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November 2020 - Justin Esgar

Thank you so much for honoring me with “The Volunteer of the Month” award. Getting the call was the capstone to an incredible week. First, my son Roman’s first tooth fell out—always a milestone! Then I closed a deal to purchase another consulting company, and while celebrating my tenth wedding anniversary a day later, my wife Michelle surprised me with the keys to a new car. So now we can drive to the awards ceremony in style. I assume there will be a red carpet?

I grew up in the Five Towns areas of Long Island before heading off to college at the University of Rhode Island, where I was the sole member of my class to major in General Business Administration. Lots of other students specialized in accounting, or economics, but not me. When it comes to business administration, go general or go home, baby.

After graduation, I moved to the Upper East Side of Manhattan to work for an Apple consulting firm. That lasted from 2004 to 2008, when I left to start my own Apple consultancy, Virtua Computers (www.virtuaconsultinggroup.com). It was a good move both professionally and personally. When I visited my very first client to fix a computer for an employee named Michelle (you see where this is going, right?), she made fun of my business cards and my career. Now that we’re married, she designs my business cards and helps out with Virtua while simultaneously pursuing her own career and parenting Roman, who is 5½, and our 20-month-old daughter Simona.

Along with Virtua Computers, I also started a software development shop (Autriv) and a tech conference (ACES Conference). I’ve recently brought them all under the Virtua Consulting Group brand, which is now, after our recent acquisition, a six-person company that serves a wide variety of clients across many industries.
I’ve encapsulated some of what I’ve learned in a business book, “Appitalize on Your Ideas,” and just to show that I’m not a one-trick pony author, Michelle and I co-authored a children’s book called “The Very Sneezy Dinosaur.” Both are available on Amazon.

In 2011, Michelle and I moved to Wayne for the clean air and Curly’s Ice Cream, and for Shomrei Torah, where we became good friends with Meredith and Scott Delman. We love to entertain and have a reputation for throwing great parties. We’re good cooks, although I won’t pretend that I’ve mastered kosher food yet. I still think there are some economies of scale to be achieved, but my mother still says that all I need is more schmaltz. I’m also a pretty decent carpenter, so if this technology thing turns out to have been a fad all along, perhaps I’ll switch careers.

Life has been an interesting and challenging journey. When I was young, I wanted to be like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates and own a computer company like Apple or Microsoft. As I matured, I started to study disruptors like Elon Musk and Gary Vaynerchuk, and I’ve had many mentors. I’ve learned a lot from all of them and given the best of what they taught me my own twist.

Finally, I love being Jewish. I love the holidays, I love the instant connection with fellow Jews, and I loved building the High Holiday website so that we could all celebrate together.

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784