The Virtuance Team

With his extensive experience in all facets of real estate including development, brokerage, marketing, and property management, Jeff brings a highly refined understanding of the real estate and vacation rental industries to bear on the strategic and operational aspects of the company. Jeff grew up watching his mother, an architectural photographer, excel at her craft. He soon realized, though, that technology offered incredible opportunities to combine the art of photography with the science of image processing to market properties with unprecedented efficiency and efficacy. Jeff is responsible for establishing and executing on the company’s growth strategy and ensuring that the company maintains its high standards across all operational levels. Immediately before co-founding Virtuance, Jeff served for four years as Acquisitions and Development Manager at a Colorado-based real estate investment firm. He also previously worked in acquisitions for a private real estate investment trust. Prior to entering the real estate industry, he began his career as an investigative journalist, working with John Stossel and Barbara Walters at ABC News and later as a political and economic development reporter for an ABC news affiliate in Missouri. If you want to hear some wild stories…ask Jeff about his ‘reporter days.’ When Jeff isn’t at the office, you’ll find him outdoors – climbing one of Colorado’s ‘Fourteeners’, skiing, mountain biking, or sailing…(yes there is some sailing in Colorado, but Jeff wishes there were an ocean too). Jeff has a Master’s Degree from the University of Denver in Real Estate Development and Finance and a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Washington University in St. Louis in political science and business.

Igor is a leading expert in signal process engineering and systems engineering. He is responsible for developing the core algorithms and processes that power our current image processing technologies, as well as designing and building the core functionality for many of the company’s proprietary software applications. Prior to joining Virtuance, Igor was the first employee at VoiceSignal, a groundbreaking voice recognition technology company founded in 1997. He spent ten years serving as Chief Scientist and oversaw a team of fifty engineers. Under Igor’s technical leadership, VoiceSignal developed voice recognition technology that has become the industry standard and is currently used on nearly 60 percent of all of the world’s mobile phones, including Apple’s iPhone. Prior to VoiceSignal, Igor worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratories as a signal processing engineer engaged by the government to work on government imaging projects. Most recently, Igor was a founding partner of Color Leap, the creator of an automated image processing application designed to be used on smartphones.

Amanda manages our photography, client success, and processing teams. She sets policies and standards for scheduling, account management, client relations, communications, and social media. After college, Amanda moved to Chicago and began taking photos of actors and bands to make ends meet. Around that time, she got a chance to photograph upscale homes. This opportunity began her interest in real estate photography. In 2008, Amanda joined the Peace Corps and served in Romania as a TEFL volunteer and came to appreciate the importance of being a part of a community environment. Amanda has amassed extensive experience in corporate and small-business operations and has touched many aspects of what it takes to make a small business thrive. Amanda was born and raised in Pasadena, Texas and has a BA in Theatre from the University of Houston. In her free time, Amanda coaches Crossfit and trains in Olympic weightlifting (yes she’s hardcore). You can also find her shaking her tail feather as she also loves rockabilly and swing dancing.

Michael is our VP of Marketing and is the chief architect of our awareness, acquisition, and retention efforts. Before joining our team, Mike worked for a growing company and helped build their marketing department from the ground up. Mike brings a “jack-of-all-trades” skill set that will help build Virtuance’s presence in new and existing markets. After spending eight years in Chicago, Mike and his family moved to Denver after his wife got an unbelievable job opportunity. He enjoys watching Cubs/Blackhawks/Husker games with his son, paddle boarding, experimenting with wacky diets, and 90’s culture (ask him about his POG collection and Tecmo Super Bowl skills).

Ollie was born and raised in Cambridge, UK. Pursuing the arts throughout his education, he was formally introduced to the joy of photography while documenting his sculpture work, and was an instant convert. After dedicating his studies to the photographic medium and graduating from the Cambridge School of Art with a Bachelor’s Degree in Photographic and Digital Media, Ollie has gone on to work in various areas of the photographic industry. Doing everything from professional equipment sales with Nikon through to photography and retouching for the tailors to the Queen has really given him the chance to work out what part of photography he loves the most. It’s safe to say that post-production comes out on top, and there’s nowhere he’d rather be using those skills than here in the Image Production Department! Photography and retouching are certainly Ollie‘s favorite pastimes, but somewhere along the lines he still makes time for the other important things in life; hiking, riding (and rebuilding) enduro motorcycles, and spending hours in the kitchen trying to expand his culinary repertoire.

