Thomas Cafcas

Finding insights in messy data.

Biography

I’m a Seattle-based researcher who loves digging into complex data, boiling it down for technical and lay audiences, and sharing insights from those investigations. I have over a decade of experience making sense of thorny public policy questions and working with journalists, public officials, academics, clients, and NGOs to build understanding for institutional change.

In my freetime, I am an avid outdoors enthusiast spending summers cycling long-distances and winters skiing the Cascades. As an Eagle Scout, I feel most at home exploring remote destinations in my home of the Pacific Northwest.

Interests

City Planning
Economic Development
Public Policy Research and Analysis
Transportation Planning
Demography
Sustainable Cities
Government Transparency and Accountability
State and Local Taxation
Open Data
Government Finance
Communications and Marketing

Education

Master's in Urban and Regional Planning, 2008
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bachelor's in Urban and Regional Planning, Magna Cum Laude, 2007
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Skills

Preferred Tools

R Studio, ArcGIS, QGIS, Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Excel, Adobe Creative Suite

Data Skills

data visualization, mapping, extract, transform, and load (ETL), API queries, statistics and probability

Product Research

requirements documentation, market analysis, project management, survey and user research

Marketing and Communications

messaging strategy, content strategy, copywriting, web analytics, CMS tools, public speaking, social media tracking, media monitoring

Urban and Regional Planning

land use and comprehensive planning, zoning, site and physical planning, 3D modeling, transportation demand forecasting, participatory planning processes, environmental planning, demographic analysis, employment-base analysis, shift-share analysis, fiscal impact analysis

Public Policy Research and Analysis

legislative review, public testimony, coalition building, fiscal analysis, program evaluation, issue expertise in state and local taxation and economic development best practices