Kevin Arbogast
Jamil M. Audi
Age: 27
Age: 33 Managing Member of Audi Contractors and Managing Member of A&A Interior Concepts
Operations Manager & Portfolio Manager Toth Financial Advisory Corp Professional accomplishment of which you are most proud: Obtaining my Series 65 and managing the retirements of 30 client families after just three years at Toth Financial Advisory Corp while also being a “go-to” Operations team member. Most significant charity work/community involvement: I have been a Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals committee member for nearly 2½ years, I was invited to join the American Red Cross National Capital Region Loudoun Leadership Council over a year ago, and most recently asked to help and be on the first Board of the Girl Power Foundation as their treasurer’s assistant. Personal background and family information: I was born and raised near Akron, Ohio. I have an older brother and sister-inlaw, and younger sister, which makes me the middle child. I come from a close family, so moving to Virginia just over three years ago wasn’t necessarily easy to do. I moved into Leesburg not knowing anyone but quickly made new friends and embraced life in Virginia. I am now a homeowner in Leesburg but make it a point to visit Ohio as often as I can.
Professional accomplishment of which you are most proud: I am most proud of taking my father’s company from just him working all the jobs and doing all the work with a home office, to a full-blown showroom with multiple crews. Person you admire the most and why:I admire my parents the most. They gave up so much in life to give the three of their children all the opportunities that they possibly could. They made education and faith a high priority while also encouraging us to do whatever sports and/or extracurricular activities we wanted (and sometimes didn’t want to do). Most importantly, though, they gave us an amazing support system and always pushed us to do more than we thought we could and to work hard. One piece of advice for other young professionals: Never settle for less than you want (within reason). I didn’t settle when given three job offers out of college and don’t regret waiting six more months for the opportunity of a lifetime to present itself to me. Favorite app/program on your smartphone: The Houzz app because it allows me to collect photos of a secret architecture/ home design passion of mine.
Most significant charity work/community involvement: With my busy work schedule and trying to get A&A Interiors off the ground, my community involvement has been very low. However over the next couple years we plan to make a bigger presence in the Loudoun County community. Personal background and family information: I am first generation of parents who migrated from Palestine. With their hard working background, my parents installed both education and work into my siblings’ minds and mine as little kids. They both always said that an education is something that no one can ever take away from you. I took over Audi Contractors after graduating from Catholic University in 2004, and we are very thankful that business has grown every year since. Person you admire the most and why: I actually admire two people equally the most:
Bhavesh C. Bhagat
Matthew Burns
Age: 40 Angel Investor, Global Speaker and Expert on Entrepreneurship, Governance and Security ConfidentGovernance.com, EnCrisp, NextGenAngels
Age: 38 Owner High Angle Associates
Professional accomplishment of which you are most proud: When EnCrisp made it to the Inc. 500 as one of Washington’s fastest growing tech companies in 2008-2009 in spite of the doom and gloom. Our next moment came when I started our second Cloud Governance software company, ConfidentGovernance.com, which was awarded GEW50 by the Kauffman foundation. Most significant charity work/community involvement: Getting involved with Loudoun in helping launch the small business outreach efforts. Getting involved in Leesburg Elementary as a volunteer father in the WatchDogs program and seeing the joy on kids’ faces. In India, supporting the cause of physically challenged people by helping “Prerna-Inspiration,” an annual event celebrating achievements of physically challenged Indian folks. Personal background and family information: I grew up in Mumbai, India, and spent my first 25 years there as an electrical engineer and a student whose only goal was to come to the United States to pursue higher education. Fast forward 15 years, and as a father of two (Pushti, 8, and son Brij, 7), my dreams have evolved and my focus in life has shifted. So has my title from being CEO to
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One piece of advice for other young professionals: Customer service is dying in this country, and if you want to stay ahead of the curve, stay ahead of customer service. Favorite app/program on your smartphone: My favorite app is Google maps. I am always on the go and always need the most up-to-date roads to get to various locations. Since I have downloaded it, I have not been lost once.
Professional accomplishment of which you are most proud: Starting a business, although not from scratch, but taking one that needed change and expanding it, changing it and making it ours.
a father first. Having homes and offices on two continents around the world in North America (Leesburg) and in Asia (Vadodara, India) gives me a truly unique perspective on business and family life across east and west. Person you admire the most and why: Entrepreneurs around the world who have yet not made it big, but continue to push only for a dream...The secret to success is in the journey itself and in the struggles, dreams and perseverance of these common people. Those are the folks I admire, and I want to be one of them every day and hopefully inculcate those values in my children. One piece of advice for other young professionals: The same I try to give myself every day and remind my kids to learn as they grow up - Persistence, Patience and Practice. The three P’s guiding the Path of the YogiEntrepreneur (my Twitter name @bbhagat) Favorite app/program on your smartphone: Amazon.
L E E S B U R G T O D AY
my father and mother. Growing up very poor, my sister and I watched my parents work two to three jobs to make ends meet and provide for us. Through their hard work, we went from a one-bedroom low-income apartment to where we are today. I will always remember where we came from and how hard the two of them worked regardless of the amount of hours it was to provide for our family.
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2013
Most significant charity work/community involvement: Although I volunteered for four years before becoming a career firefighter, putting in thousands of hours of time, it still does not measure up to the experiences I had in Nicaragua doing construction work on the school and homes used by orphans as well as the homes in a small community that were destroyed by a hurricane. Personal background and family information: I am married to Heather Burns and have a wonderful daughter named Kelly. Both my parents are a part of the business. My father, Frank, is my business partner and manages the warehouse and shipping. My mom, Nanci, assists with putting a second set of eyes on the business books. I have been a firefighter for 22 years, of which 18 of them have been a career. During this entire time I have focused
my career on Technical Rescue Operations such as building collapse, rope rescues, confined space rescues, trench rescues and tunnel rescues. Person you admire the most and why: My mom. She has always been my biggest supporter and fan. She has always been there for me when I needed someone to talk to and give me sound advice. One piece of advice for other young professionals: Do not rush into the decision to start your own business. Take time to research it and plan as many aspects of the business you can think of. Use your local SBDC to help with this. They are amazing people. Favorite app/program on your smartphone: Facebook.