Vyver of the week!
November 2019
Team Louisiana
Up this week for Vyver(s) of the Week is Vyve’s Louisiana team! The Louisiana team went above and beyond in this year’s Thanksgiving Food Drive and collected 2,120 nonperishable items. The items were donated to the Westlake United Methodist Church Food Bank in Westlake, LA. They did an amazing job spreading the word throughout the community and getting customers, employees and patrons to donate for a great cause.
Thanks to the LA team, families in need were able to enjoy a beautiful meal this Thanksgiving. The team consisted of David A. Jagneaux, Ed Arnold, James Dayton, Tom Helander, Luther Lacasse, Chris Guillory, Dennis Sonner, Pete Scimemi, Alex Drew, Cody Williams, Sasha Harmon, Caleb McLaughlin, Doug Simon, Bill Shiver, Amy Cowhick and Sheala Robinson.
Laura Brazeil
Staff Accountant
Meet our newest Vyver of the Week – Laura Brazeil! Laura serves as a Staff Accountant based out of our corporate headquarters in Rye Brook, NY. As a Staff Accountant, Laura makes sure all of Vyve’s internal balances are in check so that the vendors who we purchase equipment and other items from get paid. She is also responsible for filing Vyve’s taxes. Laura is going to be celebrating her 2 year work anniversary in just a few months! Since she’s been with Vyve, her favorite part of working here has been getting to work with an amazing team.
What people may not know about Laura is that she is very artistic. In her spare time, she creates impressive masterpieces in Microsoft Paint. Laura also loves running and watching reality TV – Survivor is her favorite. Another fun fact about Laura is that she hopes to one day have a goat farm in NY and raise goats herself.
October 2019
Tyler Smithwick
Regional Headend Manager
This week’s Vyver of the Week is Tyler Smithwick. Tyler has been with Vyve for almost six months and serves as our IT Manager based out of Shawnee, OK. As an IT Manager, Tyler is responsible for keeping all Vyve business functions running smoothly so that Vyve employees can ultimately provide our customers with the best Internet, TV and Phone services in town! In addition, Tyler and small but mighty team, manage compliance and internal day-to-day technical troubleshooting. Tyler loves getting to work with Vyvers from so many different departments.
In addition to being an IT rock star, Tyler is also a Vyve Vet! He is involved in the community and is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge. When he isn’t working, you can find Tyler hunting, fishing, backpacking or checking out some fast cars. Fun fact about Tyler, he is 6’5” and his sister is 4’11”.
If you see Tyler around town, make sure to say hi!
Marvin Judah
Regional Headend Manager
Meet Marvin Judah, this week’s Vyver of the Week! Marvin is a Regional Headend Manager in our Georgia markets and also helps out with our Louisiana markets as well. On a day to day, you can find Marvin working on headend projects which ultimately help the performance of our Internet services. He also oversees maintenance in the area to make sure your services are working at their best and manages the warehouse in Georgia where equipment and other key technical tools are kept. Having been at Vyve since the start, Marvin knows all of the ins and outs of Vyve.
When he isn’t working, Marvin enjoys playing board games like Ticket to Ride or Catan and rocking out on his guitar. He also loves getting a good workout in by riding his road bike. He even rode a 62 mile ride just last week! Fun fact about Marvin is that he grew up as a Preacher’s kid and is still involved in his church.
If you see Marvin around town, make sure to say hi!
Misty Brandy
Dispatcher
Meet our newest Vyver of the Week – Misty Brandy! Misty serves as a Dispatcher for our Call Center in Shawnee, OK. As a Dispatcher, Misty helps our local supervisors schedule technicians to customers’ homes for new installs and service calls. In addition, she also makes sure the technicians have all the correct equipment they need for the visit. Whenever there is a customer issue that needs to be escalated, Misty makes sure it goes to the right Vyver so the issue gets resolves as quickly as possible.
