Jason Regalbuto: How His Childhood Interests Help Shape OpenClose Everyday
When you sit down with Jason Regalbuto, one thing is immediately clear: He is super passionate about the company he co-founded with JP Kelly. His enthusiasm and positivity are contagious, his big heart is evident. This is the kind of guy anyone would want to work alongside.
Interestingly, the traits that shaped his focus and leadership started when Jason was young. He was always taking things apart, disassembling electronics and trying to rework them, to find a new function or purpose, to learn how they operate. This mentality has shaped who he has become as an adult and as a CEO and CTO – curious, focused, unimpressed with the status quo and eager to inspire change, to disrupt for a greater cause.
With OpenClose, that is exactly what he does and what he inspires others to do – to find new and better ways to bring efficiency to the mortgage process by never settling and always re-examining. And with a team of talented and dedicated professionals by his side, he is certain to do just that.
Jason’s goal to work with a talented team of people is rooted in his longtime love for sports. For him, bringing together the team of pros that make up OpenClose was vital to capturing the very same magic that propelled his beloved Miami Dolphins to win every game and the Superbowl in 1972. From a very young age, Jason learned that having the right pros in the right positions and fostering an atmosphere where each person could be successful were vital to achieving incredible feats.
Beyond those interests, Jason is an avid sporting clays shooter, drawn to the precision and focus required to peg a clay pigeon mid-flight. It’s no surprise when you meet him that this dynamic executive finds joy in a hobby that requires such meticulous concentration – it’s exactly the type of intensive energy that he brings to his work every day and inspires people to achieve as well.
Yet, even with all this self-drive and curiosity, Jason ultimately knows it’s the entire OpenClose team that makes the company successful. He considers the OpenClose team to be family, and he describes them as flexible, adaptable and loyal. Many have been with the company for years, enduring market highs and recession lows, surviving the housing crash and adroitly shifting gears when the pandemic transformed OpenClose into an entirely remote workforce.
While the market shifted and the world changed in unpredictable ways at the start of the pandemic, the OpenClose family stayed the course, pivoting to find ways to reroute and adapt, to work smarter and do better. When you talk to Jason about his company, this fact is something that is clearly meaningful to him.
When Jason talks about his OpenClose family, he evokes the same tone he uses when talking about football, particularly his cherished Miami Dolphins. He tells the story that they won every game in their 1972 season, taking it “all the way to the Superbowl” despite a rigorous season. There are parallels, he points out with a swell of pride, between that winning team and OpenClose, which has overcome hurdles to achieve success after success.
When we asked Jason who was the Shula, Griese and Csokna at OpenClose, Jason kept that to himself – with a big smile, of course!