby is a former member of the U.S. Digital Service, who is drawn to complex problems and passionate about improving the human experience of technology. She specializes in product management and UX research. Abby lives in Texas.
Gabriel Ramirez
Software Engineer
Gabriel is a former member of 18F and Pivotal, who is passionate about coaching, mentoring, and technical excellence. He specializes in software engineering, APIs, DevSecOps, cloud computing, data engineering, and data science. Gabriel lives in Texas.
Ashley Treni
UX Designer
Ashley is a UX researcher and designer, with a background in information design and data visualization. As a Design Fellow for the social impact incubator, Blue Ridge Labs, she launched and co-founded JustFix.nyc. Ashley currently teaches UX design at General Assembly. She lives in Rhode Island.
Robert Read
Software Engineer
Robert served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow and co-founded 18F. He's been programming since he was 13 years old, and holds a PhD in computer science. Robert builds robots, among other things, for public good. He specializes in software engineering, data science and engineering, engineering management, and agile practices. Robert lives in Texas.
Lesley Evans
UX Researcher
Lesley is a UX researcher, with a passion for creating delightful user experiences. She specializes in a variety of qualitative and quantitative research techniques, including user interviews, user modeling, usability testing, prototyping, and more. Lesley lives in Colorado.
Nick Bristow
Software Engineer
Nick is a former member of 18F, who relentlessly pursues creating products that are fully accessible and meet the needs of all users. He specializes in accessibility, software engineering, frontend development, and cloud computing. Nick resides in Virginia.
Geoff Mulligan
IoT Architect
Geoff served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow, and has developed standards that power the internet, including IPv6 and 6LoWPAN. He specializes in Internet of Things, distributed and embedded systems engineering, networking technologies, and privacy and security. Geoff resides in Colorado.
Victoria Suwardiman
UX Researcher
Victoria is a UX researcher, who made the crossover from computer science. She specializes in a number of qualitative and quantitative research techniques, including usability testing, journey mapping, and wireframing. Victoria resides in Massachusetts.
Colin Craig
Software Engineer
Colin is a former member of 18F, who is passionate about coaching, mentoring, and leading. While at 18F, he served in technical leadership roles on products such as login.gov, analytics.usa.gov, everykidinapark.gov, and FBI Crime Data Explorer. He specializes in software engineering, APIs, DevOps, and data engineering. Colin lives in North Carolina.
Amelia Wellers
Engagement Manager
Amelia is a builder at heart. A recent graduate of Cornell Tech's MBA program, she has expertise in product management, digital strategy, and marketing. Amelia led digital transformation initiatives at the NYC Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity and the Cambridge Innovation Center. She lives in New York.
Julia Hogan
Software Engineer
Julia is a software engineer excited that she's figured out how to use technology to help people. She's committed to the challenge of improving government services through the integration of smart digital solutions. She most recently worked as an employee of NYC government, building sites and services to increase data access. She lives in New York.
Andrew Wagner
Software Engineer
Andrew is a polyglot software engineer, with a passion for delivering technical excellence. He's worked in the govtech space his entire career, and specializes in software engineering, DevOps, microservices, APIs, and cloud computing. Andrew lives in Virginia.
Becca Bartola
UX Designer
Becca is a former Etsy designer, with a passion for creating positive change through great user experiences. She specializes in user research, user experience design, and visual design. Becca lives in Pennsylvania.
Sean Johnson
Software Engineer
Sean's built and exited two tech startups, one of which was bought by IBM. He's been programming since he was six years old, and specializes in software engineering, product management, and cloud computing. Sean lives in North Carolina.
Brandon Mader
Data Scientist
Brandon is a recent graduate of Dartmouth College, where he earned a double major in Math and Computer Science. He's passionate about making a positive difference through data science, engineering, and analytics. Brandon lives in Ohio.
Kin Lane
API Architect
Kin served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow, and is a world-recognized expert in APIs. Since 2010, he has written over 3,000 articles and spoken at over 50 events on API-related topics. Kin also specializes in software engineering, microservices, data science and engineering, cloud computing, and enterprise software. He lives in Washington.
