A missed subway stop one day radically changed Viktor Ohnjec’s life.
The subway stop was beneath the World Trade Center and the day in question was a now familiar one: 9/11/2001.
Ohnjec was 2½ blocks away from the Twin Towers when the first plane struck and watched the events unfold from an office with a direct view. Like many others, the tragedy of 9/11 made Ohnjec evaluate what was important in his life and a career spent in the emerging technology field.
“I was doing well financially and traveling all over the world, but it was time for a change,” said Ohnjec, a prolific writer and speaker who has delivered more than 20 articles and made more than 40 presentations at conferences worldwide.
By early 2003, Ohnjec founded M2VP, Inc. (named after two co-founders named Mike, Viktor and a co-founded named Phil), where he remains today as president. M2VP is a technology strategy and executive advisory company that focuses on organizational, business, technology and process transitions.
In other words, “I get called in when there’s a fire to fight, belts to tighten or new growth to achieve.”
M2VP’s been a tremendous success, counting year-over-growth since its inception and an impressive list of clients including Aetna, the Department of Justice, GE, GMAC, Lincoln Financial, Subaru and Wyeth/Pfizer.
Even more interesting is the company’s advertising program – there isn’t one. Sticking true to his belief in the validity of GPSEG’s mission (he’s been with the organization since its third overall meeting back in 2003), Ohnjec has in the past three or four years worked only with friends and acquaintances, many of whom he’s met through GPSEG. Even the subcontractors M2VP uses come from networking.
Born and raised in Montreal, Ohnjec’s resume boasts numerous interesting stops, including a stint at Canadian Marconi/Allied Signal where he spent part of the time “building things to kill people, then things to not be killed by people.”
During that time, Ohnjec spent two years in Great Britain, working on a naval radar simulator. In his late 20s, the youthful-looking Ohnjec had to grow a beard to look older than co-workers he was managing – a cultural issue there.
By late 1990, Ohnjec was working for a company called Rational Software. That company moved Ohnjec to Houston where he worked with NASA in developing space station software.
A couple more career stops followed, then came 9/11, which set Ohnjec on his current path.
And there’s a lot more to Ohnjec than just his busy career and numerous positions with GPSEG.
Ohnjec lives in West Chester with his wife, Leslie, and two daughters and plays an active role in the community, whether it’s serving on the board of trustees of the Collegium Charter School, the West Chester Area YMCA or the Chester County Challenge for Cancer, to name just a few.
Ohnjec also serves as vice president of the 400-member West Chester Cycling Club and covers about 8,000 miles annually on his bicycle. That includes summer jaunts the past two years to Canada to raise money for the Chester County SPCA and other SPCAs along their route; the fundraising event is called Pedaling4Paws and has attracted local media attention.
Ohnjec said he follows his philosophy in life in filling his busy calendar.
“It’s all a labor of love,” he says. “People ask me how I can do all these things and I say ‘How can I not?’ In life, it’s about who you touched and how you touched them.”