Introducing new additions to the team (Pt. 2)

Last Friday we introduced the first set of new employees, joining us to help with. So many new an awesome folks we had to break it out into two separate announcements. But we're excited to introduce everyone and get the full list up on our official team page.

Vidya Spandana

Vidya believes in the combined powers of business, technology, partnerships, and good storytelling to solve global challenges that humanity faces. For over 14 years she has advised technology companies on marketing, business development, and product development through accelerators and angel networks such as Tech Stars' Nike+, Astia, Portland Incubator Experiment, and PSF. Vidya co-founded DMV.org and helped to turn it into a multi-million dollar business by the time she earned her degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Under Vidya's strategic guidance, Online Guru, an online-marketing company made the Inc.5000 list reporting 391% growth in three years. Prior to joining Ushahidi, Vidya was a Presidential Innovation Fellow working with the White House to leverage US Government open data for the mission to end global poverty. She is also the board president of Code Scouts,  the founder of Neppalli Strategy, and the artist behind the right brain. Vidya lives in both Portland and in the SF Bay Area, with frequent travels to lands far beyond the west coast--making art, surfing long lefts, retreating to mountain monasteries, and producing short films. You can find her on Twitter @vid_spandana.

Sebastian Mitchell

Sebastian is a UI/UX designer and front-end developer. Technically a UK citizen, he grew up in various countries around the world, and doesn't consider himself tied to one location. Before joining Ushahidi, Sebastian was the designer for an early-stage startup in Brazil, and worked as a contractor designing interfaces for mobile health and data collection projects. At Ushahidi, he designs the interfaces for customized deployments of the Ushahidi platform and projects built off the Crowdmap API. Sebastian's hobbies include juggling, traveling to new countries, and reading about history and psychology.

Zack Halloran

Zack is a web hack, MBA, and all around technology enthusiast focused on evolving and growing Crowdmap. His first experience on open source software projects came as the program manager at the Intelligent Health Lab at Boston Children's Hospital. There he worked on open source Health IT platforms like Indivo and SMART. Prior to joining Ushahidi he was the CTO of RNsights, a company that builds online communities for healthcare workers where they can share experiences, knowledge and best practices. He is also the co-founder of EncouragePlay, a website dedicated to nurturing play skills in children, especially those who struggle with social interaction. You can follow his non-sensical ramblings @zackhalloran and @fullstackweb.

Gregory Omondi

Gregory is a Bachelor of Business Information Technology (BBIT) Graduate from Strathmore University currently pursuing a Master of Science Degree in Mobile Telecommunication Innovation at Strathmore University. He is one of the founding members of @iLabAfrica, an IT Research Centre under the Strathmore University Faculty of Information Technology, where he worked for two years as a Research Assistant. As a Grant Writer at Ushahidi, he is responsible for securing institutional support for Ushahidi's projects and programs, as assigned. He is also responsible for conducting a full range of activities required to prepare, submit, and manage unrestricted operational and restricted project grant proposals to various funding sources.

Woody Gilk

Woody is a web application developer living in Grand Marais, Minnesota, USA who joined the Ushahidi Platform team in 2014. He has been building websites since he was 16 years old and has worked in website development his entire life. Prior to joining Ushahidi, he has worked for both small and large companies, as well as running a successful freelancing business for several years. Woody also contributes to other open source software, including co-founding the Kohana PHP Framework. When not programming, he likes to brew tea gong fu style, tend to his garden, and ride single-speed bicycles.