Misty has been with Vyve since the beginning when our call center was in Durant, OK. She made the move to Shawnee and has been loving it ever since. Misty has been dedicated to the Vyve Call Center since the start having worked in different departments including the Universal Care team and the Social Media Care team. She loves that working in these different positions has helped broaden her knowledge of the company.
When Misty isn’t working, you can find her spending quality time with her family and watching shows on Netflix.
September 2019
Ed Arnold
Technical Operations Supervisor
This week’s Vyver of the Week is Ed Arnold! As the Technical Operations Supervisor for the Louisiana region, Ed manages a team of technicians who are responsible for installing, maintaining and repairing Vyve products and services for our Louisiana customers. Ed has been with Vyve since the start and has also been a certified tower climber for the past 12 years. Ed has built a strong team in Louisiana that has become like a brotherhood. He serves as a mentor to his team and goes above and beyond to ensure they have all of the tools they need to be the best all while having a good time. He likes to lead by one of his favorite quotes by Richard Branson which is, “Train you employees with the knowledge to leave, but treat them in a manner so they don’t want to.”
Ed is also involved in the Westlake community outside of Vyve. He actually serves as the Assistant Scout Master for the Boy Scouts of Westlake and also officiates swim meets for his son’s swim team. In his spare time, you can find Ed fishing, hunting or scuba diving. Next time you see Ed around Westlake, make sure to say hi!
Terry Freeman
Advanced System Line Technician
This week’s Vyver of the Week is Terry Freeman! Terry has been with Vyve for over three years and serves as an Advanced System Line Technician. Day-to-day, Terry helps maintain our systems in the West Arkansas and Texas region so that we can provide our customers with the best possible service. Terry is also a key player in special projects that ultimately help Vyve grow and improve the quality of our products. In addition, he helps mentor junior Vyve technicians in the area to help them grow.
Terry is also a certified tower climber, which means he is definitely not afraid of heights and climbs sky high Vyve towers to inspect, perform maintenance or make any repairs. Before working for Vyve, Terry served in the Marines as an Infantryman and Machine Gunner. Thank you to Terry for serving our country. We are proud to have him on the team as a Vyve Vet! When he isn’t working, you can find Terry hunting, fishing and camping with his wife and three beautiful children. If you see Terry around town, make sure to say hi!
August 2019
Dave Mapes
Manager of Advanced Commercial Support
Meet our new Vyver of the Week—Dave Mapes! As the Manager of Advanced Commercial Support for 6 years, Dave has a small team of 3 that design, price out, build and develop commercial products for Vyve’s Enterprise business customers. Dave’s team has over 90 years of experience in the industry, they’re the real deal! Dave started his career as an install technician and has worked in all sorts of positions from General Manager to Regional Engineer. Vyve is lucky to have a technical expert like Dave aboard our team!
Dave isn’t just a technical expert, he’s also an outdoorsman and when he isn’t working, you can find him hunting or fishing. Fun fact about Dave is that he actually once interviewed to be on Survivor and made it to the top 500!
Dylan Sherfield
Call Center Technology Specialist
Our newest Vyver of the Week is Dylan Sherfield! Dylan has been with Vyve for over two years and serves as the Call Center Technology Specialist. Day-to-day, Dylan supports our Call Center by troubleshooting IT issues, managing our IVR (to make sure your calls get routed to the right team), setting up tools for our agents to help solve our customers’ issues, and assisting with workforce management and staffing. All that means, he helps make sure our call center is equipped to provide the best experience possible for our customers.
Dylan loves working in a support role because he enjoys helping others and making sure everything runs smoothly. Although Dylan is a Shawnee native, he also spent 8 years living in Fort Riley, another Vyve community. When he isn’t working you can find Dylan hitting the books to complete his Bachelor’s degree in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics. How cool is that?!
