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Experience the Future with OpenCape

Discover the power of connectivity with OpenCape Corporation, a forward-thinking 501c3 nonprofit technology company based in Barnstable Village at the heart of the Barnstable County Complex.

OUR MISSION

Provide local, reliable and affordable broadband access through our state-of-the-art 100% Fiber Optic Network.

OUR VISION

Advocate for choice in internet connectivity in our community to improve the quality of life across our region.

OUR IMPACT

Advance the economic development and public sector interests throughout Cape Cod, the Islands and Southeastern MA.

Buzzards Bay - Canal Chamber Concert/Announcement Event

Broadband services are being provided over the OpenCape 100% Fiber Optic Network to more than 100 institutions, including libraries, government buildings, schools, colleges, hospitals, public safety agencies and research institutions.

 

Businesses that rely on high-speed Internet access and data transfers are choosing OpenCape’s competitive broadband services.

 

Community movements in towns across Cape Cod are paving the way for residential services.

Steve Johnston, CEO

Steve Johnston
CEO & Executive Director

Steve joined the OpenCape team in 2015. A father of five, Steve is a telecom-tech-not-for-profit executive who is currently hyper-focused on utilizing OpenCape to drive growth, innovation, and economic development on the Cape, Islands, Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Steve is driven by curiosity, challenge, and a desire to make the world a better place. He spent the early part of his career directly generating over $200M for PBS.

Rob Bateman, CFO

Rob Bateman
Chief Financial Officer

Rob joined the OpenCape team in 2024 as the Chief Financial Officer. Rob leads the finance and accounting activities of the non-profit corporation, and does whatever else is needed to make OpenCape successful. Prior to joining OpenCape, Rob had a 20 year career in the insurance industry, serving as Chief Financial Officer of publicly-traded, private and start-up companies. He has led strategic, business and financial planning & analysis, financial and management reporting, analytics and modeling, treasury, investor relations, capital management, investments, and enterprise risk management. Rob earned his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts. He is a Certified Public Accountant and resides in Dennis, Massachusetts.

Jenn Brann, VP Business Operations

Jenn Brann

VP, Business Operations

Jennifer joined the OpenCape team in 2018 as the Business Office Manager and was recently promoted to VP, Business Operations. Jennifer manages a wide variety of projects within OpenCape’s business office, including developing and maintaining budgets, onboarding new customers, overseeing payables and receivables, ensuring deadlines are met and OpenCape remains compliant with licensing, and more. In short, Jennifer is responsible for making sure everything pertaining to the business runs smoothly.

Janek Chrzanowski CTO
Janek Chrzanowski
CTO

Janek joined OpenCape as CTO in 2015. His technical expertise, extensive knowledge and understanding of fiber optic internet, and experience in proactive customer relations are all invaluable attributes that contribute to OpenCape’s smooth operations and successful service deployment. Previously Janek was the senior solution architect for InterCloud Systems and Systems Engineer at Avaya and Nortel Networks specializing in optical networks, the latter for over a decade.

Open Cape Leadership

Building Strong Partnerships

Beach

Our History

It All Began with a Communications Problem

In 2006, Southeastern MA had communications problems. Inadequate bandwidth, limited broadband coverage and poor cell phone service threatened to hold our region back, both technologically and economically.

Our businesses and research institutions were finding it increasingly hard to compete globally due to the high cost and poor availability of broadband. Each year we were losing thousands of talented workers who sought better jobs elsewhere, where broadband offered greater opportunities for professional and career growth.

In addition, local government telecom and data system inefficiency often meant higher taxes and limited investments. Our schools and colleges were unable to keep up with relevant academic programming in an internet age. Our public safety officials were concerned that the lack of reliable communications networks could put our welfare at risk during times of emergency.

John Campbell

John Campbell
Chairman

John Campbell is the CIO for Mass General Brigham Healthcare at Home and brings over 30 years of technology and leadership experience to his role at OpenCape. At Mass General Brigham, John is responsible for Digital strategy for their Home Care and Hospital at Home service lines which rely heavily on consumer broadband and cellular communications (unlike brick-and-mortar healthcare settings). Simply put, healthcare in the home just wouldn't be possible without robust wired and wireless connectivity in the home. John believes passionately that access to technology is an equity issue: having access to fast affordable internet is essential to thrive in modern life. As Board Chair, John has led our Strategic Planning work; fostered a commitment to ensuring that the diversity of the Board reflects the communities that we serve; and assures we continue to serve our not-for-profit mission to advance quality of life through access to technology in our region.

