Employee Spotlights

Wally Brown
Celebrating 15 Years!

Wally Brown is the Director of Information Systems (IS) at Ortivus, and is often one of the “most wanted” throughout the Ortivus offices. Since we are all pretty reliant upon our computers, the network, the phones, etc. for our daily job responsibilities here at Ortivus, if something isn’t working quite right…we go looking – hunting –stalking - pleading - or whatever it takes - for Wally’s assistance.

Ironically, I first met Wally before I began working for Ortivus at a Christmas party that his wife and myself – and our spouses - attended. (You know…small town!) I remember his kind and humble disposition, and how gracious he was in trying to explain to me what his job responsibilities consisted of at Ortivus (then Sweet) – even though I’m sure my look of sheer confusion probably showed him I knew little about computers and networking systems at that time.

During Wally’s 15 years of service with the company, our world has seen tremendous changes in the technology field, and Wally has had to adapt and learn along with it – probably facing more technology learning curves in his 15 years than human kind has had to face in the previous 100 years. Wally seems to just adapt and become efficient with every new challenge he is tossed, and Ortivus is fortunate to have such a skilled and proficient IS guru in our grasps! More about Wally below, in his humble words…

Cheri Lane, Communication Manager


History with the company (AVeL-Tech/Sweet/Ortivus):

I joined the company in 1991 as a support tech. Back then, there were three of us in Support. We built and shipped all new systems, answered the support calls, performed on-site training, edited forms and sent program updates out to customers on floppy disks. After a few years of specializing in the electronic claims area of support, I became the VP of Electronic Data Interchange interpreting the Medicare and Medicaid requirements and creating the software change requests for the programmers. I managed the Support department for a short time before becoming the Director of Information Systems.

Current position:

As Director of Information Systems, my primary focus is maintaining and improving the Ortivus network infrastructure and adding new technology to improve efficiency and better serve our customers. This includes our network servers, desktops, notebooks and telephone system. I am responsible for our offices in Decorah (Iowa), Laval (Quebec, Canada) and beginning to get involved with our Stockholm (Sweden) and Langenselbold (Germany) offices.

Most enjoyable part of your job:

Applying new technology to improve efficiency. Some examples are:

• Creating a Bulletin Board system for customer updates
• Implementing an FTP site to replace the Bulletin Board system years later
• Implementing Automatic Call Distribution for incoming phone calls
• Implementing instant messaging for live chat with Support and Sales

Other Relevant or Interesting Information:

My background in EMS comes from serving as a volunteer firefighter and EMT-I on the Woodbury Fire Department for 13 years. During that time I served many positions, including Assistant Chief.

Welcome François Rocheleau !

History with the company (AVeL-TECH/Sweet/Ortivus):

I was first hired by AVeL-TECH in the winter of 2002. I was offered this first ‘contract’ while in Junior College and completing a diploma in software development. This very first contact with the real life of computer analysis was very enriching to me. I learned a lot about the work environment and the challenges one faces. After this first job, I attended the University of Sherbrooke, in Quebec, Canada to complete a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science. In order to complete the degree, I had to complete three apprenticeships. My second apprenticeship was done with AVeL-TECH and my third was done with Ortivus. Once I completed my Bachelor Degree, I was hired for a twelve-month contract. At the end of the term, I was offered the opportunity to extend my stay at Ortivus, which I did.

Current position:

I work as a Computer Programmer in the Montreal office. I currently work on AVeL-Net System version 4 and assist other developers in making sure we have a stable product.

Most memorable event since you’ve been with the company:

The date is very easy to remember: January 1st 2006. As I said above, I completed a lot of apprenticeships here in the company over the last few years. However, since my last hiring was a contractual one, I had to always think of what my carrier would be after Ortivus. However, on January 1st, I became a complete member of the big Ortivus family when I got a permanent position. I expect other memorable events to occur in the future and I hope that they will all be as pleasant as this moment was.

Most enjoyable part of your job:

As developers, the biggest challenge we have is to keep the technical support staff and the Project Managers happy. Since they are on the first contact of communication with our customers, they are very rigorous when it comes to bug-fixing. It is always gratifying to receive positive remarks from them when completing something good in the system.

Other Relevant of Interesting Information:

I often say that nothing is perfect. It is also true that not all days are perfect with Ortivus, but most are. I enjoy my job very much and hope it will continue like this for a long time.