Stephanie was born and raised in Kalispell, Montana, and was lucky enough to have Glacier National Park as her backyard growing up. She has worked for many years in the tourism and hotel industry and 8 years in Construction. Her motto is, work hard, and play even harder. On her time off, you will find her outside mountain biking, dirt biking, running, camping, boating, skiing...anything outside with her husband, kids, and best friends. Her family lives the saying, "those that play together, stay together". Stephanie also has a boutique event company that she started over 10 years ago, that solely operates as a pro bono to help non-profits start a new event or enhance an existing event. She is super excited to join the Virtuance team and become part of this amazing company.

Jill spent most of her life in the Midwest, near the lakeshore of West Michigan. There she completed a BA in psychology before joining a private detective agency as a field investigator for 10 years. Jill has had an interest in photography since she was a child, and in 2008 started her own studio and wedding photography business. After moving to Colorado, she dove headfirst into the customer service field and has been helping people ever since! Outside of the office, Jill enjoys hiking with her pup, kayaking, playing the piano, and watching movies.

Contact Information Phone: 847-440-5017 Email  

Kristin recently moved to the Denver area from Montana. While she misses the wide open spaces of Big Sky Country and the absence of traffic she is excited about all the possibilities Denver has to offer! Kristin has already hiked her first fourteener and is looking forward to trying skiing this winter! (In theory anyway, her one attempt at snowboarding was disastrous, so here’s hoping skiing will be better ? Kristin is excited about the growth Virtuance is experiencing and is looking forward to contributing to such an amazing company!

Janelle moved to Colorado to attend the University of Denver where she earned a BSBA in Management in 2018. Spreadsheets, improving processes, and reducing costs are some of Janelle’s specialties. Minnesota born and raised had her on ice skates when she was the age of three but could be found later doing back flips on a 4-inch-wide beam with the local gymnastics team. Janelle found that Colorado was a great place to explore her interests which include skiing, hiking, and overall health and fitness.

Heather Norman spent much of her childhood on the San Francisco Bay. Her father was a marine engineer and tugboat captain which meant weekends and school breaks were spent as deckhand and cook, watching the city skyline from the water. She dreamed of being able to capture the character and beauty of the city in photography. In college, an Introduction to Photography class opened her eyes to black & white photography and darkroom developing. Today Heather’s photography resides more in capturing the smiles, character, and sparkle of her children to provide them a story of their lives in images which includes taking their “annual school pictures” at nearby parks. Heather earned a Communications degree from California State University, Chico. She’s held diverse positions from a sales assistant in a four-star hotel to a Compliance Officer in the investment industry. After the birth of her children, she started an online cloth diapering business and parenting newsletter while working as a cashier in natural foods. Over a decade in retail, she made her way up to Store Manager which sparked the idea of starting her own blog designed to create a deeper connection to health information for fans of the Dr. Oz Show. All these jobs in various industries have taught her one important lesson: the most important rule of customer service is listening.

Bio Coming Soon!

Born in New York and raised in Virginia, Cassandra spent 6 years in Los Angeles before moving to Denver. In Virginia, she received her B.A. from James Madison University in Media Arts and Design with a minor in Photography. Her background includes an eclectic variety ranging from managing a celebrity photography studio in the Hollywood Hills to owning her own photography business to spearheading the QA department at a high-end design agency in Washington D.C. In her free time, she enjoys aerial arts, live music, singing a cappella, and adventuring around Colorado.

Randy grew up on a horse ranch in Texas and studied computer science at the University of North Texas. Before joining the Virtuance team, he worked for ten years at a defense contractor in Dallas, where he wrote image analysis tools for the Intelligence Community. In his free time, Randy enjoys spending time with his wife and their two Boston Terriers, playing video games, and trying new foods. He’s also looking forward to exploring the Colorado outdoors.

Bio Coming Soon!

