Kenny Della Valle

VP, Product Development

TEAM MEMBER SINCE SEPTEMBER 2003

How long have you been with Vector? 
It’ll be 22 years this September. I started working part-time around 2000 or 2001, then joined full-time in 2003 after leaving my job at a bank. Back then, we were still called Convergence Training. 

What made you leave banking for 3D animations? 
Well, I got promoted at the bank and got something like a 17-cent raise. I thought, “Yeah, this isn’t it.” Around that time, the CEO of Convergence reached out. He was having trouble training people at paper mills and had this wild idea to use 3D graphics to show how the equipment worked. He knew I was studying multimedia and thought I could figure it out. So, I did! 

What did your early work look like? 
I started building simple 3D models to show flows through pipes. We used this really basic software called Carrera—not industry standard at all, but it got the job done. Eventually, we brought in more skilled animators and switched to 3D Studio Max, which our teams still use today. 

What was your role back then? 
I was the only person doing 3D graphics and animation, using After Effects to stitch together graphics, audio, and text. That was my whole job, all day, every day. 

What was your job when Vector acquired Convergence in 2018? 
By then, I was the general manager. I’d gone from doing the media development, to leading the media team, to doing programming, and eventually leading all of our operations and revenue functions too. I was kind of the glue that held the teams together—someone who spoke all the languages, media, development, marketing, sales, and support. That cross-functional experience became my superpower. 

And today—what do you do now? 
As the VP of Product Development, I report to the CTO and lead three key groups: 

• A team of product owners, who translate strategy into valuable projects 

• The QA team, making sure what we build actually works 

• And our project management group, which keeps everything running on schedule and focuses on continuous process improvement 

It’s all about aligning teams, speaking a shared language, and keeping everyone moving in the same direction. 

What’s changed the most over the years? 
Definitely the scale. We’ve gone from a few people working in someone’s kitchen to a massive organization with hundreds of engineers. Back then, I was with a few co-workers and we were writing HR policies from scratch. Now we have budgets, processes, structures, and specialists—it’s awesome, but I still miss the scrappy startup days sometimes! 

Any proud moments that really stand out? 
Seeing people grow. I will never forget meeting Michael Ojdana when he answered a Craigslist ad I had placed for an entry level media developer position—he’s now our Chief Learning Officer. Tim Tryon in CX – we once flew all the way across the country to try to earn a customer’s renewal and got immediately rejected at the beginning of the meeting, but that customer came back the following year! And Scott Rise? I remember celebrating "big” DVD sales with him when he just started out, now he’s our VP of Sales for Commercial. From those early days until now - watching their journeys (and many others) has been incredibly rewarding. 

What’s one lesson that stuck with you?  
Be adaptable. Things change constantly—acquisitions, org shifts, new tech, new leadership. My team has gotten really good at having one short “vent” session when sudden changes arise, then asking: “Okay, now what?” and coming up with a plan to move forward. 

What’s been a personal achievement you’re proud of? 
Scaling our engineering team to over 300 people while implementing streamlined processes for product development. We took a fragmented system and turned it into a well-oiled machine where teams work together efficiently. We're now delivering way more features than we used to, and sometimes we’re even ahead of schedule, which is incredible to see. 

What’s one moment from the early days you’ll never forget? 
The week we got acquired, we were immediately thrown into the annual client summit. It was overwhelming—a total culture shock, meeting a ton of new people, visiting Tampa for the first time, meeting customers for other products that I didn’t even know existed. Now, Tampa is like a second home to me and I get the privilege of working across our entire portfolio of products and I know them well. 

What keeps you motivated? 
Change. I love being in a position to help shape how 300+ people work and collaborate. I also love working with the high performers around me—people who push me and hold me accountable. It’s energizing to be around a team like that. 

Do you have a brother who works here too? 
I do! He was in the military and afterward he started working with us part-time. He’s a sponge—he picked up everything that was ever put in front of him, from building courses in Lectora to technical support to databases and data skills and he now works on the data engineering team. He’s been here over 10 years! 

Any hobbies or personal fun facts to share? 
My wife and I have two adopted doodles—one Aussie doodle and one Husky doodle and they are a handful! Despite being a tech guy, I try to avoid screens outside of work—I spend a lot of time hiking and biking, especially around southwest Washington and the Columbia River Gorge. We love road tripping, visiting national parks, and exploring new cultures - we recently spent a few months in Mexico and even got to celebrate Dia de Muertos! 

What does being part of the company’s 25th anniversary mean to you? 
It means everything. I helped build one of the products we still go to market with today (Convergence)—I’ve written code, created media, led teams. To go from wondering if we’d make it a year to being here for 25? That’s something I’ll always be proud of.