Karsten Daponte

Karsten Daponte's work experience includes various roles in different companies.

From 2020 until present, Daponte has been working at Nexight Group, initially as a Program Manager and currently as the Director.

Prior to that, from 2019 to 2020, Daponte worked at Uplight (formerly known as FirstFuel Software) as a Senior Customer Success Manager, overseeing customer engagement, training, software implementation, and project management for Exelon operating companies.

Before joining Uplight, Daponte spent 2018 to 2019 at FirstFuel Software, where they held the positions of a Senior Customer Success Manager and a Senior Project Manager. As a Senior Project Manager, they were responsible for implementing the FirstFuel software for Exelon, managing technical resources, user acceptance testing, training, and client adoption of the platform offerings.

From 2013 to 2018, Daponte worked at Decision Lens as a Director, overseeing software and process implementation activities for multiple customers and managing a team of Customer Success Managers. Karsten also played a key role in the roll-out of an Enterprise implementation for the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

Before joining Decision Lens, Daponte worked at the Department of the Navy from 2009 to 2012 as a Program Analyst, analyzing strategy and budget decisions and leading assessments and coordination efforts across various commands.

From 2007 to 2009, Daponte was a Presidential Management Fellow at the Office of the CNO - Pentagon, Office of Secretary of Defense (Partnership Strategy), and US Africa Command Outreach Directorate. During this time, they coordinated assessments and programming briefings, evaluated planning efforts, and led strategic communication working groups.

In 2003, Daponte worked as a Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Daponte's career began in the US Navy, where they served as a Naval officer from 1997 to 2003. Karsten held roles as an Operations Officer in Gardez, Afghanistan, advising Afghan military officers and leading humanitarian assistance missions, and as an Exercise Planning & Liaison Officer in London, UK, coordinating logistical support for NATO military exercises.

Karsten Daponte holds an MA degree in International Relations with a focus on Strategic Studies, which they obtained from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 2007. Prior to that, they earned a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1997.

In addition to their formal education, Karsten has obtained several certifications. In 2017, they became a Certified Scrum Master through the Scrum Alliance, and in 2018, they obtained the Certified Scrum Product Owner certification from the same institution. In 2018, they completed a Data Science and Data Engineering course through Data Science Dojo.

More recently, in July 2020, Karsten obtained several certifications related to diversity, inclusion, and cultural sensitivity. These certifications were completed through LinkedIn and include Bystander Training: From Bystander to Upstander, Communicating Across Cultures, Communicating about Culturally Sensitive Issues, Confronting Bias: Thriving Across Our Differences, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Skills for Inclusive Conversations, and Unconscious Bias.