Team

Once an emerging tech startup that has grown into a global broadband leader, OpenVault’s culture attracts entrepreneurial spirits who thrive on multi-tasking, embrace change and have the ability to wear many hats. However, there may be no other OpenVaulter that wears more hats than Director of Operations Sue DeBiasa. On any given workday, Sue touches almost every aspect of the corporate inner workings from human resources to finance to marketing to sales. But it’s this fluidity and flexibility that Sue enjoys most about her job. “I love the big picture view and knowing how things are connected,” she said, adding that she “is a work in progress, always learning and growing both personally and professionally.”

Perhaps what makes Sue so well equipped for this unique role is her vast experience and diverse career path that started more than 30 years ago at a little company called NYNEX, where she first met CEO Mark Trudeau and VP of Operations Lauren Trudeau (and future husband Ray). Working mostly in project management, Sue quickly cut her teeth in the telecom industry and really honed her managerial skills.  But as an entrepreneur at heart who is always willing to take a risk and explore opportunities, when NYNEX became Verizon and some of the leadership team left to join Omnipoint, Sue was one of the first 25 team members on board the communications juggernaut that eventually became T-Mobile. Continuing her project management role, Sue eventually decided to apply her skills to managing a family when her first son Raymond was born in 2003 and Christopher followed just two years later. Sue then became a stay-at-home mom who moonlighted as a consultant in the telecom industry. But as the boys grew, Sue decided to try her management skills within the public school system in order to enjoy a more family friendly work schedule. But when her boys reached high school, Sue joined her former NYNEX coworkers Mark and Lauren at OpenVault, as a Mergers & Acquisitions specialist in May 2019.

Whether coordinating site acquisitions for Sprint, monitoring tech and HR updates for school districts, producing OpenVault’s quarterly OVBI report, or raising two young men, Sue has a knack for managing people and getting the best out of them. “I learned from my dad at an early age to be honest, work hard and always treat people as an equal and with the utmost respect, no matter what.” This philosophy has helped Sue help others throughout her life. As a manager, a mentor and a mom, Sue is a tough cookie on the outside, but a big softie inside, which is a powerful combination when it comes to understanding and managing people.

Lifelong friend and colleague Lauren Trudeau, vice president of operations, says “Three words that I think best describes Sue are reliable, trustworthy and loyal. These are key traits of a coworker, and perhaps more importantly, of a friend. I am lucky that she is both to me!”

When she’s not managing various projects at OpenVault or her husband Ray and three boys – Raymond, Christopher and her four-legged son, Sully, Sue likes to spend her time with her big extended family and dear friends, eating, drinking and being merry.

“Living Life with Integrity” is the topic Michael Hall would discuss if he had to give a 30-minute speech to a crowd and he strives to walk the talk every day by remaining true to his word and fulfilling commitments. In fact, he applies the practice of integrity daily in his role as a software engineer at OpenVault where the satisfaction of completing work and learning new things is what he likes best about his job. Michael was originally part of the VelociData team, but embraces being part of the larger community with new people and fresh perspectives. “With OpenVault’s sales and marketing teams, there is an added business value to the engineering work that we do,” states Michael.

OpenVault’s Chief Strategy Officer Joe Lancaster says that “Michael’s background in electrical engineering as well as high performance software architectures brings a rare and valuable set of skills to many problems we face as an ISV in cable,” but jokes, “Just don’t ask him about the latest features in the Python language unless you are free for a spell!”

Devoted to his faith, Michael finds that prayer brings him peace in times of stress and in the storms of life, and clarity in times of confusion. In fact, he prays the rosary daily which provides him an opportunity to reflect and contemplate. It was through this faith that Michael met his wife Hailey, a former nun and Catholic author and artist. The newlyweds live in Ballwin, Missouri and when Michael is not developing new technologies for OpenVault, teaching as an adjunct professor at his alma mater Washington University, or training for his next 5K run, Michael is helping his wife publish and market her upcoming books.

Although a self-proclaimed “gym rat,” OpenVaulter Patrick Costa does not consider himself a runner nor does he enjoy the act of running. Why then, one may ask, did he recently complete the unseasonably warm and brutal 2022 New York City Marathon? “As a bucket list sort of challenge, I put my name in the marathon lottery for the past five years and I guess this year was my lucky year.” Finding out the news in April, Patrick started officially training in July and completed his first half marathon earlier this Fall. “The discipline of training and the goal orientation of the challenge was my motivation.” His goal is now set on the 2023 half Ironman competition in Santa Cruz, California.

As OpenVault’s Analytical Manager, Patrick applies this same discipline and work ethic to data in order to provide insightful recommendations to customers and to help build innovative analytical products. Although Patrick graduated Stevens Institute of Technology with a Finance degree and plans to enter  the financial field, he began interning for OpenVault while still a college student. As he worked on various data driven projects, he quickly became a numbers expert with a knack for analytics. He also enjoyed OpenVault’s collaborative environment and decided to stay post-graduation. Today, he embraces the community culture and team spirit to “make the biggest impact while having fun.” 

“Patrick has been a tremendous asset to the team. I’m always impressed how quickly he learns new skills. He brings creative solutions to hard challenges. As the data guru, he has been instrumental in developing several of our analytics products,” says OpenVault’s Vice President of Development Operations John Mansor.

While Patrick grew up in Green Brook, New Jersey and currently lives in Hoboken, he was born in Portugal and travels back often. When he is not training for his next challenge, cooking fresh pasta and manning the grill to enjoy meals with his family and friends, Patrick spends most of his time with his fur-baby Toast, a two and a half year old Bernedoodle.

Maurice joined OpenVault in June 2019, very shortly after the birth of his third son, at a time he fondly remembers as “miraculous,” for both welcoming a new family member into the world and for beginning a new career as an OV team member. After working in the cable industry as a network engineer for many years at various companies, including OpenVault customer Charter Communications, Maurice came to OV to establish a “Help Desk 101” environment for customers. As the first point of contact for trouble tickets and customer requests, Maurice analyzes customers’ networks and needs, in order to avoid trouble escalation and to help keep customers happy, technically speaking. In fact, Director of Operations and Support Kristy Brown says, “Maurice is not only caring and committed to our customers but also helps keep our systems in check, responding to alerts and performing maintenance.  His attention to detail and communication skills are a tremendous asset to our team.”

Maurice describes the role of Operations Support as a “24/7” responsibility. However, the flexibility of working from home outweighs the round-the-clock nature of the job. “I love the work-life balance I enjoy at OpenVault. With three boys ranging in age from 3 years old to 10 years old, my household is very active and busy. Working from home allows me to have so much more face-to-face time with my family and provides me with a special opportunity to watch my kids grow up.”

Living in Camillus, New York, Maurice prefers “gloomy” weather and enjoys the large volume of snow in Central New York. When Maurice is not monitoring customers’ networks, he spends his time chasing his kids around, playing video games or watching anime.