About Fred
Four decades of building software, leading teams, and solving problems that matter. From Assembly language to artificial intelligence.
Fred Lackey's journey in software began before most people had computers in their homes. Starting with Assembly and BASIC, he built a career that would span the entire evolution of modern computing — from desktop applications to distributed cloud systems.
That journey took him through Arcada Software in the mid-90s, where he cut his teeth on enterprise backup solutions, and eventually to founding Spotless Software, where he spent over a decade building products and leading engineering teams.
Recent years brought Fred into the highest-stakes environments in software: cybersecurity infrastructure at CISA under the Department of Homeland Security — an engagement that continues to this day and has included project work with Travelers Insurance on large-scale insurance technology platforms.
This work demands not just technical depth but the ability to navigate complex organizations, mentor distributed teams, and make architectural decisions with far-reaching consequences.
From the early days of Assembly and BASIC, through the rise of .NET and Java, to the modern era of React, Node.js, AWS, and Azure. Fred's expertise isn't tied to any single stack — it's grounded in understanding how software systems work at every level.
Today, Fred is focused on the intersection of AI and practical software engineering — building tools like Knowledge Builder and Career Coach that leverage decades of real-world experience to make AI genuinely useful, not just impressive.