Ep # 156 Mayor, Tech, And The Future Of Northvale

What happens when a town’s mayor also leads an IT consultancy built to supercharge small organizations? We sit down with Joe McGuire, Northvale’s mayor and chief solutions and revenue officer at MTMG, to explore how smart partnerships, clear outcomes, and community focus can transform both city blocks and business backbones.

Joe breaks down MTMG’s four-pillar model—fractional CIO and project leadership, technology sourcing, revenue growth for MSPs, and cybersecurity and compliance—and explains the vendor-paid approach that keeps clients from footing the bill for discovery and matchmaking. You’ll hear how his years in wireless and channel sales shaped a “many tools, one goal” philosophy, why MSPs and boutique IT firms can scale faster through collaboration, and how right-fit providers beat one-size-fits-all platforms.

We also dive into Northvale’s evolution: industrial spaces turning into sports hubs, the reality of state-driven affordable housing, and the push to upgrade parks like Hogan’s Field and Veterans Park. Joe shares local updates, from the closure of a beloved climbing facility to a proposed high-end shooting range, and unpacks demographic shifts including a growing Korean community and an influx of post-COVID movers drawn by the NVOT school district. Community shows up in the details—tree lighting festivities, winter village vibes, and food pantry support at St. Anthony’s and Wholsome Pantry—backed by a reminder that need exists even in well-regarded suburbs.

If you’re a business owner navigating cybersecurity, mobility, or cloud decisions, or a resident curious about where your town is headed, this conversation offers grounded takeaways. Subscribe, share this episode with a neighbor or colleague, and leave a review telling us the one upgrade your town or team needs most.

Borough of Northvale NJ
Mayor Joseph McGuire
116 Paris Avenue Northvale, NJ 07647
201-767-3330
jmcguire@northvalenj.org
www.northvalenj.org

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Joseph McGuire: Mayor And Tech Leader
• 1:18 What MTMG Does And Who It Serves
• 3:01 Vendor Model And Why Clients Don’t Pay
• 4:15 Career Path From Wireless To Consultancy
• 6:05 Roots, Commutes, And Northern Valley Life
• 8:40 Path To Public Service And Mayoral Role
• 10:55 Development, Sports Complexes, And Zoning Shifts
• 13:20 Parks, Fields, And Infrastructure Upgrades
• 15:00 High Exposure Closes And New Plans
• 17:00 Demographic Changes And School Draw
• 19:00 How To Reach MTMG And Partner Up
• 20:10 Holiday Events And Food Pantry Support
• 21:20 Local Need, Assistance Stats, And Drop-Offs

Transcript

Intro/Close: 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast. Here's your host.

Doug Drohan: 0:07

Doug Drohan. Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am your host, Doug Drawn, the owner of the Bergen Neighbors Media Group based in Northern Valley, New Jersey, which is uh well, the NVOT school district is Alta Pan Harrington Park, where I am, Northvale and Norwood. And Northvale happens to be the town where our next guest is from, Joe Mcguire or Joseph McGuire. He is the chief solutions and revenue officer for MTMG, which is a uh IT company, which we'll get into. But uh interestingly enough, he's also the mayor. He's uh the mayor of Northvale, never had a mayor on our show before. So welcome to the show, Joe.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 0:50

Oh, well, thanks for having me. You know, it's always a first. So uh I feel honored.

Doug Drohan: 0:54

Yeah, yeah. You know, I think we've met at um some Northern Valley Chamber meetings over the years, but uh I've been in the Northvale kind of town hall office um when we've had some meetings. But um great to meet you here. And you know, why don't we before we get into being mayor, why don't we get into a little bit about MTMG and what that company is and where you guys are based and what your kind of mission is?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 1:18

Sure. Uh MTMG is a uh company that is an IT and mobility consulting company. So what we do is uh we have four main areas of focus where we help really small to mid-sized businesses, nonprofits, governments, uh, and that is number one, we have uh fractional leadership uh that we provide in the uh IT space. So if you uh if you need a CIO, CTO, COO, somebody like that, uh, or project management, you can't hire a full-time person, you just need help for maybe a certain period of time. We have we have people that on our bench, advisors that are able to come in and and uh and provide that for you. Uh we do technology sourcing. So um any sort of technology in the IT and mobility space, whether it's uh you know network infrastructure, um you know, IP calling, um, cell phones, uh, cybersecurity, and so on. We have over a thousand partners that we work with that are able to provide uh solutions uh for your business. Uh we do revenue growth for companies, so we'll help you in terms of uh marketing and sales for your growth. We do this primarily with like the MSP space, which are managed service providers. These are folks where you outsource your IT to. A lot of them are small and mid-sized businesses and they need help growing their business and they just don't know how to do it. Um, we'll help in that area. And then the fourth area, which is becoming so huge, is cybersecurity and compliance. Uh, so we have uh professionals and partners that we work with that uh that can provide solutions there as well.

Doug Drohan: 3:01

So somebody would come to you and they need uh they need help in knowing who to hire to create a cybersecurity network, I guess, at their organization, and you help guide them and put them in contact with what you call best in class vendors. Is that part of it?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 3:16

Exactly, exactly. And the and the beauty of it is that in these scenarios where someone wants us to do the heavy lifting, if you will, uh, we will go out, we'll do the research based on your needs. We'll bring in the right professionals or organizations that are gonna help you. Um, and then you don't have to pay us because you know our our partners and and vendors, they pay us. Um, so we have so many that we're not gonna just shoehorn one or two in there. We're gonna bring in enough, uh, you know, a bunch of them and and allow you to make the decisions.