Chris Karle
Small/Medium Business Services Rep
Meet Chris Karle, this week’s Vyver of the Week! Chris has been with Vyve since the beginning and works as a Small/Medium Business Services Rep. What does that mean? Well, it means he works with Vyve business customers in our Georgia and Tennessee markets to make sure they have the best Internet, TV and Phone services to make their businesses thryve with Vyve. Chris loves interacting with customers every day and helping people achieve their visions with our leading edge technology.
If you live in Waycross, odds are you probably know Chris. He is involved in everything from serving on the board of Directors for the Waycross Chamber of Commerce to leading PR for the local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and is also involved in the Waycross Rotary Club. When Chris isn’t working, he loves water activities like kayaking and farming. What you might not know about Chris is that he has a 200 acre farm where he grows blueberries and delicious satsumas. Fun fact, Chris’s Satsumas are actually used to make a local craft beer! If you see Chris around town make sure to say hi!
Tiffany Wilson
Retail Sales Rep
For this week’s Vyver of the Week, we’ve got Tiffany Wilson! Tiffany works as a Retail Sales Representative in our McAlester office and is actually celebrating her 3 year Vyve anniversary next month! As a Retail Sales Rep, Tiffany works with customers who come in to make payments, troubleshoots their equipment and helps folks who come in shopping for services. The best part of her job is getting to meet so many nice people and hearing their stories.
Tiffany is a family woman and, when she isn’t working, she loves to spend time with her adorable 4 year old son and her husband. They love doing anything outdoors like going to the park, the zoo or hiking. Fun fact about Tiffany, she is an Austin, TX native and loves the Longhorns! If you’re in the McAlester area, be sure to stop by our office and say hi to Tiffany!
Luke Bruster
Manager of HFC Networks
Up next for Vvyer of the Week is Luke Bruster! As the Manager of HFC Networks in the Oklahoma region, Luke manages a team of experienced technicians who are responsible for ensuring that our network is operating at its best levels so that we can provide you with the fastest Internet in town! While Luke’s team may not make direct visits to your home, they are on call 24/7 in case of any outage emergency and jump to get any issues fixed as soon as possible. Luke loves that his job takes him to different Vyve markets but on most days you can find him in the Shawnee, McAlester or Pryor areas.
Luke is a family man and, in his spare time, he loves to do fun activities with his wife and eight-year-old daughter. They enjoy anything that involves being active and outdoors, but one of their favorite activities is going to amusement and water parks. Luke is also active in his community as he is a Tulsa Reserve Police Officer – bet you didn’t know that!
July 2019
Michelle Van Brunt
Quality Control Analyst
Meet Michelle Van Brunt, our newest Vvyer of the Week! Michelle is a Quality Control Analyst in our Engineering department who has been with Vvye for 5 years. Michelle is involved in tons of behind the scenes work that allows Vyve to provide our customers with high quality service. On a daily basis, you can find Michelle working on wiring in a headend—so we can provide the fastest Internet speeds—or auditing key performance metrics throughout our network to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Although she is based out of Shawnee, Michelle loves that her job takes her to different Vyve markets and meeting new people. When she isn’t working, you can find Michelle hunting, fishing and loving every day relaxing by the lake. Make sure to say “hi” if you see her around!
Corey Bailey
Service Technician
Our newest Vyver of the Week is Corey Bailey! Corey has been with Vyve for 5 years and currently works as a Service Technician. Since he is such a standout, Vyve has leveraged Corey’s talents throughout various markets; he’s worked everywhere from Shawnee to Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas. Currently, he’s based out of Durant where he was born and raised, a true local guy! Corey works every day to make sure our customers get the best service possible, whether he’s helping customers with an issue or installing new service, Corey is always making Vyve thryve.
Corey recently took his career to the next level by becoming a certified tower climber, so don’t be alarmed if you see him on a sky high tower. He knows what he’s doing! When he isn’t working at Vyve, Corey loves working on cars and learning more about them.