Sean is a web developer at Virtuance. He was born in San Diego, CA, where he spent two decades taking the perfect weather for granted. He moved to Denton, TX in 2004 to attend the University of North Texas, majoring in Business Computer Information Systems. After graduating, he began his career in Dallas, working in the automotive sales and online textbook industries for several years before relocating to Denver in the summer of 2017 with his girlfriend. In his free time, Sean is a guitarist, a collector of weird punk records and a comic book nerd who enjoys scuba diving, video games and being okay at bar trivia. He and his girlfriend recently purchased a house that they share with their cats, Sadie and Pants, who hate each other.

Haley has spent most of her life in Texas. She grew up around the DFW area, and then moved to San Antonio, TX where she attended school. She received her bachelors of business and pursued a career in sales during, and after college. After 2 years of working with Virtuance as a sales and marketing consultant in both San Antonio and Austin, Texas, she accepted the position as the National Sales Trainer. In this role, she gets to train and coach our new sales reps and also continue to develop the skills of our existing sales team. This new position at Virtuance is what brought her to Denver, CO. She misses the warm weather, but has a new found appreciation for the mountains and the snow! Haley has a passion for traveling, being near the water, drinking wine, and hanging out with her pup, Bentley.

Yuliya lives in sunny Florida, although her heart is somewhere in the mountains. Yuliya worked in hospitality recruiting and HR for over 20 years until she joined the amazing Virtuance team and she hasn’t looked back! When Yuliya isn’t searching for the best talent to join Virtuance, she is most likely training for a marathon or is leaving somewhere on a jet plane. Yuliya enjoys running, biking, kayaking, travelling and eating amazing foods (especially when cooked by someone else!). Yuliya also runs a small run coaching business and works with athletes to achieve their running goals.

Claire is originally from the beautiful Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania but has spent the last 7 years living in Brooklyn, N.Y. She graduated from Marywood University with a BFA in Photography. Claire is also a wedding photographer and loves photographing her clients throughout the year. In her spare time, you can find her wandering around New York City exploring with her film camera! She is also a proud plant mom to her ever-growing plant collection!

Bio coming soon.

Alan grew up in Mexico, where the tacos are plentiful and the churros are just better. He eventually moved to Colorado, where he now works at the intersection of (get this) Mexico Ave and Colorado Blvd. You can’t make this stuff up. Alan is a drummer, guitarist, and sound engineer. He loves pizza and video games and has an unreasonably large movie collection — 549, at the time of writing. He knows he has a problem and is working to fix it.

Crio’s journey into photography began in his high school graphic design class. Once he discovered photoshop he was immediately hooked and determined it would turn into a career. Born and raised in Denver, Crio attended Colorado Film School and majored in Film and Video Post Production. After only a few months of school he began working at a production company as a retoucher and video editor. Retouching is basically Crio’s entire life but in his free time he enjoys shooting his own photography, even more retouching, and competitive gaming.

Paul is a Colorado native, who spent much of his childhood playing Sega, and not understanding everyone’s obsession with hiking— it’s just walking uphill. He graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado with his degree in Photography, including specialties in fashion and post-production work. Since graduating college, Paul has spent time working in Commercial Photo and Video Studios, where he learned that he is really good at carrying heavy stuff. After spending a year as a photographer for Virtuance, he is excited to move into the office as an image processing specialist. In his free time, he enjoys discovering unusual music, using his camera as much as possible, and trying to learn something new every day.

Beth grew up in rural southern Colorado, and spent most of her childhood either reading books or climbing trees. Her first fascination with photography was with her grandfather’s Viewmaster slides, which she still thinks are a magical lost technology. Her interest led to a degree in photography from the Art Institute of Colorado, where she concentrated on product and still life images. She enjoys post-production editing as much as the planning and shooting stages. In her free time she runs a small handmade jewelry company and loves exploring Denver on her bicycle, tinkering with the bicycle while watching shows on Netflix, and pretty much anything crafty.

Darren grew up in Northern Minnesota where in his childhood enjoyed camping and being in the outdoors. These fond memories of nature were the catalyst for his passion to explore new wilderness places and photograph them. After Graduating from the University of Minnesota with a BFA in Graphic Design and a studio emphasis in Photography; he move to Colorado and his passion for the outdoors and photography grew as he began exploring Colorado’s mountains and Utah’s desert. When not shooting photos or processing images Darren enjoys hiking, camping, mountain biking, skiing, climbing mountains, and canyoneering.

