Michelle O’Brien is a partner and Vice President of Operations at VITEC, Inc. in Overland Park, KS however she continues to act in the familiar capacity of chef, gopher and team cheerleader because she (secretly) enjoys it, is, in fact, good at it AND finds the office environment much too sedate without a little injection of spirit, good lunches and field trips! 
Michelle is a military brat by birth and, as such, was afforded the unique opportunity to travel the world with her Army officer father, and family, throughout her early and teenage years.  The variety of locals and locales has instilled a sense of adaption in Michelle that is unrivaled.  Her life experiences have equipped her with an unshakeable sense of fairness.  She inevitably roots for the underdog and dissects situations based on an inherent sense of right and wrong.   These attributes have served her well throughout her life and employment history. 

Born in Baltimore, MD, Ms. O’Brien attended college in both Alabama and Kansas but had an ever present itch to travel.  She moved to New York in the late 80’s and managed a retail clothing store on Manhattan’s east side. After single-handedly facing down and defusing the angst of a violent robber, she opted to transition to the suburbs and began working closer to home.
 
With four successful years under her belt, the long hours required for retail management began to take their toll on Michelle - plus her wardrobe was obnoxiously expanding –it was time to move on.    From retail management to property management to an Executive Assistant at a leading chemical distributor, Michelle’s skill portfolio continued to grow and the erratic retail hours were happily left behind.

Following a ten year residence in The Big Apple, Michelle’s “traveling bone”, in conjunction with many a plea from her dear mother in the Midwest, resurfaced and she returned to Kansas. Michelle was immediately hired by a staffing firm and sent out on a two week temporary job.  Upon completion, the staffing firm hired her on full-time; she took an advanced course in Excel and enjoyed the diversity of the ever changing staffing environment.  “Singing for her supper at the staffing firm” led to a job offer at a local radio station which morphed into the discovery of one of Michelle’s hidden talents – voice-overs!  Michelle has intoned many a commercial for local companies since then in addition to being the friendly, requested, “voice” of a local marketing firm’s Interactive Voice Response system.   Seems the gift of “gab” can truly be a gift!  Thereafter she stepped readily into the waiting arms of an Office Management opportunity and has not looked back since boasting the management of offices for staffing firms, NFL football agents and a business development company. 

In March of 2002, Michelle began working at VITEC.  She immediately took on the task of reworking VITEC’s image through creation of professional, consistent proposal templates, project management documents and well written executive overviews and communications, just to name a few.  Not surprisingly, the role of Event Coordinator also was tossed into her lap and she took the lead in organizing VITEC’s annual sponsored contact center event. – the KC Contact Center EXPO. 

Now in its eleventh year, the Kansas City Contact Center EXPO continues to draw hundreds of attendees and offers a form to educate and inspire contact center managers across the nation.  Check it out at www.kccallcenter.com.  Under Michelle’s guidance, the KC Contact Center EXPO transitioned from a marketing expense to a marketing event! 
In 2003 Michelle was offered the role of Project Manager in addition to her daily duties in the role of Office Manager, Sales & Marketing Coordinator and Executive Assistant.  In 2005, Michelle was honored with the opportunity to become a VITEC partner. 
 

In that same year, she married Vince Fulgenzi, VITEC CEO, threatens to quit on a daily basis and holds out hope for something more lucrative, like a soup taste tester, ice cream examiner or potato chip inspector, to fall into her lap.  Until then, Michelle works side-by-side with Vince managing the day-today activities of the business; marketing, event planning and still finds time to sing along, in oddly disjointed snippets, to the rock and roll station playing constantly in the background. 
 

As a dedicated, self-admitted over protective mother Michelle delights in the camaraderie of her three children.  Zachary, the eldest, is a recently promoted Army Sergeant currently stationed in Anchorage, Alaska.  He is a proud member of the exclusive EOD ranks (think “Hurt Locker”) and has always enjoyed making a big “bang.”   He delights in making the hearts of his parents palpate erratically with this adrenaline filled lifestyle.  Colin will be a senior at Kansas State University and makes his family grin like idiots with his timely sense of humor, infectious smile and good marks in the renowned KSU School of Engineering.  He dazzles with his mechanical knowledge and is often heard trading car stories with his dad.  Madison, or Sonnie to family and friends, is 11 going on 20.  She tops the elementary school hierarchy as a 5th grader and enjoys soccer, softball and all things girlie – her kind heart and impish ways perpetually entertain. 
 

In the copious amount of spare time Michelle finds between family, friends and VITEC she is currently penning, in addition to half the population, the great American novel.  The enjoyment she derives from writing anything, elicits a Cheshire cat like grin from Michelle every time.  She is a seasoned former soccer player and current coach for a lively, marvelous bunch of elementary school girls and absolutely adores driving for Meals-on-Wheels twice a week. 
 

On a daily basis, Michelle works with the entire VITEC team to continuously ensure that VITEC remains current with the changing face of the marketplace.  As of 2010, VITEC enjoys a company profile on Twitter, Linked-in and both the www.vitecinc.com and the kccallcenter.com websites have had complete make-over’s befitting of a new year.