Background

Sherrylyn Hubilla is the Senior Data Researcher at BroadbandNow and one of the longest-serving members of the entire team, she joined in 2014, the year BroadbandNow was founded, and has spent the twelve years since making sure the provider information millions of consumers rely on is actually true. She leads the around-the-clock data collection team described in BroadbandNow’s public methodology: the researchers who manually audit all 2,800+ active providers every quarter, verifying standalone pricing and tracking changes in hidden fees, disclaimers, and fine print from national giants down to tiny regional co-ops.

Her team’s work is the human layer that public data can’t replace. When the FCC releases a new dataset, Sherrylyn’s team processes every provider that automation can’t match on its own. When providers submit coverage updates through BroadbandNow’s partner dashboard, her team reviews and verifies them before they go live. When consumers leave reviews or write in about their provider, her team triages and responds. And when BroadbandNow’s research team needed real-world availability verified for its landmark FCC overreporting studies, her team conducted the address-by-address checks, 109,000 hand-tested addresses in the most recent iteration.

Sherrylyn also built much of the machinery behind the team itself. In BroadbandNow’s early years she conducted functional testing on the first versions of the internal data dashboard, helped hire the researchers who became the data collection team, and documented the collection process end to end. Working with co-founder Nick Reese, she developed the standardized training program that new researchers still learn the system through today, which means every person who touches BroadbandNow’s provider data was trained on processes Sherrylyn wrote.

Professional Background & Education

Sherrylyn’s career has been built on precision. She began in a data processing company doing formatting, encoding, and proofreading, work where a single wrong character matters, then held roles as a marketing assistant, an accounts receivable officer, and an executive assistant managing daily operations in a division office of the National Transmission Corporation, the government corporation responsible for the Philippines’ power grid. She moved into professional research in 2012, and also served as a product development team leader for an educational consulting firm, where she combined research with content development and team coordination.

In 2014 she joined a brand-new website called BroadbandNow, and has grown with it ever since, from early researcher to the senior leader responsible for the accuracy of its provider database. Her approach to managing the team reflects that history: hire for fit as much as skill, communicate the goal clearly, delegate the complicated work deliberately, and never micromanage people who take pride in doing the job right. Her Certificate in College Teaching shows in practice, the standardized training program she developed is how every new researcher on the team still learns the system.

Sherrylyn holds a Bachelor of Communication Arts and a Certificate in College Teaching from Bicol University.

Previously Published

Sherrylyn’s team works behind the byline, here’s where their verification work is documented and put to use:

Personal

Sherrylyn lives in Albay, Philippines, in the shadow of the Mayon Volcano. To balance a desk-bound job, she runs or takes an hour-long morning walk at least three times a week, and unwinds by gardening. On weekends you’ll find her at the beach or a nearby waterfall, and on holidays she travels with family and friends, exploring new corners of the Philippines.