June 2019
Trina May
Operations Assistant
This week’s Vyver of the Week is Trina May! Trina is going on three years at Vyve and is our invaluable Operations Assistant. Day-to-day, she juggles tons of different behind the scenes tasks for our technicians like scheduling trainings, ordering uniforms, and tracking key customer experience stats. Not only does Trina make sure the Operations department runs smoothly, she’s pretty much the ‘go-to’ person in Shawnee. No matter the task, Vyvers know they can rely on Trina.
Something fun that you may not know is that Trina has a twin sister, Tisha! In her spare time, she enjoys spending nights relaxing with her family and dogs around their fire pit. She’s not one to turn down a good book either and is currently loving suspense/thriller mysteries.
Jarrod Matthews
Engineering Technical Manager
Next up for Vvyer of the Week is Jarrod Mathews! Jarrod has been with Vyve since the start and leads our construction team as our Engineering Technical Manager. We couldn’t expand our network and continue to bring the fastest Internet in town to new areas without Jarrod and his team building out our network. As you can imagine, Jarrod is on the road a lot and has been to all seven states that Vyve services!
Jarrod finds his job exciting as he learns something new every day. Something you might not know about Jarrod is that he and his wife have a family farm where they’re currently raising 8 goats, a buck and a dairy cow. We’ve heard the goat cheese they produce is pretty awesome – make sure to ask him about it!
Cassie Stutler
Broadband Technician
Our newest Vyver of the Week is Cassie Stutler! Cassie is a Broadband Technician in the Fort Riley, Kansas area and has been helping make #VvyeThryve for a little over a year. Fun fact – Cassie is the only female Technician at Vyve, how cool! She loves hooking up her Fort Riley customers with the fastest Internet in town so they can stay connected to their families while serving our country. Cassie loves hearing how she has impacted her customers and the people around her. She also loves hearing her customer’s feedback through Google reviews.
When she’s not brightening up someone’s day, you can find Cassie getting involved with her local American Legion and VFW chapters, or out on a lake catching a big fish! Cassie loves participating in Vyve’s different social media contests during Shark Week and Deer Week. You may have even seen Cassie with a shark painted on her forehead last year! Make sure to say ‘Hi!’ if you see her around town and leave Cassie a great review on Google.
Sean Green
Technical Operations Data Analyst
Meet our newest Vyver of the Week: Sean Green! Sean has been with the Vyve analytics team since the beginning of Vyve about six years ago. As a Technical Operations Data Analyst, Sean puts together weekly and monthly reports for our call center and technicians so we can constantly assess how we’re doing and where we have opportunities to make our customers’ experiences even better!
As a family man who is heavily involved in his community, you can find Sean hanging out with his adorable twin daughters and volunteering at his local Church when he isn’t crunching numbers. Make sure to give Sean a wave next time you see him around McAlester!
May 2019
Susie Neash
Commercial Sales Representative
This week’s Vyver of the Week is Susie Neash! Susie is a long-time Commercial Sales Representative who recently celebrated her 6-year anniversary at Vyve. If you’re one of our Business Services customers, there’s a good chance you’ve called in and chatted with Susie, and if you did, we’re pretty sure you had a positive customer experience. Susie is a true people person and loves getting to interact with different customers every day. Her favorite part of her job is making someone’s day better.
Susie is very involved in her church where she used to serve as a treasurer and music director. She loves spending time with kids, and through her active volunteer work, she is able to be a role model for the kids in the Shawnee community. If you live in the Shawnee area be sure to say ‘hi’ to Susie!
Jim Barkowski
Operations Purchasing Coordinator
Check out this week’s Vyver of the Week, Jim Barkowski! Jim is celebrating his six year work anniversary this year! As an Operations Purchasing Coordinator, Jim wears many different hats and is responsible for purchasing, monitoring, and testing the equipment that ends up in our customers’ homes – from modems and set-top boxes to TV remotes!
When he isn’t working, Jim loves hanging out with his family including his daughter and two adorable twin grandsons, Lucas and Logan. Jim is also an American History junky and a big NASCAR fan. If you see Jim around town, make sure to say “Hi!” and quiz him on his American history.
