Our Story
The Sunlight Report was founded in early 2025 by Harish M.K. Patel as a response to growing frustration with government opacity and institutional complacency. What began as a nucleus of concerned citizens, technologists, and activists sharing leads in online spaces quickly evolved into a coordinated effort to investigate, expose, and engage.
We operate at the intersection of civic tech, journalism, and public accountability — rooted in fact, driven by code, and guided by an unshakable belief in the public’s right to know. We’re now actively expanding across jurisdictions and sectors, committed to building a durable infrastructure for investigative transparency and systemic change.
We are entirely volunteer-run and independently funded. We don’t accept corporate sponsorships or funding from political entities. Everything you see — from audits to server infrastructure to public records fees — has been built and paid for out of our own pockets. We do it because we believe in it. If you do too, we welcome your support.
Our Team
Harish M.K. Patel
Executive Director
Zora Grant
Investigative Data Specialist
Chen Yang
Senior Fraud Analyst
Emily Kordell
Investigative Reporter
Ari Berkovici
Investigative Reporter
Harish M.K. Patel
Executive Director
Harish sets the vision and strategic priorities for The Sunlight Report, combining deep experience in civic tech, policy advocacy, and systems design. He began his career organizing for climate justice and later moved into building tools for public accountability in finance and governance. Harish is equally at home in a legislative hearing, the jungles of southeast Asia, or architecting data-driven platforms that illuminate corruption. Harish believes technology should serve the public good — not obscure it.
Zora Grant
Investigative Data Specialist
Zora turns raw public data into stories that expose waste, neglect, and wrongdoing. Originally trained in statistics, she taught herself data journalism after growing frustrated with the limitations of traditional academic research. She built her own open-source toolkit for analyzing municipal spending before joining the team. Zora believes in transparency not just as a principle, but as a process — one that must be constantly debugged, improved, and explained.
Chen Yang
Senior Fraud Analyst
Chen leads complex investigations into financial irregularities and misuse of taxpayer money, using forensic accounting and deep institutional knowledge. Before joining The Sunlight Report, he worked as a compliance strategist at the Bank of China, navigating layers of international finance. He brings that same discipline to local oversight, following paper trails others miss. Chen’s work ensures that public funds serve their intended purpose, not private gain.
Emily Kordell
Investigative Reporter
Emily specializes in uncovering failures in environmental regulation and public health policy. She grew up on a Michigan farm where a chemical spill from a military contractor poisoned livestock and soil — an event that fuels her reporting to this day. With a background in both environmental science and journalism, she investigates how policy decisions impact real communities, often unearthing stories buried under bureaucracy and spin.
Ari Berkovici
Investigative Reporter
Ari brings international reporting experience to The Sunlight Report, having covered government accountability and corporate malfeasance in Israel and the U.S. His stories often trace how decisions made in closed rooms ripple out into everyday life. With a sharp eye for structural power and a background in legal reporting, Ari is known for dogged sourcing, document-heavy investigations, and a refusal to accept official lines at face value.