Derek Willis is a seasoned news applications developer and data specialist with ample experience in both reporting and coding. He began his journalism career as a staff writer at The Palm Beach Post before transitioning to organizations like Congressional Quarterly and the Center for Public Integrity, where he honed his writing and research skills. With a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric and Communications from the University of Pittsburgh, Derek's natural curiosity for understanding complex systems led him to focus on data journalism.

As the former Interactive News Developer at The New York Times and Database Editor at The Washington Post, Derek developed a passion for finding stories in data, especially related to politics, elections, and campaign finance. He currently works as a News Apps Developer for ProPublica, where he dabbles in projects concerning cybersecurity and the intersection of policy and technology.

Derek is also an advocate of open data and co-founder of OpenElections, a project aimed at creating a database of election results across the United States. In his free time, he enjoys tinkering with software tools and contributing to open-source projects.