Eddie Pacheco
Accounts Payable Clerk
This week’s Vyver of the Week is Eddie Pacheco! Eddie has been with Vyve for three years and is currently an Accounts Payable Clerk at our corporate headquarters in Rye Brook, NY. Before working his way up to paying Vyve’s bills, Eddie paid HIS bills working as our front desk receptionist.
Eddie has a special bond with his team of Vyvers and loves coming to work every day because of the people. What folks might not know about Eddie is that he is very artsy; he’s a master at everything from drawing to writing and singing. Although you might not see Eddie around town, make sure to say “Hey” in the comments section below!
Bruce Misener
Digital Video Engineer
Check out this week’s Vyver of the Week, Bruce Misener! Bruce has also been with Vyve since the very beginning, going on six years! As a Digital Video Engineer, Bruce helps launch our All-Digital TV service in new markets, and monitors and troubleshoots issues so they don’t get in the way of our customers and their favorite TV shows! His favorite part of working at Vyve is partnering with different teams – from Programming to Operations.
Those who know Bruce know he is a nutritional nut but they may not know that he also spends his spare time woodworking and tracking weather patterns. But Bruce said nothing beats spending time with his beloved grandson, Bryant. Although Bruce works behind the scenes, if you ever see him around Shawnee make sure to say “Hey!”
April 2019
Teena Madden
Programming Coordinator
This week’s Vyver of the Week is Teena Madden! Teena has been with Vyve since the very beginning and soon will be celebrating her six year work anniversary. As our Programming Coordinator, Teena works with our Video Engineering and Programming teams to make sure we are in compliance with all of our TV contracts and manages all of our TV lineups. A woman of many talents, Teena has worked in a bunch of different positions at Vyve and actually started as a Customer Sales Rep in the Call Center!
When asked what her favorite part of working for Vyve is, she immediately said “the people!” When she isn’t working, you can find Teena relaxing on the beach or hanging with her adorable Grandbaby, Phoenix, and dog, Solomon. If you see Teena around town, make sure to say “Hey!”
Madison Williams
Customer Care Trainer
Check out this week’s Vyver of the Week, Madison Williams, who is also celebrating her Vyve Five! After serving a variety of roles within our Customer Care team, from answering phones to responding to tweets, Madison is now our Customer Care Trainer and on-boards new Vyve Care Representatives. Madison has really dedicated herself to delivering a superior experience for our customers!
Madison loves spending time with her two adorable daughters and coming up with fun activities for her trainees like doing scavenger hunts.
Fun fact? If you’ve ever called in to our customer support phone number, you probably know Madison’s voice… “Thank you for calling Vyve Broadband!”
Trinity Norman
Technical Operations Manager
Check out this week’s Vyver of the Week, Trinity Norman! Trinity is the Technical Operations Manager for the Northeast Oklahoma region and oversees his team of technicians who handle service installations, repairs and maintenance.
Trinity bleeds back and yellow and wakes up every morning excited for the opportunity to provide great service to Vyve customers. He also loves his team and being a mentor to them. When he isn’t working, Trinity loves spending time with his daughter doing any and all activities in the book, especially taking her to the mall.
If you live in the Northeast Oklahoma area you’ve probably seen Trinity around town, if you haven’t make sure to stop by our office in Pryor to say “Hey!”
Brian Stites
Senior Director, Business Services
We kick things off with Brian Stites, Senior Director of Business Services here at Vyve who helps grow and support our Vyve Business customers. Brian works out of our Shawnee office but often travels to our Vyve markets – he’s been to almost all of them!
When Brian isn’t working, he’s probably out on an adventure like going sailing, scuba diving, snowboarding or white water rafting. Brian’s biggest fan is his adorable daughter, Casey, who always cheers him on while wearing her favorite Vyve swag.
Brian also happens to be celebrating five years with Vyve this week! Help us congratulate Brian on his Vyve Five and next time you see him around town, make sure to say hello.