Expanding our team to bring fresh ideas and groundbreaking programs to life.

2026 has been a full and fulfilling year — and we haven’t even closed the books on the third quarter yet. Since our last company update in early April, we’ve launched six new initiatives on behalf of our federal clients:

• Permitting Innovators, a Council on Environmental Quality program to modernize federal permitting for the 21st century, sourced tech solutions through an open call and hosted nearly 500 attendees at the Permitting Innovators Expo this summer.
• The LymeX Visible Voices Prize invited patients, caregivers, clinicians, and innovators to create clear, trusted educational resources, and will soon announce winners.
• The Careers in Your Community Challenge, part of the CTE Momentum series, invites high schools to propose solutions that improve career exploration at their schools.
• The Single Shield Prize, an $80+ million competition to advance single-administration vaccine platforms for pandemic influenza A(H5N1), will host a Proposers’ Day in New York next week.
• The Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge, part of the NASA TechLeap Prize, invited applicants to propose payloads that can be manipulated by a robotic arm in low Earth orbit. Phase 1 winners will be announced soon.
• The Orbital Clarity Challenge, also part of the NASA TechLeap Prize, is currently open for submissions and seeks to advance orbital drag measurement for safer, more predictable satellite flight paths.

In between launches, we’ve celebrated Founding Partner Sara Holoubek’s new fellowship with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, shifted our Nowcasting series from analysis to agenda, announced a new podcast on the purpose of education, and reimagined our Lab Report newsletter as a robust monthly publication.

This thoughtful, ambitious work doesn’t happen on its own; our team has expanded to bring fresh ideas and groundbreaking programs to life. We’re pleased to share the news of recent hires and promotions at Luminary Labs.

New hires and promotions

Olivia Anderle joined Luminary Labs in 2022 as a Senior Talent Associate and was recently promoted to People Operations Manager. This new role expands her purview to include onboarding, professional development, and internal training programs, as well as employee engagement and experience initiatives. She will also continue to build the company’s team of full-time employees and our extended team of contractors, providing an exceptional end-to-end recruitment experience for all involved in the hiring process.

Taylor Garner joined Luminary Labs as a Senior Associate. She brings experience working across government agencies, multilaterals, NGOs, and development banks to support complex programs in the U.S. and abroad. Her work centers on helping clients solve complex problems through innovative approaches, strong project management, and thoughtful stakeholder engagement — moving from strategy to practical implementation. She is currently supporting our Permitting Innovators work with the Council on Environmental Quality, as well as the Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge with the NASA TechLeap Prize.

Emma Stevens joined Luminary Labs as an Associate. She brings expertise in public-sector workflows, stakeholder engagement, and interagency collaboration. Emma excels at identifying problems, achieving consensus, and mapping the pathway to an actionable solution. She is currently supporting our teams working on the LymeX Visible Voices Prize, LymeX Diagnostics Prize, and the NASA TechLeap Prize’s Orbital Clarity Challenge.