A: First and foremost, I am a father and husband. Family means the world to me. I grew up in a small town outside of Philadelphia and as a child, some of my fondest memories are times spent working with my grandfather, Harold. He was a consummate, even groundbreaking in a sense, businessperson who had the ability to connect with a wide variety of people. I saw how his great energy and charisma, along with his good-natured personality, not only helped him to be successful in business, but also influenced his success in life. He was a great man whose life became my roadmap for success in all areas!

I graduated from West Chester University where I majored in Communications, and I had every intention of taking the leap into Journalism. However, while I was working at my first job in an Advertising & Sales department, I realized that I’d tapped into my passion for helping others. It was a natural fit for me to be in a role where I was communicating with and helping people, in particular business owners and managers. They say that when you find your niche in life, or your passion, it’s one of those aha moments. That’s what I experienced, and it was an amazing feeling. I feel blessed to have found it early in life.

When my wife Karen and I moved to California to start a family, I began working at a technology company that provided accessible media to the blind and deaf communities. Many of my top clients there were companies like Warner Bros., Paramount, MTV, Fox and Sony. Being from a small town in PA, it was really exciting to be working with some of the giants in the media and entertainment industry, which really is unique from other enterprises. I’ve also worked within other market sectors, such as construction and manufacturing, and digital marketing and media. As different as these industries are, my approach to customer relationships remains the same: I put people first; I use a consultative approach; and I bring my personal integrity to each and every relationship. Some of my strongest customer relationships have lasted over a decade, and are still counting.

A: My role is to be the first point of contact for new customers, and also oversee the customer journey in terms of providing the best overall experience. A big part of my role at PDG is also to enhance and support the deep relationships we have with our existing clients by adding another point of contact for customers to communicate with and reach out to on a strategic level. Expanding our reach and deepening our relationships with our customers is paramount. The more we know about our customer’s needs, goals and future plans, the better we can serve them. The best part of my role is that I get to work at an amazing organization alongside a high-caliber team of business analysts, client delivery specialists, software developers, and engineers who have been helping enterprises reach their business goals for over a decade.

To help accomplish this, I constantly remind myself that listening is ninety percent of my job. I try to be the best active listener I can be, both in my professional and personal life—which comes in handy when raising two teenage daughters! Active listening requires effort, humility, and a quiet mind. Getting client feedback and expanding our networking efforts is all about listening to others’ needs, and that’s something I love doing. Expanding PDG’s customer base, fostering team morale, and developing a scalable strategy for growth are equally important goals in my new role.

A: As I’ve already mentioned, I have a passion for helping others. With this comes a genuine interest in learning about people. I am constantly learning about people and looking for ways to help them. I literally spend each day thinking of ways to help people succeed, and I can’t turn it off. When I’m at the barber shop, I am listening. When I go to events and parties, I am engaged in discovering and learning about other people’s livelihoods and professional goals. I’m also a sucker for a good success story and enjoy finding ways of becoming a catalyst for others to achieve success. It’s just part of my DNA—and it’s one of the things that makes me happy and that brings me joy.

A: Being from the Philadelphia area, I am a huge sports fan, haha. I am also very active with my daughters’ schools and education, and even coached one of my daughter’s basketball teams for five years before COVID. It’s rewarding to help cultivate life skills and instill the value of teamwork to our youth. My wife, I’m proud to say, is a teacher at LAUSD. She is the person who instills the importance of volunteerism in our family. In fact, for the last ten years, I’ve spent the bulk of my vacations volunteering at my daughter’s school. I also picked up the electric guitar a few years ago and am now starting to play at festivals and restaurants around Los Angeles. It’s both challenging and rewarding at the same time!

Thank you for sharing this with us Jay, and thank you for reading this. If you want to learn more about PDG Consulting and the team, don’t hesitate to contact us.

PDG Consulting, a Los Angeles-based technology firm specializing in enterprise software development, business intelligence, and digital transformation—with expertise in translating complex business requirements into application design. Customers like WarnerMedia, Sony Pictures, Apple, DIRECTV, CBS, 21st Century Fox, and Amazon trust PDG to increase productivity, drive business growth, and maximize opportunities.

Contact us to learn more today.