John G. Kenan Jr. Vice Chairman

John G. Kennan, Jr.
Vice Chairman

John Kennan is Principal at John G. Kennan Jr. Attorney at Law in Sandwich. His law firm was started on Cape Cod in the year 2000 and focuses on Estate Planning, Elder Law, Asset Protection, Wills and Trusts, Probate, and Medicaid Planning. John is an active member of the community, serving with the following groups and organizations: Sandwich Council on Aging, where he volunteers legal services to seniors President, Sandwich Historical Society and Sandwich Glass Museum Past member of Sandwich Board of Selectmen Founder and past member of the Sandwich Alliance of Financial and Legal Professionals Member of Sandwich Economic Development Committee Founder, Past President and Charter Member of Sandwich Economic Initiative Corporation President, Nye Family of America Association, Inc. (Benjamin Nye Museum)

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Adam Avratin
Clerk

Attorney Adam S. Avratin is an experienced trial attorney specializing in Divorce/Family Law, Business/Corporate Law, and Civil Litigation. He is certified as a Financial Litigator by the American Academy of Certified Financial Litigators. Adam has established new law in both Family Law and Civil Litigation. He has tried and presented matters before the Probate & Family Court, Superior Court and District Court as well as before the Appeals and Supreme Judicial Court on numerous occasions. Attorney Avratin has repeatedly been awarded the “First Justices Award for Pro Bono Publico Services,” for his ongoing pro bono services in the community, serving in the lawyer of the day program in Plymouth, Norfolk, Suffolk, Barnstable, and Middlesex County. Although he maintains a busy law practice he continues to pursue new opportunities to give back to the community. He volunteers his time to the ARC Panel (Attorneys Representing Children), and is frequently appointed by the judiciary to represent children in high conflict custody cases.

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Al Tate
Treasurer

Al Tate, Jr., AAMS®, CMFC® is a Senior Vice President – Investments with Wells Fargo Advisors. He is both an Accredited Asset Management SpecialistSM and a Chartered Mutual Fund CounselorSM. In addition, Al also holds the Premier Advisor designation from Wells Fargo Advisors. Al has over 30 years of experience in the industry, focusing on the analysis and selection of fixed income investments, mutual funds, asset allocation and conservative growth stocks for clients. Al holds Series 7, 52, 63 and 65 securities registrations and is a 1980 graduate of Westfield State College with a Major in Economics and Business Administration. He lives in Barnstable with his wife, Nancy. In his leisure time, Al enjoys photography and his daily workouts.

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Art Gaylord,
Chairman Emeritus

Art Gaylord, Chairman Emeritus: Retired - Director of Computer Information Services, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Art has over 50 years of experience in information technology with expertise in collaborative and distributed computing, scientific computing, security, networking and voice over IP. Prior to retiring in 2015, Art was the Director of Computer and Information Services at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where he was responsible for non-administrative computing, cyber security, networking and telecommunications services including a fiber optic network serving six major private and federal government organizations in the Woods Hole area. He has led major projects to modernize networks, transition to a VoIP phone system and develop a high performance computing facility. Before taking that position in 1999, he developed and directed computing facilities at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of Illinois. As co-founder and Chair of the Board of OpenCape Corporation, Gaylord helped bring advanced network services to support the economic, educational, public safety and governmental needs of the Southeastern Massachusetts region. He is also a founding member of FalmouthNet Inc., a non-profit seeking to bring a community-based fiber optic network to all residents of Falmouth. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Cape Cod Technology Council. Art has been a speaker at numerous conferences worldwide and has published works in both computer science and chemistry. He currently serves as an IT advisor to several local schools and colleges.

Louis Beco

Louis Beco

Louis Beco: Lead Instructor, Cyber Security at Cape Cod Community College A resident of Hyannis, Louis is currently teaching his 7th year as the Lead Instructor for the Cyber Security Program he created from the ground up for Cape Cod Community College. Louis designed 12 classes and teaches 6 per semester, while advising 54 students. Originally from New York, he moved here with his wife in 2005 to work in the hospitality industry and learned that he had a knack for information technology. He attended Cape Cod Community College and earned an Associate’s Degree in 2010. He then went to Curry College and earned his Bachelor’s in 2012. And in 2014, he earned his Masters of Science in Computer Information Systems with a concentration in Security from Boston University. Louis did all of this while working and with two young children at home Louis is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., as well as a loving husband and father to two daughters.

