Leadership

Donald Culeton drives the overall strategy of IDI. He is passionate about understanding market and technology trends and collaborating with customers to achieve their business needs.

Don established IDI in 1996 with a foundation of building a culture that attracts and retains the best and brightest employees who share common values. This combined with a focus on speed to market, quality and exceeding expectations is why our customers say, “IDI is more than a vendor; they are a trusted partner that enables us to quickly transform our ideas into growth.”

Under his stewardship, IDI has grown from a start-up to an industry leader, earning the company recognition as an Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Privately Held Firms five times, and securing numerous industry awards. Don was also named one of the “25 Most Influential People in Telecom Software” by B/OSS Magazine.

Patrick Talty leads the company in its overall day-to-day activities and execution of key strategic objectives. Patrick has a diverse knowledge of solutions architecture, software development and business operations. He has held a variety of positions at IDI since 1997 including VP of Operations and Chief Security Officer, overseeing many aspects of the company’s cloud operations, professional services and compliance programs. Prior to joining IDI, he implemented security solutions throughout North America and Europe for Eastman Kodak.

Patrick holds an MBA in Executive Leadership and Applied Management and a BS from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He retains CGEIT® and CISM® credentials for professionals who manage, design and oversee enterprise IT and security programs. Patrick is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at RIT’s Saunders College of Business and mentors graduate students in the Saunders Leadership Fellows Program.

Ron Whaley is responsible for driving value and adoption in established and emerging markets with the purpose to escalate growth; aligning all revenue-generating departments and building strategic partnerships. As a key member of the executive team, he works with company leaders to execute on the overall strategic plan.

Ron has built, managed and motivated business development teams in a variety of business verticals. His transformative vision is behind integrative customer engagement solutions that align transaction, payment and marketing touchpoints. He has held long-tenured executive positions at OSG and Vestcom International.

An Executive Board member of the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), Ron has been a notable advocate for wireless/mobile communications carriers for 15 years. He holds a BS in Business Administration from the State University of New York College at Oswego.

Avi Dasgupta oversees the Technology division at IDI and is responsible for the definition and execution of the technology strategy. This entails managing all technology functions including Product Development, Infrastructure & Security.

Avi has over 20 years of leadership experience in various technology, including Application Delivery, Infrastructure & Operations and Enterprise Architecture. He has held senior positions at Xerox Corporation, Constellation Brands, Monro, Inc, and most recently served as VP of Security & IT at IDI.

Avi holds a MS in Computer Science from the College of William & Mary and a MBA from the Simon School of Business, University of Rochester. Certifications include Project Management Professional (PMP), Change Management Professional (Prosci), Scrum Master (CSM) and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSS GB).

Linda Nelson oversees IDI’s Finance and Treasury functions and is responsible for strategic planning and managing financial activities including the capital and operating budgets, financial forecasts, audits and internal controls.

Her career spans more than 30 years in financial management, business leadership and corporate strategy. Prior to working at IDI, Linda was with Birds Eye Foods, Inc. for 15 years in increasingly responsible roles, reaching the position of Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. She began her career at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and most recently held the role of CFO for First American Equipment Finance.

Linda holds a BS in Accounting from the Binghamton University School of Management. She is a CPA and member of the AICPA. In addition, Linda is a member of the Board of Directors at Seneca Foods Corporation.

Tony Cotugno oversees IDI’s Strategic Partnerships Department. These partnerships include but are not limited to three functional areas: Network, Financial and Operations. Tony’s charter includes managing and exploiting almost 40 existing relationships as well as adding new ones that support IDI’s growth vision. As a key member of the executive team, he will work closely with his peers in Sales, Marketing, Customer Relations and Product Development.

Tony has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of sales and partner management, having helped to exponentially grow organizations through new business development. He spent the last 20 years in various vertical markets in the customer communications space at OSG.

Tony holds a BS degree in Business Management from Rowan University.

Carmen DeFeo leads the Customer Relations division which encompasses the Customer Support and Account Management teams. Carmen oversees the strategic sales plan and the advocacy of IDI’s customer base as well as the technical assistance process.

His organization ensures that IDI has an in-depth understanding of customer business imperatives, positions appropriate IDI products and services, and provides timely and effective technical support.

With more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry including Frontier Communications, ChoiceOne, Global Crossing and Current Communications, Carmen has an established track record in achieving results and motivating organizations to deliver world-class customer experience.

Mike Holleran is responsible for IDI’s strategic product vision and development roadmap. Mike has spent his entire career in technology, starting as an IT professional building networks and datacenters. His wealth of experience in leading product management teams and taking a customer-focused approach to strategic planning has helped IDI elevate the CostGuard software suite into a world-class SaaS platform.

As Vice President of Product, Mike leverages data, customer relationships and market research to ensure that IDI provides a premier product value proposition and stays ahead of the continuous change within the telecom industry.

Stephen Kosarko joined IDI in 1996 after several years at Eastman Kodak and subsidiary Edicon. Steve oversees the development and build out of the company’s long-term technology vision and software solutions for customers.

Steve’s expertise lies in guiding his engineering team to design and develop complex solutions with high performance requirements. He has been instrumental in transitioning IDI’s core product from a client-hosted solution to a cloud-based SaaS offering. Steve was also responsible for the overall conversion of IDI’s software development process to the Agile development methodology and integrating automation throughout the product delivery process. Under his direction, IDI achieved Gold Partner status as a Microsoft Independent Software Vendor (ISV).

Steve serves on the Ontario County United Way Board and is actively involved in Vistage.

Debra Tellstone oversees the Project Management and Professional Services organizations. With a dedicated focus on premier customer satisfaction, her teams are responsible for delivering best-practices consulting, new customer implementations, ongoing service delivery, training, tax services and data analytics.

Deb has over 20 years of experience in various business operations, project management, sales support and telecom consulting roles. She has held key executive positions, including COO and Vice President, at OneStream Networks, Cassara Management Group, ACN Canada and Frontier Communications. Most recently she served as Director of Project Management at IDI.

Deb holds a BA in Economics from St. Lawrence University and a MBA in Finance & Accounting from the Simon School of Business, University of Rochester.

Derrick Van Grol has more than 27 years of experience marketing mission-critical software to companies throughout North America. Derrick began his career at Eastman Kodak Company where he managed a team of product marketing specialists selling high-end digital imaging and access control systems to the Fortune 1000 marketplace, law enforcement agencies and the Federal Triangle.

One of the original founders of IDI, Derrick has been a key contributor to our industry standing as a leader in the B/OSS marketplace servicing not only entry level CSPs with growth plans, but also titans such AT&T, Comcast, Telstra and Mitel.

Rachael Zappia oversees IDI’s Human Resources function. She is responsible for the overall Human Resources strategy including cultural development, employee relations, talent acquisition, HR compliance, performance management, policy development, compensation planning and benefits administration. Additionally, Rachael oversees IDI’s Community Connections and IDI Women in Technology groups.

Rachael has over 15 years of experience in various HR roles. Prior to joining IDI, her background included experience working in Human Resources roles in large consulting and financial planning firms. Rachael holds a M.Ed – Counseling from Loyola University in Maryland and a BS in Business-Marketing from the Pennsylvania State University.