Mattie grew up in a tiny town in upstate New York. She later attended College at Ithaca where she received her BS in Photography. Before Virtuance she worked as a Photo Editor for an entertainment website. Wanting a change in scenery she packed up and journeyed to Colorado. She enjoys the nature Colorado brings, but sitting around watching tv and movies is truthfully what she’s all about.

Rae is a surrealist/fine art photographer, a North Carolina native and a Colorado nomad. She graduated with a BFA in Photography from The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham. Prior to working at Virtuance, Rae was an art teacher by day and bartender by night. At Virtuance, Rae is very much fulfilled by her work as an image processor, really flexing her muscles in the area of photography that she loves best; editing! In her spare time, Rae enjoys spending time with her husband and two cats, yoga, urban exploration and simply being outside in any capacity.

Emily was born and raised in Minneapolis. She ventured her way to Bluffton, South Carolina for 6 years where she completed a degree in communications, had three beautiful children and began her business in photography. She then spent two years in the Memphis area before finally making her way to beautiful Denver. Emily loves to travel, eat and cook, photograph (landscapes, people, you name it), and engulf herself in DIY projects! Along with her already hectic life, she works alongside her significant other; together they raise their 6 kids Brady Bunch style.

Joe grew up in Oklahoma and spent most of his childhood playing baseball and video games. After high school, he joined the Army as a medic and spent 4 years stationed in North Carolina. Joe moved to Denver after a short period back in Oklahoma and has no intention of ever leaving. In his spare time, he loves making music or reading.

Alaina graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Kinesiology. Prior to the real estate industry, she worked in the travel industry and the fitness/ sports performance industry. Alaina plays rugby for Denver’s Glendale Merlins. She enjoys cooking, travel and hiking with her 3-year-old Australian Sheperd/Blue Heeler, Niko.

Michael Paul Franklin has been a photographer and photo editor for three decades. As an award-winning photographer for The San Diego Union-Tribune, he covered a wide variety of assignments from The Pope's visit to the plight of the Mexican Farm Workers. That training helped shape his creative eye.

As a photo editor and Director of Photography, Michael worked to inspire and motivate a staff of very talented photographers and was honored with awards from organizations like the National Press Photographers Association, Society for News Design and Pictures of the Year.

Michael has been a judge for The Red Bull Illume action photography contest, Best of Photojournalism, Ohio Newspaper Photographers Association as well as several state, regional and local photography contests. He also judged the Asian Journalists Association annual photo contest.  He has been a speaker and panelist for CNPA, AAJA, as well as a faculty member for the Pinnacle photojournalism workshop and a photojournalist in residence for San Jose State University.

Michael also worked as a freelance photographer before making relocating to Beijing to work as Assistant Director of Photography at the China Daily newspaper. After living in Asia for several years Michael moved to Havana Cuba and worked at the U.S. Embassy where he photographed visiting dignitaries and celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal, Jimmy Buffett and Misty Copeland

After years of living abroad, Michael and his family have settled in the Denver area.

Minka loves to create and travel! She enjoys sharing her passions through photography, painting, writing and baking. Her travels have taken her to Europe where she ate the best nectarine ever watching the sunset over Florence, to Hong Kong exploring hidden gardens with a mouthful of bubble waffles and to Scotland where she has unfinished business. Iceland and Japan keep sending her love letters to visit. She is a daughter and older sister. One of her favorite experiences is to bake and watch scary movies in the twilight of an October afternoon.

Joanie spent most of her childhood as an Air Force brat in Germany. After returning to America, she completed a BA in Music Therapy at the University of North Dakota and worked as a Board Certified Music Therapist for several years, including a stint at the State of Colorado Psychiatric Hospital at Ft. Logan. Helping people is in Joanie’s DNA, so when choosing to change careers, she was excited at the opportunity to jump into a Client Services role at Virtuance. She’s glad to be a part of the Virtuance team, where she’s eager to help real estate agents get the most out of working with Virtuance. She enjoys spending time exploring Colorado with her husband and two black labs while still making time to pursue her passions for visual and musical art.

