We build civic systems.

Jarvus is a consultancy that brings technology solutions to public service organizations.

Our mission

Our mission is to move the world forward in positive ways, with everything from our technology projects and products to the supportive remote working environment we create. One step at a time, we’ve spent over a decade building a team of talented technologists who share this vision.

Read more about our ventures ↓

Our team

We are fine-tuned engine of freelancers, entrepreneurs, and drop-outs. Our overlapping skills allow us to anticipate the needs of coworkers and clients alike. Without the structural limitations set by most larger companies, we’re able to work faster and more efficiently. These are the people that make it happen.

  • Julia Schaumburg

    Chief Research Officer

  • Chris Alfano

    Chief Technology Officer

    Chris has more than 15 years of experience with system architecture, app development, and systems administration. Over the past seven years, he has built more than 30 projects using Sencha’s Ext JS and Touch frameworks, for clients such as Time Warner Cable. In 2012 he organized and founded Code for Philly, a local volunteer chapter of the national nonprofit Code for America, and still serves as co-captain.

  • Nafis Bey

    Senior Engineer

    Nafis brings ten+ years of development experience to the table. Having trained with Jarvus prior to employment, Nafis gained valuable experience working on both Jarvus Products and Services clients. Nafis has extensive knowledge of PHP, MySQL, and various Javascript frameworks.

  • Michael Chow

    Senior Data Scientist

    Michael is a data scientist and learning researcher. He serves as a co-director at Code for Philly. In past lives, he worked on adaptive assessment tools in ed tech, and received a PhD in cognitive psychology from Princeton University.

  • Ryon Coleman

    Senior UX Engineer

    As Jarvus’ interface engineer, Ryon is responsible for crafting seamless interfaces for company products and service projects. His keen eye for detail and years of experience aid him in his ability to oversee quality assurance for all of our projects’ interfaces.

  • Charlie Costanzo

    Data Analytics TPM

    Charlie works in data science as a data analytics technical product manager. He has a longstanding interest in civic technology, land-use planning, and open data. Previously, Charlie served as an executive director of Code for Philly. He was also a partner in Ontray Inc. and enjoyed the world of restaurant technology and startups before exiting and transitioning into data services.

  • Natalya Diaz

    Data Scientist

    Natalya is a software developer who has moved into the role of Data Scientist at Jarvus. She brings 5+ years of full-stack development after transitioning from a career as a biomedical researcher in immunology. When she is not diving into data, she is bothering her dog Stormy, gardening, or making basement wine.

  • Rana Fayez

    Technical Project Manager

    A former adjunct professor at Drexel University and Jefferson University, Rana created and taught accessible educational curriculum for organizers and artists. They are also passionate about empowering communities with digital and technical literacy. Rana has a background in community journalism and arts organizing.

  • Holly Giang

    Technical Project Manager

  • Michael Gunn

    Senior Engineer

    Michael is open and eager to learn and grow his ever-expanding skill set. He spent 4 years as an entrepreneur, running his own custom Wordpress development firm. His background in web technologies such as Wordpress, HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, MySQL, SQL allow him to be a proficient, knowledgeable project manager. His personality and experience position him perfectly to communicate with both the engineers and the client.

  • Audrey Jones

    Virtual Assistant

  • Kat Jost

    VP of Delivery

    Kat leads high-performing software development teams and teaches strategies for improving social wellness in the workplace. She serves on the leadership team at Code for Philly and as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at Technology Learning Collaborate (TLC), a nonprofit that promotes digital equity in Philadelphia. In a past life, she was the founder of Skilled Not Ill, a mental wellness social club. Kat loves volunteering, hiking, and playing with her dog JJ.

  • India Kea

    Service Designer
    UX Lead

    India is a Service Designer with a demonstrated history of elevating human-centered spaces, including nonprofit, behavioral sciences, and e-learning industries. An exemplary researcher, with a penchant for UX writing, public speaking, quality assurance, project management, and a host of design thinking systems, tools, and practices.

  • Anderson Laventure

    Jr Automation Test Engineer

    Anderson received his Masters in Education from Temple University and has taught in the School District of Philadelphia and Charter schools. He is a self-taught developer who enjoys learning new technologies and creating side projects. He enjoys listening to podcast while taking his dogs out on long walks.

  • James Lott

    Senior DevOps Engineer

    James is a career infrastructure engineer who has evolved into a DevOps specialist through years of serving both enterprise institutions as well as through contributions to civic hacking as a long time member of Code for Philly. His experience covers a wide swath ranging from building and operating production systems for 24×7 service providers to consulting and architecting for enterprise teams which are doing the same for their own customers. James draws on this deep well of experience to construct stable, operationally sound platforms for developers to suitably deliver their work on with the reliability results that business critical applications demand.

  • Laurie Merrell

    GTFS Data Scientist

    Laurie is a data scientist, transit data enthusiast, and proud Chicagoan. Before data science, she worked in software quality assurance and higher education administration.

  • Aaron Couch

    VP of Technology

Our ventures

Jarvus funds and supports a variety of civic and educational initiatives with the goal of using software to benefit as many citizens as possible.

Slate is an education technology platform, built by Jarvus and co-designed with our partner schools. Our platform provides the technological infrastructure for new learning methodologies, taking advantage of one-to-one device programs. Slate was conceived by Jarvus engineer Chris Alfano when local magnet high school Science Leadership Academy was struggling to manage the Apple laptops given to every student. Now, after more than a decade of maturation, the platform has grown into a suite of competency and project learning management, student information, hardware tracking, and reporting tools. More than a dozen local and regional high schools, including SLA, Building 21, and Matchbook Learning, run entirely on the Slate platform.

Slate intends to redefine the way students use technology to learn, and the way we evaluate outcomes in public schools. Step 1 in changing the world is fixing our fundamentally flawed public education systems.

N3rd Street Gamers is a professional eSports organization led by retired professional gamer Steve Csikos. Its mission is to bring eSports into the mainstream by combining high quality productions with casual social gaming events, all within an organically-grown community of gamers.

We believe that competition provides a necessary outlet for energy, as well as training in crucial collaborative skills such as team communication, leadership, and discipline. Providing this opportunity for social competition to our youth is a necessary alternative to physical competition, which can be exclusionary to some by nature.

NSG has began as an idea over ten years ago, and has grown into a full-fledged brand, reaching hundreds of thousands of gamers. The league continues to expand its offerings of casual and professional events.

Localhost is a tech community center in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia. Anchored by the Jarvus offices next door, our 2,800-ft warehouse space is home to N3rd Street Gamers and Code for Philly.

Localhost provides a safe place for students of technology at any level to learn and build together. Check out the event calendar and stop by!

Brand assets

Need the Jarvus logo for your project or publication? Download it here in a variety of colors and sizes.

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