Highlight Joins ServiceNow Partner Program

Highlight today announced it has joined the ServiceNow Partner Program. Highlight accelerates digital transformation with ServiceNow ITAM, ITSM, CSM, HRSD engagements.

Highlight’s Digital Government team provides automation services, enterprise ToolChain management, software development, DevSecOps, legacy system maintenance and modernization, and more to deliver customized solutions for our federal government customers. Joining the ServiceNow Partner Program expands our capability to offer superior automation services to our federal government customers.

“Highlight Technologies is proud to continue to serve our clients with emerging technology initiatives such as AI through trusted platforms like ServiceNow. This partnership only further signals our commitment to creating efficiencies in program cost, schedule, and performance,” said Emilie Scantlebury, Director of Corporate Portfolio Development.

About Highlight

Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) is an award-winning, employee-owned, ISO® 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 44001, ISO 56000 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3, and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised federal contractor that provides Digital Government and Mission Support services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Our customers include National Security (DHS, State, Army, Navy, DISA, the Joint Staff, DTRA, Intel), Health IT (USAID, USDA, NIH, HRSA, EPA), and Citizen Services (FCC, FDIC, FTC, GSA, HHS, SBA, Education, Labor). For more information, please visit www.highlighttech.com.

ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo, Now, Now Platform, and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Highlight Ranks 20th on Washington Business Journal Corporate Diversity Index

Highlight has ranked 20th on the 2021 Washington Business Journal Corporate Diversity Index.

Highlight is one of the 36 companies in the Greater Washington D.C. area to be recognized in the Washington Business Journal Corporate Diversity Index. This accolade is ranked by percentage of total employees that are Persons of Color. We are proud to report as of January 2022, 57.10% of Highlight’s employees are people of color.

One of our primary goals as an organization is to create an environment that celebrates and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusivity. Our team sets yearly goals to promote DEI progress across our organization, our recruiting efforts, employee training, and robust professional development opportunities.

Rebecca Andino, Highlight CEO, “I am so proud of our innovative and customer-focused team at Highlight. Our strong culture of teamwork, inclusiveness, and respect has enabled Highlight to attract and retain a highly diverse workforce. It is an honor to be recognized as a top diverse midsized company by the Washington Business Journal.”

About Highlight
Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) is an award-winning, employee-owned, ISO® 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 44001, ISO 56000 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3, and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised federal contractor that provides Digital Government and Mission Support services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Our customers include National Security (DHS, State, Army, Navy, DISA, the Joint Staff, DTRA, Intel), Health IT (USAID, USDA, NIH, HRSA, EPA), and Citizen Services (FCC, FDIC, FTC, GSA, HHS, SBA, Education, Labor). For more information, please visit www.highlighttech.com.

About Washington Business Journal
Washington Business Journal is owned by parent company American City Business Journals. American City Business Journals (ACBJ) is the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the United States, with 44 business publications across the country reaching more than 3.6 million readers each week.

Highlight and RP Professional Services Create Joint Venture Opus Federal

RP Professional Services and Highlight are proud to announce the creation of the joint venture, Opus Federal. This partnership is in direct connection to our SBA-approved Mentor-Protégé. Opus Federal combines the strengths of both organizations including our joint expertise, customer knowledge, capabilities, and delivery models to provide optimized, end-to-end Development and Modernization and Missions Solutions including Software Development, Health IT, Communications, and International Development support services. Both companies have been servicing the federal government for over a decade across defense, national security, international development, and health sectors.

RP Professional Services is an SBA certified 8a and a CVE verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) providing Software Development, Cybersecurity, Mission Support, Enterprise IT, and Mission Solutions serving agencies including SBA, USAID, and NIH.

“The Opus Federal joint venture is the exciting next step in the already strong relationship between Highlight and RP. The RP team has learned a lot from our Mentor Protégé relationship with Highlight, and Opus Federal will be a way to deliver the best of what both companies have to offer to our clients,” said Rish Patel, CEO and Founder of RP Professional Services.

Highlight is an employee-owned federal contractor providing Digital Government and Mission Solutions services including DevSecOps, Enterprise ToolChain, data management, loans and grants services, full-scope communications support, and International Development support services. For over a decade, Highlight has served over 20 federal government agencies including USCIS, SBA, and USAID.