Alison Caron

Alison Caron

Alison Caron has worked as a graphic designer in the advertising and publishing industries for more than 17 years. She earned a BFA in graphic design, summa cum laude, from UMass Dartmouth. Her Hyannis-based design firm, Alison Caron Design, has earned many national design awards. Alison and her team design logos, marketing materials, advertising campaigns, magazines, annual reports, websites, and more. Their clients include the Jane Goodall Institute, Conservation International, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Cape Cod 5, Cape Symphony, Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, Cape Cod Beer, the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, the JFK Hyannis Museum, and the Cape Cod, Greater Hyannis, Yarmouth, and Chatham Chambers of Commerce. Alison is also the art director for several magazines including At Home on Cape Cod, South Coast Almanac, Chatham Living By the Sea, Falmouth Living, and the MidCape Guide. Alison has been an adjunct faculty member in the graphic design department at Cape Cod Community College for more than 6 years. She also offers one-day “Boot Camp” workshops at her Hyannis studio as well as one-on-one and corporate group trainings.

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Sean Gonsalves

Sean Gonsalves: Senior reporter, editor and researcher, ISLR Sean Gonsalves is a longtime former reporter, columnist, and news editor with the Cape Cod Times. He is also a former nationally syndicated columnist in 22 newspapers, including the Oakland Tribune, Kansas City Star and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. His work has also appeared in the Boston Globe, USA Today, the Washington Post and the International Herald-Tribune. An award-winning newspaper reporter and columnist, Sean also has extensive experience in both television and radio. Sean has made appearances on WGBH’s “Greater Boston” TV show with Emily Rooney and was a frequent guest on New England Cable News (NECN), commentating on a variety of Cape Cod tourist attractions. He left print journalism in 2014 to work as a senior communication consultant for Regan Communications and Pierce-Cote, advising a variety of business, non-profit and government agency clients on communication strategy. In October 2020, Sean joined the Institute for Local Self-Reliance staff as a senior reporter, editor and researcher for ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative.

Aimee Iannotti

Aimee Lannotti, Director: Senior Manager, M & A Tax Services Aimee assists companies and private equity groups with buy- and sell-side tax diligence and advisory services. This includes structuring assistance and tax technical analysis in M&A related areas such as purchase price allocations, step-up analyses, and incremental tax cost calculations. Within the RSM M&A team, Aimee leads the U.S. inbound practice focusing on foreign based large- and midsized companies with operations and/or aspirations in the U.S. (mostly strategic or private equity owned).

Marie Oliva

Marie Oliva

Marie Oliva: President & CEO, Cape Cod Canal Regional Chamber of Commerce Marie Oliva is the President & CEO of the Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber, a non-profit organization primarily serving the communities of Bourne, Sandwich, Wareham, parts of Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts with over 500 business members. We provide services related to economic development, transportation, small business development, and operation of two visitor centers located at the base of the Sagamore Bridge and on Main Street, Buzzards Bay at the Railroad Station. Marie served as the Co-Chair of the Cape Cod Canal Centennial Celebration, attracting over 150,000 people into the region during a week=long period. Over 3 years of planning went into the 100th Birthday of the Cape Cod Canal located in the backyard of the Chamber’s Business Office and Railroad Station. Marie was a full time Elected Selectwoman in Bourne over 25 years ago and was the first women elected in Bourne’s 100-year history. She served for 10 years before moving to the Onset Bay Association as the Executive Director working on downtown revitalization projects.

John Vibberts

John Vibberts

John Vibberts, Director: Consultant, Retired John Vibberts moved to Sandwich with his wife, Susan in 1983. After spending a 30 year career in healthcare and small business management, he now is focused on volunteer opportunities on the Cape and Islands. John is also a member of the Sandwich Community Television Board of Directors serving as Treasurer. In the Town of Sandwich he has served on the Finance Committee, Capital Improvement Planning Committee, Kiwanis Club of Sandwich, The Sandwich Citizens Police Academy Alumni, and the Board of Directors of The Sandwich Council on Aging. He additionally served on the search committee for the selection of the Town’s Police Chief and on the building committee for the design of Sandwich’s new Public Safety Complex which houses Police, Fire and Ambulance services. John has served as an ombudsman for the Elder Services of the Cape and Islands specializing in patient’s rights advocacy; he is an Overseer and member of the Board of Directors of the Vineyard Open Land Foundation and here at OpenCape Corporation where he serves on the Governance and Nominating Committee and the Finance Committee. John’s hobbies are mostly aquatic activities: boating, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, and music on the guitar and ukulele. His love of animals has led him to dog training and cat herding. He especially enjoys hanging out in the Vibberts’ family room with his wife Sue; surrounded by the cats and dogs.

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Jordan Keliinui

Sr. System Administrator at Raytheon Technologies Jordan Keliinui joins Open Cape’s Board of Directors with a diverse and impactful background in cybersecurity and excitement to empower people. Jordan grew up in Mashpee, MA, and is a proud member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Jordan is passionate about bridging technology and security with positive community impact.

Board of Directors