Meet the GVT Executive Team
GVT employs experienced professionals who are well-versed in a range of service areas including:
- child welfare and juvenile justice
- online training \ employee development \ e-learning
- customer support and services
- database and information management
- case management development and iterative prototyping
- pharmaceutical sales, clinical registries and data mining
We are committed to sharing our expertise and helping you as consultants, partners and friends. Come meet our executive team.
Chris Freund, Chief Technology Officer
Chris is the chief architect behind GVT's proprietary software platform, Visions Foundation Server. Chris' main role at GVT is to provide the vision for the future of GVT's Visions Server platform and company. He also serves an integral role in leading the programming duties to help the team to implement this vision. As the 'chief', he is ultimately responsible for developing applications that reside on our Visions Server platform.
When he's not fulfilling his role at GVT, he enjoys going to see his Cardinals & Rams perform in St. Louis. He's an avid pro baseball and football fan. He also enjoys traveling, both domestically and internationally. 25 years ago when many of us were playing computer games, Chris was programming them and had several games published in magazines. As an adult - he has become a political junkie and is fascinated with our country's political process, especially at a national and international level.
In 1981 at the World Finals / ACM Collegiate programming competition, Chris and his programming team, out-foxed and out-paced a "crack team" of programmers from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Speed of implementation was ultimately the deciding factor. Chris attended Missouri-Rolla (Missouri Technical University), Missouri-St. Louis and also spent time at Washington University in St. Louis while refining his technical expertise.
Steve Grover, Sr. VP Product Development
Steve heads up our project management, and development design departments. His primary focus is designing and maintaining a functioning user interface for our clients, which delivers the data required to manage their jobs, and make the decisions necessary to prevent lapses in service delivery.
Steve is unique in that he brings real-world case management experience to GVT. In the years before joining our team - Steve lived, worked and consulted on the campus of a residential treatment facility.
Steve finds fun and satisfaction knowing the work he has committed to helps those who help others. He believes, as do many at GVT - that people living and working in our great nation need to get to a place where they too can enjoy the freedoms our nation has to offer. And nothing makes him happier than developing solutions with the most user friendly interface possible.
In his down-time - Steve enjoys working on classic cars from the muscle era. The beauty of the lines, the sound and feel of the power, and the mechanics of the engineering that went into what is considered today to be out of date. He also likes to bowl, golf, and target shooting with pistols. Steve has an associate's degree in technical illustration from Florissant Valley Community College in St. Louis and a BS degree in Computer Science from Webster University, also in St. Louis.
April Freund, President / CFO
April is responsible for all of GVT's bottom line factors, which drive the company's vision, long-range strategic planning, growth and financial and legal initiatives. With over a 20 year career in the financial and I.T. sectors, April brings her extensive sales and operations experience with her to GVT.
When she takes some 'down-time' - she's an entertainer and host for her favorite charities. She loves cooking and interior home design - which really helps her with her other passion - real estate rehabililation. She has a fondness for old historical buildings and enjoys updating them to a pristine state. April is a graduate of the University of Georgia and has a BA in journalism with a split minor in business and speech communications.
Bill Lowther, Sr. Systems Analyst / Director of Quality Assurance
Bill comes to GVT with a business degree from Auburn University
from Alabama and 25 years experience in production scheduling and accounting. He tells a story of growing up “When working with my Dad and he put his hand out, I was supposed to know what to put in it”. He brings that skill to working with customers and takes pride in his common sense approach to his role that bridges the communications gap between user and developer.
As Sr. Business Analyst with an emphasis on Quality Assurance, Bill works with the development team to consistently exceed customer’s expectations. We almost consider him a programmer even though he can’t write a line of code. Also, his knack for breaking things and getting errors helps keep users from having those experiences even with the most convoluted sequence. Hobbies include fishing and yard work. Loves to cook and travel and says he would not leave GVT for anything other than Culinary school to be an executive chef. We hope he does not win the Lottery.