“Highlight is excited to continue working with RP through our Opus Federal joint venture. Our companies already team successfully on multiple contracts, so this is a proven relationship. Our cohesive organization and combined past performance will enable Opus to respond rapidly to critical needs and deliver the highest quality service to our government clients,” said Rebecca Andino, CEO of Highlight.

About RP Professional Services

Recently celebrating our tenth anniversary, RP Professional Services, LLC is a full-service 8(a) and CVE-Verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) serving federal customers. RP is currently supporting contracts at the SBA, USAID, PBGC, SEC, USDA, and NIH. Our dedication to our employees and clients is driven by our promise to deliver excellence, value, and flexibility. Living up to our motto, “people, not just resources,” means consistently investing in our employees and empowering them to deliver optimal results.

About Highlight

Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) is an award-winning, employee-owned, ISO® 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 44001 certified, ISO 56000 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3, and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised federal contractor that provides IT development and transformation, secure IT operations, and mission support services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Our customers include National Security (DHS, State, Army, Navy, DISA, the Joint Staff, DTRA, Intel), Health IT (USAID, USDA, NIH, HRSA, EPA) and Citizen Services (FCC, FDIC, FTC, GSA, HHS, SBA, Education, Labor). For more information, please visit www.highlighttech.com.

Highlight Earns 2022 Great Places to Work Certification­™

Highlight is proud to recently be Certified™ by Great Place to Work®. The prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Highlight.  This year, 97% of Highlight’s employees said it’s a great place to work – 38 points higher than what the average U.S. employees say about their employer.

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and the leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue, employee retention, and increased innovation.

“Great Place to Work Certification™ isn’t something that comes easily – it takes ongoing dedication to the employee experience,” said Sarah Lewis-Kulin, vice president of global recognition at Great Place to Work. “It’s the only official recognition determined by employees’ real-time reports of their company culture. Earning this designation means that Highlight is one of the best companies to work for in the country.”

“I’m so pleased that our employees feel that Highlight is a Great Place to Work. I’m grateful to our entire team for implementing the corporate culture I have always envisioned, combined with the business infrastructure to support it. This is a great honor, and yet we are far from finished— we still have many exciting initiatives in the queue!” said Rebecca Andino, Highlight CEO.

Highlight is proud to be an employee-owned company driven to provide impactful and rewarding careers. Our team offers robust professional development opportunities, including support to obtain professional training and certifications, internal mobility opportunities, and our two internal offerings: our Career Development and Leadership Development Programs. Highlight is also dedicated to serving our communities through our ongoing HighlightCares program. In 2021, we completed five initiatives benefiting Feeding America, One Tree Planted, the Mission Continues, and Salvation Army, donating over 30K and 350+ hours.

According to Great Place to Work research, job seekers are 4.5 times more likely to find a great boss at a Certified great workplace. Additionally, employees at Certified workplaces are 93% more likely to look forward to coming to work, and are twice as likely to be paid fairly, earn a fair share of the company’s profits, and have a fair chance at promotion.

WE’RE HIRING!

Looking to grow your career at a company that puts its people first? Visit our careers page at: https://careers-highlighttech.icims.com.

About Highlight

Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) is an award-winning, employee-owned, ISO® 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 44001 certified, ISO 56000 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3, and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised federal contractor that provides IT Digital Government, and Mission Support services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Our customers include National Security (DHS, State, Army, Navy, DISA, the Joint Staff, DTRA, Intel), Health IT (USAID, USDA, NIH, HRSA, EPA) and Citizen Services (FCC, FDIC, FTC, GSA, HHS, SBA, Education, Labor). For more information, please visit www.highlighttech.com.

Check out our Great Place to Work Certification™ Profile here: https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/7008283

About Great Place to Work Certification™

Great Place to Work® Certification™ is the most definitive “employer-of-choice” recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience – specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place to Work-Certified.

About Great Place to Work®

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting, and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All™.

Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedInTwitterFacebook and Instagram.

Three Ways to Restore Public Trust in Health Information

Public health information is now available in an instant to citizens, with both positive and negative consequences. This is an emerging challenge for public health leaders who must break through the noise of an ever-expanding digital landscape to educate and improve American lives.

The importance of strategic communications – especially in the fight against misinformation – was a major topic of conversation at the Annual Public Health Association’s Nation Conference in Denver, Colo., held in October 2021.

