About VivianOps

A family company, built on purpose.

Joel and Michael grew up two blocks apart. Vivian Street was the Kansas City cul-de-sac where all the neighborhood kids played — including them. Years later Joel’s son Zander grew up knowing Michael as family, and when the three of them decided to start a company together, Vivian was the obvious name. We weren’t looking to build a company with strangers we’d have to learn to trust. We were looking to build one with the people we already trusted — the way small Midwest businesses have always been built: with people who answer the phone, show up when it matters, and stake their names on the work.

The founders

Three co-founders. Three roles. One shop.

All three of us built this together from day one. Complementary roles, equal ownership, and every call that matters gets made with all three voices in the room.

Joel

Co-Founder, Lead Developer & Lead Security Architect

Joel is the technical foundation of VivianOps. Holding CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) and Network+ certifications along with Microsoft’s Azure AZ-900 and a Python full-stack development certification, he brings both the credentials and the hands-on experience to back them up. By day he works in IT support at a fiber internet provider in the Kansas City area, where he troubleshoots complex network issues, writes Python and PowerShell automation to streamline internal workflows, and collaborates with field technicians and telco partners across rural multi-site deployments.

At VivianOps, Joel leads all product development, security architecture, and infrastructure. He designed and built the company’s internal AI agent platform, applying a full threat model using MITRE ATT&CK and NIST frameworks, identifying and mitigating AI-specific attack vectors including prompt injection, memory poisoning, WebSocket origin bypass, and Unicode spoofing in approval prompts. That security-first approach isn’t something bolted on after the fact — it’s how every line of code at VivianOps gets written.

He maintains a home enterprise lab built to professional standards — VLAN-segmented networking, a self-hosted SIEM for log ingestion and threat detection, DNS-level filtering, and a dedicated firewall for traffic control and network boundary enforcement. The AI agent platform runs in its own isolated network segment with strict outbound-only access. This isn’t a hobby setup — it’s a working security environment he uses to stay sharp and test real techniques.

Beyond the lab, Joel actively pursues offensive security skills through TryHackMe — working the SOC, Web Fundamentals, and Jr. Penetration Tester paths, completing CTF rooms in network exploitation and privilege escalation — and maintains an active HackerOne bug bounty hunter account working through real-world vulnerability disclosure programs. He completed the intensive Centriq IT Career Training cybersecurity program in Kansas City and holds a Python full-stack development certification.

When Joel says VivianOps owns its own infrastructure and never sells your data, it’s not a marketing line. He built it, secured it, and threat-modeled it himself. That’s who’s running the technical side of this company.

Michael

Co-Founder, COO | Finance, Legal & HR

Michael brings the operational backbone to VivianOps. With a background in finance, HR, and systems operations at a regional gas company — where he handles everything from emergency support to ticketing and process management — he knows what it takes to keep an organization running when things get complicated. That experience maps directly to his role at VivianOps, where he leads all financial planning, legal structure, HR, and business operations.

Joel and Michael have been best friends for nearly four decades. When Joel decided to build something real, Michael was the one he called. Currently navigating life with a newborn at home while contributing remotely, Michael brings focused intensity to every hour he puts in — proof that the right person doesn’t need unlimited time to make a meaningful impact.

Zander

Co-Founder, Junior Developer & IT Department

Zander has loved computers since he was young, always more interested in how systems work than in just using them. He took every computing and technology class his high school offered and has been building practical skills ever since. At 17, he’s already running the IT department at a real company.

At VivianOps, Zander manages device setup, network infrastructure, internal tooling, and system automation for the founding team. He worked alongside Joel building out the company’s home enterprise lab, learning server management, network segmentation, and storage configuration through hands-on real-world work. He writes automation that makes VivianOps’s internal workflows faster and more efficient, and he’s learning Python and cybersecurity concepts in the same environment where they’re actually being applied.

Zander is Joel’s son, born and raised in the Kansas City area. He’s not an intern or a helper — he’s a co-founder with real ownership and real responsibility, earning both every day.

How we work

Plainly. And with handshakes that hold.

We work the way small Midwest shops have always worked. Fixed prices before the work starts. Timestamped logs so you know what we did. Plain-English writeups without the acronym soup. If something isn’t worth doing, we’ll tell you that too — we’d rather right-size an engagement than ship one that wasn’t worth the money.

See our security services