Kevin Morin, Director, Network Architecture & Infrastructure
Kevin is responsible for the integrity of GVT's network architecture and information centers. He also manages and maintains GVT's firewalls and security infrastructure. He is the point person for our independent SAS70 audits - where we demonstrate bi-annually that we have adequate controls and safeguards when we host or process data belonging to our customers.
SAS70 is nationally recognized as an in-depth audit - and we respect Kevin in that role. He's the reason our security and data protocols are second to none.
Other activities include team leader and system's analyst for many of GVT's R&D projects. When Kevin is not at GVT, you can usually find him at some of the local restaurants and bars in Detroit. A notorious sea-lover, Kevin is an avid sailor, swimmer and diver. Kevin is a graduate of Michigan Technological University and has a BA in business administration with a concentration in management of information systems.
Kelley Foust, Sr. FAMCare Developer / Network Administrator
Kelley is our senior FAMCare and primary LMS developer. His day to day duties include the maintenance and improvement of GVT's e-learning architecture and also serves as a back-up network administrator. Kelley brings over 20 years experience in software development, network architecture and maintenance programming.
In his spare time, Kelley enjoys 'tinkering' with electro-mechanical security devices and is an avid collector of radios from the 1920's and 1930's. He is also a legislative advocate and also loves politics. He is a Board member for the Eastern Missouri Autism Parent Advisory Committee and was the former public relations manager for the St. Louis Autism Speaks walk. His volunteer work and commitment has helped to drive the organization to have the largest number of people walking of all of the Walks nationwide. Kelley attended Lindenwood University and received a BA in Business.
Merry Perkins, Sr. Human Services Consultant
Merry brings over 35 years of human services experience with the
state, local and federal governments. She has extensive, hands-on experience as a case worker working with families, children and young adults. Merry serves a vital role at GVT in that she is our resident subject matter expert on all things related to SACWIS, juvenile justice and child welfare information management and data reporting.
Some of her daily activities include client service and support, client advocacy, research and assists in marketing, sales strategy, testing and demo development.
In her spare time, Merry enjoys spending time with her family (and her dog!), going camping and reading & sharing good books with friends. She is also an avid baker and loves quilting. Merry is a graduate of Baker College in Michigan and has a BS in Business Management with a minor in Computer Science.
George Ritacco, Exec. Director, Client Services
George's primary role is client solutions & service and head's up all of GVT's marketing, promotion and online presence. Some of his day to day duties include - introducing people to our technology solutions, internet marketing, training, and interacting with most of GVT's clients.
George loves spending time with his family and enjoys watching his children learn new things. He is an avid computer 'gamer', a big Bruce Springsteen and Jack Nicholson fan (please don't ask him to do his 'jack' impersonation...), loves to read and gets fulfillment from teaching friends in his community how to leverage the Internet to promote their businesses. George is a graduate of Montclair State University and has a BA in Economics.
Check in with George at the following social media sites.
Mark Sharp, Director, Business Development
Mark brings over 20 years of sales, business development, client services and consulting to GVT. He has worked both in the private and public sectors managing enterprise and strategic accounts and client and partner lifecycles. He prides himself on providing superior clients support throughout the sales process and consulting process. Mark is a machine when it comes to solving client issues. But there is also a "techie" side to him - even though he has problems with Windows 7... :-) - he currently holds the following certifications - ITIL V3, CCNA, ITSM, Net+ and Security+.
Mark is married with 2 boys and another son on the way. In his spare time, he loves the great outdoors including golf, fishing, camping, and anything that has do with Georgia Tech Athletics. GO JACKETS! Mark is a graduate of UCSD, The University of California San Diego with a BA in Business Management.
Mark loves the new social media and social networking. Currently is a member of the following groups: Child Welfare Case Management, SALT, ASTD, ITSM, Georgia Sales Prof, ITIL, GSA GovLoop and the e-Learning Guild.
Check in with Mark at the following social media sites.