Peggy Chau
UX Researcher
Peggy is a UX researcher and designer who transitioned from clinical neuroscience research. She's worked on various projects, from researching robot vacuums with Samsung to redesigning a pain communication app with UPMC. Peggy lives in Massachusetts.
Zack Gehin
UX Designer
Zack is certified in UX by the Nielsen Norman Group and specializes in complex application design. His entrepreneurial spirit adds a unique approach towards empathizing for users and identifying the right problems to solve. He's helped form design teams, and served as a design leader in the non-profit, financial investments, and healthcare industries. Zack lives in Alabama.
Nick Clyde
Software Engineer
Nick is a software engineer with a passion for using technology to solve the right kinds of problems. He especially enjoys building APIs, designing and optimizing databases, and crafting system architectures. He has experience working on and improving high-traffic government digital services. Nick lives in California.
Eric Richards
UX Researcher
Eric is a UX researcher and designer, with a passion for co-creation and tackling complex social challenges. He was a 2019 Civic Digital Fellow at 18F and graduated from UC San Diego with degrees in Human-Computer Interaction and Design for Social Innovation. Eric lives in California.
Charlye Tran
Product Manager
Charlye loves to solve complex problems. As a former software and data engineer, she now specializes in product management and is certified in UX by Nielsen Norman Group. Charlye lives in Alabama.
Tomi Obikunle
UX Researcher
Tomi is a UX researcher and designer who strives to meet and honor people where they are. She specializes in continuous discovery, usability testing, and user-centered design. Tomi currently lives in Illinois.
Adam Weber
Software Engineer
Adam is a software engineer who likes to solve hard problems and build products that delight users. He's been coding since age 10 and specializes in fixing mystery bugs, integrating with legacy systems, and "just making stuff work." Adam lives in Oregon.
Phoebe Espiritu
Product Designer
Phoebe has over 20 years of product design, UX design, and leadership experience. She was named among the 25 Women Driving New York's Tech Scene. Previously, she served as a member of 18F, taught MFA Design Entrepreneurship at Parsons Design and Technology, mentored dozens of startups, and led design at a number of technology companies.
Elisa Lee
Software Engineer
Elisa is a software engineer with a desire to use technology to support positive change in communities. Elisa's previously worked in the developer tools, education technology, and non-profit spaces. Elisa lives in Minnesota.
Kyle Magida
Data Scientist & Engineer
Kyle specializes in data science and engineering. He's passionate about getting people solving complex problems the right data at the right time. He formerly worked for the Massachusetts Data Office, and was in the inaugural class of the University of Chicago's Computational Analysis & Public Policy program. Kyle lives in Massachusetts.
Suzanne Chapman
UX Designer
Suzanne is a user experience generalist with 14 years of experience doing user research, service design, interaction design, and content strategy. Previously, she worked at the Center for Civic Design to help state agencies improve voting and elections and lead a team of designers at the U.S. Digital Service working with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Suzanne lives in Tennessee.
Olivia Lucas
UX Researcher
Olivia is a UX researcher and designer, who previously worked at Fjord. She's passionate about combining qualitative and quantitative research methods to solve complex problems in a human-centered way. Olivia lives in Georgia.
Jordan Guinn
Software Engineer
Jordan is devoted to building products and platforms that deliver great user experiences. He specializes in software engineering, data engineering, and DevOps. Jordan lives in Oregon.
Kari Hodges
UX Researcher
Kari is a UX researcher with experience in startup, higher education, and non-profit industries. Before Skylight, she was a UX research consultant and growth strategist for health-tech companies integrating AI into their service models. As an MBA from MIT, Kari leverages interdisciplinary collaboration and frameworks to create human-centered solutions. She lives in Rhode Island.
Always at your service
If you have a question for us, or would just like to get in touch, drop us a message at [email protected]. If you'd like to inquire about hiring us for a job, fill out this short form. If you're interested in joining our team, check out our career opportunities. If you'd like to explore forming a partnership to pursue government opportunities, let's talk business.
We love to share our thoughts on technology, design, procurement, business, culture, and more with the world. You can read up on our latest thinking at our company blog.
You can also follow along on Twitter @skylight_hq.
Feel free to reach out directly to one of our leaders — Chris Cairns, Shashank Khandelwal, or Phoebe Espiritu.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us.