Misinformation is not just hurtful – it is lethal,” said Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Chief Medical Officer for Prevention at the American Heart Association. The medical and public health community is being put to the test like never before. Digital misinformation shifts focus away from research and care. And Sanchez is concerned that public health leaders don’t have the tools and experience needed to combat unreliable information.

How Public Health Can Combat Misinformation

Public health messaging is largely centered around three tenets. Each requires focus and strategy:

Focus on the message: Words matter. Public health messaging must be crafted in such a way that the message is relatable to each segment of target audience.

The words, phrases, and emotions which we all use to communicate daily reflect how we are interpreting and navigating the world around us. Digital content is often at risk of miss-the-mark if developed in a bubble.

Before impactful content can be created, research must be conducted to better understand the audience: how they speak, interact, engage, and navigate online. Often the message needs to be culturally and/or socially tailored to appeal to a user’s use of language and values – a topic that NIH has been conducting extensive research over.

Focus on the message channel: The vehicle in which a message is delivered is critical. This must be taken into consideration when attempting to communicate with each group and sub-group.

The digital space will continue to expand. Conversations are happening across a variety of legacy and new applications every moment, every day. At the same time, not all communities have the same digital literacy or equitable access to the same digital tools. Public health and industry leaders must work together to build strategies that mitigate such risks to better reach all audiences with message campaigns.

Follow-through: It takes very little for the public to lose trust or faith in the public health community. Operations and logistics must be ironed out to deliver on message promises.

Trust in public health is built on consistency and transparency. The commitments we make online must be able to be honored in “real-life” as communities receive messages from our leaders. Stakeholders in the public health community such as Industry, the research community, the medical community, and others must come together to build a central message. In doing so, our leaders can cultivate inter-discipline allyship, increase the transparency of what trends are being recognized across these groups, and build skillsets and capacity across the public health community.

Our nation’s public health challenges are new, but they are not unbeatable. Let’s work to empower government agencies with expanded digital communications tools and strategies. It’s what our nation needs today to build a better tomorrow.


Written by: Emilie Scantlebury | Director of Corporate Portfolio Development

Highlight Joins UIPath Partnership Program

Highlight is proud to announce joining the UiPath Partner Network. UiPath offers the most robust, highest-rated, and most widely adopted Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform available.

Highlight provides mission-critical software development, DevSecOps, automation, and legacy system maintenance and modernization services for our federal government customers. Becoming a UiPath partner equips our team with extended automation capabilities.

Adam McNair President & COO said, “Highlight is thrilled to advance our successful experience with UiPath by joining the partner network. This engagement with UiPath furthers our capabilities to engineer and automate processes for our clients powered by our certified HI-WAY Delivery Framework.”

“As a leader in RPA, Highlight is thrilled to expand our relationship with UI Path. This represents another important tool in our DevSecOps infrastructure that enables significant value with citizen developed solutions,” said Kevin Long, VP of Portfolio.

About UiPath

UiPath has a vision to deliver A Robot for Every Person, one where companies enable every employee to use, create, and benefit from the transformative power of automation to liberate the boundless potential of people. Only UiPath offers an end-to-end platform for hyper automation, combining the leading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solution with a full suite of capabilities that enable every organization to scale digital business operations at unprecedented speed. The company has already automated millions of repetitive tasks for over 65% of the Fortune 500 and 8 of the Fortune 10.

About Highlight

Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) is an award-winning, employee-owned, ISO® 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 44001, ISO 56000 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3, and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised federal contractor that provides IT development and transformation, secure IT operations, and mission support services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Our customers include National Security (DHS, State, Army, Navy, DISA, the Joint Staff, DTRA, Intel), Health IT (USAID, USDA, NIH, HRSA, EPA), and Citizen Services (FCC, FDIC, FTC, GSA, HHS, SBA, Education, Labor). For more information, please visit www.highlighttech.com.

Highlight Joins the Drupal Partner Program

Highlight is proud to announce joining the Drupal Partner Program as a Community Partner. Drupal is an open-source Content Management System that utilizes APIs for multichannel publishing.

Highlight supports federal agencies to deliver and manage communication and outreach. Joining the Drupal partner program supports Highlight’s ability to provide an exceptional customer experience for our agencies’ stakeholders.

