OVS Group Joins the BEST Employers Alliance

We are thrilled to welcome our newest Employers Alliance member,
​OVS Group!

Founded in 2009, OVS Group is a software and services company, delivering technology and process innovation to the Oil & Gas Industry. Though headquartered in Houston, TX, OVS Group has clients around the world. They specialize in virtual data integration, workflow automation, and asset management.

In their mission, vision, and values statement, Aristotle is quoted: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Excellence truly is the heart of the work they do. The mission of OVS is simple: deliver measurable innovation to the O&G Industry. Their vision is to create software that inspires change and relationships that inspire trust. This company values the individuals they interact with on a daily basis and they rely on collaboration with their customers because such collaboration drives innovative solutions.

Chief Administrative Officer, Alexandria Alvarez Gerbasi, has been an influential force in supporting OVS Group’s membership in the Employers Alliance because of her passion to end human trafficking. Alex first learned about human trafficking in April 2015 when her husband came home from a trip where he had learned about sex trafficking. At a church dinner, they met the founder of Elijah Rising, which is an anti-trafficking ministry in the Houston area. Once they knew that the problem was affecting their community, they both felt compelled to join the fight.

As part of the corporate world, Alex began to see how businesses and trafficking may intersect and she didn’t wait to act. She asked a friend to research the property owner of a building nearby that was being used as a brothel. Then she called the owner of the building to inform him of what was happening on his property. Seems like such a small act, but, to the individuals being prostituted out of that massage parlor, such an act can make a huge difference.

During a May 2016 conference for the O&G Industry, she worked on an intervention to raise awareness of sex trafficking because a large influx of travelers to a certain area often leads to increased demand for prostitutes. She realized how important it is for employees and vendors of this industry to be made aware that buying sex is most often buying a trafficked person.

In the O&G Industry, it’s especially important to raise awareness within field operations. Traffickers prey on the fact that many O&G workers live in remote areas and are isolated from their families for long periods of time. Traffickers often send “prostitutes” to “entertain” these workers. Companies can intervene though, by raising awareness and implementing policies that address sex buying among employees.

In January of this year, CEO Sebastiano Barbarino approved a request by Alex for OVS to host a trafficking advocacy group with the mission of raising awareness and preventing sex buying, focused on the O&G Industry. Through this group, Alex met Todd Latiolais, from the Texas Governor’s Office, and he told her about the BEST Employers Alliance. After learning more about us, she requested that her company join the Employers Alliance too.

The BEST Employers Alliance is the first public-private partnership in the nation to work across industries to prevent sex trafficking and sex buying. In partnership with the Employers Alliance, OVS joins 33 employers, representing over 200,000 employees nationwide.

OVS Group is lucky to have a leader like Alex who is so dedicated to preventing human trafficking within the O&G Industry. The BEST Employers Alliance is honored to have a great new partner company with an outstanding staff, mission, and values. Welcome!
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For more information on OVS Group and the leadership team, please visit OVS Group.