Laura grew up in Lakewood, Colorado and attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, obtaining degrees in French and Art. Before working at Virtuance, she worked as a restaurant manager, bartender and server, which gave her the skills to help the Virtuance family. She also gained a great passion for food and cooking! In her free time, she loves to paint, draw and create book sculptures. She is also an avid traveler, visiting many countries in Europe, and so far, twenty-five of the fifty United States.

Michael is a Colorado born-and-raised native. After graduating from the University of Northern Colorado with a B.A. in Communication Studies and a Minor in Writing, Michael knew that he wanted to pursue a career that involved communicating with and assisting customers. In his free time, Michael enjoys traveling, going to concerts, and watching movies. He has seen pretty much every movie under the sun! And the most interesting place he has ever traveled to was Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Cameron grew up in Central Florida and studied History at the University of Florida (Go Gators!). After graduating from college, he moved to North Carolina to work in hospitality management. Saddened by the lack of flannel worn by the locals, Cameron packed his bags and headed to Boulder, CO to help jump start a Client Success team for a tech startup. When he isn't working alongside the outstanding client success team at Virtuance you'll find Cameron hiking, kayaking, or playing music.

After studying English at the University of Northern Colorado, Kiri spent time working for hotels, where she fell in love with the field of hospitality. No task was too small. From making lattes to checking guests in, she learned that she just…really liked assisting others. She later made a leap to a role as a Client Services Coordinator and Task Force Manager in the Homeowners Association (HOA) management industry, where she learned the ins and outs of community management and HOA law. Her years of experience juggling the needs of Board Members and Homeowners sparked an interest in real estate, and joining the Virtuance team allowed her to meld her artistic and professional sensibilities into a role where she could help people. In her spare time, Kiri can be found reading, concocting something crafty, or indulging in her pop culture obsession. In 2016, she was voted Nerd Prom’s Prom Queen, and if she had her druthers, every day would be Halloween. She’s currently working on honing her film and special effects skills. Her ultimate goal is to one day build her own homemade haunted house for charity (and to write the next great American novel, of course).

Christie is technically the middle child of three (her identical twin sister is older by 2 minutes). With a father who was constantly relocating for work, Christie spent most of her childhood moving all over the country. She eventually ended up in Colorado, where she fell in love with the blend of urban living, sustainability, and outdoorsy lifestyle. She attributes her well-rounded perspective and humble outlook on life to all of the diverse places she grew up in. Her mother recognized her creative soul from a young age and put her through tap and ballet classes, gymnastics, computer science courses, interior design and art classes, but it was color guard in her high school marching band that allowed her to thrive. After an exciting performance career, Christie began teaching color guard through Jefferson County Public Schools, but it wasn’t until she took an Intro to Digital Photography class in college that she discovered a true passion for photography. With over six years of retail and sales experience, as well as a passion for photography and technology, Christie excitedly found her way to a CSA position at Virtuance, which perfectly blends her years of customer service, photography interests, and a genuine love of helping others. In her spare time, Christie practices photography that showcases dance and color guard techniques, reads, or plays video games. She is a cat lover, a coffee fanatic, and an avid organizer. Christie is excited to be a part of the Virtuance team and is looking forward to growing with the company and exploring Colorado on weekend hiking and camping trips.

Sarah is a Denver native who has been making art for most of her life. Starting with Graphic Design Degree and then moving on to a Photography Degree from the Art Institute of Colorado, she has been figuring out how to make things fit together within different mediums ever since. She’s been working in customer service roles for most of her life and finds that helping is the thing she does best. She’s often at live local venues enjoying the Colorado music scene or hanging out at home watching whatever random show or movie is the new favorite streaming item with her cat and dog.

Anna grew up in Los Angeles, California and New Hampshire before settling in Lambertville, New Jersey. She graduated from Drew University where she majored in Philosophy and minored in Studio Art. Upon graduating, Anna went on to receive her certification as a RYT-200 Kripalu Yoga Teacher and an Asana Alphabet Children’s Yoga Instructor and worked in independent schools in Mercer County, New Jersey. When Anna isn’t working, she’s cooking new recipes, traveling, reading/writing poetry, and spending time with her cat Toby Pierogi.