“Drupal provides our content development and digital production teams with a flexible content management platform to meet customer, agency, compliance, reliability, and security goals,” said Barry Lawrence, Senior Communications Manager.

Emilie Scantlebury, Director of Corporate Portfolio Development, said, “Our team is excited to join the international Drupal community of developers, content designers, and digital managers. Team Highlight knows that Drupal significantly reduces content development time and cost while significantly decreasing schedule risk or performance for our customers’ digital content needs. Our partnership with Drupal only reinforces the fact we are committed to bringing efficient, innovative, and proven solutions to any program we perform on.”

About Drupal

Drupal is the open-source content management software used by millions of people and organizations around the world, made possible by a community of 100,000-plus contributors and enabling more than 1.3 million users on Drupal.org. The Drupal Association is the non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the Drupal software project, fostering the community, and supporting its growth.

About Highlight

Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) is an award-winning, employee-owned, ISO® 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 44001, ISO 56000 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3, and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised federal contractor that provides digital government and mission support services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Our customers include National Security (DHS, State, Army, Navy, DISA, the Joint Staff, DTRA, Intel), Health IT (USAID, USDA, NIH, HRSA, EPA), and Citizen Services (FCC, FDIC, FTC, GSA, HHS, SBA, Education, Labor). For more information, please visit www.highlighttech.com.

WeWork, Highlight Partner to Deliver Secure Software Development Infrastructure to Government Agencies

NEW YORK – With the rise of flexible work, WeWork and Highlight have partnered to provide government agencies with secure software development capabilities in support of U.S. national security.

Through this collaboration, members will have access to a complete, fully secure continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform available with their membership bundle or by adding an additional feature.

“In this post-COVID world, physical space is now a lever for talent attraction and workforce retention,” said Traug Keller, Director of Federal Business Development. Our partnership with Highlight Technologies will now provide the Department of Defense’s most innovative groups with the tools necessary to develop, deliver and use software authorized for the government in world-class workspaces across the United States.”

This builds on WeWork’s flexible workspace as a service that does not reflect the acquisition of leased office space, but a comprehensive service to provide a temporary flexible workspace that can be procured directly by agencies.

Historically, one roadblock to flexible work has been a lack of IT and security solutions tailored to federal requirements. This solution will address those concerns while absolving organizations of the resource burden they’d otherwise face when standing up and maintaining a secure software development environment.

“Whether it’s creating a new software factory or a sensitive compartmented information facility, government organizations rely on secure software production environments to build and access mission-essential tools,” said Adam McNair, Highlight President and COO. “Between WeWork and our team at Highlight, we’re providing the recipe of capabilities necessary for organizations to de-risk and scale their innovation efforts and commercial technology engagement. ”

Current WeWork members and those interested in the opportunity are encouraged to email federalsales@wework.com to learn more about the partnership and offers. 

About WeWork

WeWork (NYSE: WE) was founded in 2010 with the vision to create environments where people and companies come together and do their best work. Since then, we’ve become one of the leading global flexible space providers committed to delivering technology-driven turnkey solutions, flexible spaces, and community experiences. For more information about WeWork, please visit us at https://wework.com.

About Highlight

Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) is an award-winning, employee-owned, ISO® 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 44001 certified, ISO 56000 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3, and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised federal contractor that provides IT development and transformation, secure IT operations, and mission support services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Our customers include National Security (DHS, State, Army, Navy, DISA, the Joint Staff, DTRA, Intel), Health IT (USAID, USDA, NIH, HRSA, EPA) and Citizen Services (FCC, FDIC, FTC, GSA, HHS, SBA, Education, Labor). For more information, please visit www.highlighttech.com.

Federal Agencies Challenged (Again) to Improve the Customer and Citizen Experience

If you’ve interacted online with the government lately, chances are you were underwhelmed by the customer experience (CX). Presidential Executive Order 14058 hopes to change that perception, but government officials on the front lines of this initiative admit that there’s a lot to be done.

President Biden’s backing is “a really exciting moment,” said Amir Boland, the Federal Customer Experience Lead at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), during a recent ACT-IAC Webinar to promote the initiative. Too often, Boland said, call centers are the solution to the customer experience when they should only be something people should access when they need help.

