Congratulations to Kevin Buchanan, our latest Beacon Award recipient, a peer-nominated honor that celebrates the people who bring our values to life and light the way for others to follow.
Kevin, Principal Engineer, has been an 8th Light for over 12 years. A long-time favorite of our clients and his peers, he has a reputation for raising the bar on whatever he touches, and those who work alongside him come away sharper and stronger for the experience.
Kevin's nomination came out of a year-long re-platforming effort for a long-time client. As AI reshaped what software teams could do, the client was questioning what was truly possible given their limited resources. Collaborating with past Beacon honorees Kelsey Roy and Eric Olson, Kevin introduced AI-forward solutions in a practical, grounded way. He helped the client adopt Claude, build patterns for using it well, and shape a Research-Plan-Implement (RPI) workflow they've kept refining. The result was real productivity for the team, but more importantly, cost and time savings for our client.
Kevin showed what it looks like to stand on years of craft and still adapt quickly, bringing others along as he goes. Our CEO, Jenny Farver, put it well:
“I'm really excited to see somebody like Kevin, who can stand on all that experience he's been building for years at 8th Light, and also rapidly change, adapt, grow, and bring along others with him.”
Join us in congratulating Kevin Buchanan, our newest Beacon!
