About

Jack Schaffer is Head of Engineering at VerifyYou. He works remote from Charlottesville, Virginia, and writes on engineering, AI, and business.

He is the solo founder of Hickory Labs LLC. Hickory Labs grew out of Grelen, his wife Ali's family's nursery in Somerset, Virginia. The studio builds Groventory, an operating system for tree and shrub nurseries, and Cal, an AI assistant for horticultural businesses.

Career

1. 2026–present

   Head of Engineering, VerifyYou

   Remote from Charlottesville, Virginia.

2. 2021–2026

   Software Engineer II to Senior Engineering Manager, Cohere Health

   Ran platform teams across four countries, built event-driven integrations, and took electronic prior authorization live at more than 50 health systems.

3. Earlier

   J.P. Morgan, Northwestern, and the University of Michigan

   Modernized payments infrastructure at J.P. Morgan, and did edtech work helping learners upskill at Northwestern and the University of Michigan.

4. University of Michigan

   B.S. in Statistics, minor in Entrepreneurship

Contact

• LinkedIn
• X
• Instagram
• Substack
• GitHub
• hello@hickorylabs.dev