“The Federal Government must design and deliver services in a manner that people of all abilities can navigate,” according to the order signed December 13, 2021. “We must use technology to modernize Government and implement services that are simple to use, accessible, equitable, protective, transparent, and responsive for all people of the United States.”

Executive Order 14058, “Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Improving Service Deliver to Rebuild Trust in Government,” is one of a series of guidance and legislation to support the customer service improvement efforts of federal agencies, the ACT-IAC website notes. “Many challenges to transforming government services and improving customer experience have been well documented and this framework addresses many of these challenges.”

Initial goals of the Biden Administration’s new plan include the selection of “a limited number of customer life experiences to prioritize for Government-wide action to improve cu stomer experience,” develop measurable improvements across multiple agencies, and share lessons learned throughout the Federal Government.

“We all have to interact with the federal government, whether it’s to pay taxes, get a passport, file for a student loan, and many other of life’s important functions,” said Rebecca Andino, CEO of Highlight Technologies, a government contractor with expertise in UX/CX design. “Highlight is currently supporting five of the Designated High Impact Service Providers. We look forward to helping our clients re-imagine the customer experience by combining new technologies with human-centered approaches.”

The Director of OMB will lead and support agency customer experience initiatives and help agencies make the decisions necessary to achieve the objectives of the order. Agency heads will be responsible for strategies and the integration of activities to improve customer experience.

“It’s not the finish line,” said Bolan of the Executive Order, but more of “a “refreshment station” on the way to creating more citizen-centric to get government agencies.

When you get down to it, superior customer experience (CX) is the ultimate end goal for federal agencies. Let’s get to work!


Written by: Barry Lawrence | Senior Communications Manager

Highlight Supports Small Business Administration (SBA) in COVID-19 Loan Efforts

Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) supports the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Office of Capital Access (OCA) and the Office of Disaster Assistance (ODA) by providing loan processing services, financial analysis, and administrative support services before and during the coronavirus pandemic.

In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic created unforeseen and unimaginable challenges for millions of citizens and businesses. Due to the dramatic effects, the CARES Act was passed by the U.S. Congress, in result providing significant relief and resources for small businesses including $349 billion in SBA loan guaranties and additional resources for SBA programs. The CARES Act also provided an expansion of the current SBA 7(a) loan program to support the new Paycheck Protection Program.

Highlight was brought in to support SBA to provide surge support in response to the immediate and mission critical Coronavirus surge needs. Highlight provides full lifecycle loan processing support to SBA ODA to provide economic relief to small business owners, citizens, and non–profits throughout the United States. Highlight supports SBA OCA with dedicated loan servicing professionals to ensure loans are reviewed for forgiveness through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Highlight also supports the SBA’s 504, 7(a) and disaster loan program to work with small businesses and homeowners regarding loans issued by the SBA.

Highlight staff supporting the EIDL surge effort have processed over 1 million loans to small businesses.

“We’re honored to be in a position to use our business platform to fulfill vital services in support of the pandemic response. Our investment in HI-WAY™, our best practices for service delivery, enabled Highlight to scale and delivery services rapidly while maintaining quality” said Adam McNair, COO of Highlight.

“I’m so glad that Highlight is part of the recovery effort for small businesses and others affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was not long ago that we were a very small business ourselves, so we understand the challenges and uncertainty these businesses face. We are appreciative to the SBA for trusting Highlight to support them in this important mission,” said Rebecca Andino, CEO of Highlight.

About Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 to support small business owners and entrepreneurs. The SBA is the only cabinet-level federal agency fully dedicated to small business and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise as the nation’s only go-to resource and voice for small businesses.

SBA OCA helps to make capital available to small businesses, through banks and other lending partners, that conventionally would not be able to access credit.

SBA ODA provides low interest, long term loans to repair or replace property and other business assets that have been impacted by a disaster.

About Highlight Technologies

Highlight Technologies (“Highlight”) is an award-winning, employee-owned, ISO® 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, ISO 44001 certified, ISO 56000 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3, and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised federal contractor that provides IT development and transformation, secure IT operations, and mission support services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Our customers include National Security (DHS, State, Army, Navy, DISA, the Joint Staff, DTRA, Intel), Health IT (USAID, USDA, NIH, HRSA, EPA) and Citizen Services (FCC, FDIC, FTC, GSA, HHS, SBA, Education, Labor). For more information, please visit www.highlighttech.com.