Doug Drohan: 3:48

So they pay you kind of like a referral fee. So yes, exactly. There's a model, a similar model in the senior living space where companies will bring a family to say Allegro or Sunrise, and the family doesn't pay sunrise, sunrise pays a fee to the person, the uh senior living advisor who brought them in. Exactly. It's it's much like being a broker, right? Yeah, right. Nice. So, how did you how did you get into this business?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 4:18

So I was in um uh corporate uh sales for a long time. I spent most of my career in the wireless uh space, uh, worked for wireless carriers, I spent about 18 years at T Mobile, um, and it was all in um corporate sales. So I managed direct teams in New York City, I managed uh partner and channel teams after that as well nationally. Um, and then uh I worked with somebody there uh for quite a while. And um in the beginning of 2024, so we're going on two years now, uh him and I really we we had the same philosophy. We didn't like going into corporations and only having one tool on the tool belt, right? So if we went in there and we said, uh, hey, we've got you know these solutions from Team Oval for you, and they would say, Well, you know, I I need this, I need that, and we couldn't provide it. Um, we really wanted to be able to go to companies just to help them, you know, organizations in general, and just say, what is it that you need? We'll help you find a solution. Well, you know, we we want a lot of tools on the tool belt. Uh, and so we decided to put a company together. And um, you know, we were both at the right times in our careers where we could do it, and um, and it just it worked out where we uh we put it together.

Doug Drohan: 5:37

That's great. That's great. So then uh, so you've been in the IT kind of telecommunications uh business your whole career. Um, and uh where did you grow up and and what was your background?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 5:50

So originally I I was I was born in New Jersey, um, and it lived in Paramis for the first uh few years of my life. And um my my father had gotten transferred and we moved to Connecticut. So I spent the better part of my um my youth, uh, you know, teenage years and so on, growing up in um in Fairfield County, Connecticut. So not too far from here.

Doug Drohan: 6:11

Right.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 6:12

And then uh after college, uh wound up moving back to New Jersey. Um I was in the the Mawa area for a little bit and then then uh eventually settled in Northvale after we uh we got married.

Doug Drohan: 6:24

Right, and then you commuted, I guess, from Northvale into the city.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 6:27

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Doug Drohan: 6:29

Yeah, it's a fun commute, right?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 6:31

Fun commute. I you know, I got very familiar with the Pascac Valley train line um and and the path train and so on. So but uh but yeah.

Doug Drohan: 6:38

Oh, really? You did see. I I took the bus. I I moved to Harrington Park because I wanted a bus. I worked in Times Square, so it was easy for me to just get off of Port Authority.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 6:48

Ah, okay.

Doug Drohan: 6:49

Yeah, or you know, before that I worked uh on 55th in Madison, so again, going to Penn Station was not convenient. Um so taking the train was not not an option.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 6:59

Yeah, I I was a little bit lucky. I was downtown, so I was uh on like uh Broadway and um you know housed in in that area, knowing Soho, so I could take the path train into that area right street or whatever, yeah.

Doug Drohan: 7:13

Yeah, yeah. I used to live off of Houston and Thompson Street, so I know the neighborhood well.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 7:18

Ah, okay, okay.

Doug Drohan: 7:19

Yeah, met my wife in a bar on Thompson on uh on Houston and McDougal on St. Paddy's Day. Wow, yeah, that's a great figure, right? Yeah, 25 years later. Here we are, and so all right, so now we have to you know talk about the elephant in the room. So now you're so you moved, you you raised your family in Northvale, you're commuting in the city, and and uh you know, one day you decide, hey, you know, there's an um an election for mayor, and and I think I could do a great job. Like, how did you become mayor of Northvale?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 7:55

Yeah, it it it didn't really work that way. Uh it was uh essentially my kids were uh younger, they were in the uh school system here, and there was an opening on the board of education, and uh a couple of people had come to me and said, Hey, you know, we think you'd be really great if uh if you were on the board of ed. And uh I guess foolishly, maybe not foolishly, I said, Yes, sure, let me let me let me think about that. And so I I I wound up getting appointed and then um you know got elected the following year. So I was on the board of ed for about seven years uh in Northvale. Um and I I you know did not run for re-election, stepped down for a year, and then um I happened to be talking to someone who was redoing my kitchen, and he was on the the uh Northvale Council at the time, and uh and he said, uh, hey, you know, we really need somebody to run this year. Um what you know, would you be interested? And I thought about it and I said, Um, yeah, you know what, sure. So I got elected to council uh with him, and um, and I was on the council for four years, and uh the the mayor at the time um was uh was not gonna run for re-election. So um, you know, again I had some people that said, you know, we we we think you'd be great in this opening, and uh so I I did that in 2022 and and got elected mayor.

Doug Drohan: 9:13

Wow, wow, that's great. And uh how long was the previous mayor the mayor for?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 9:19

Uh four years.

Doug Drohan: 9:20

Oh, four years, okay. So not like Harrington Park, where you know Paul was mayor for forever. And um, you know, I I used to live in North Bergen where Nick Sacco's been the mayor for like you know 30 years.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 9:33

Yeah, a lot of people they they stick around for a long time. Right now you got the the mayor in Norwood, he's been there for over 20 years. Yeah. Yep. And uh I don't know. I don't know if I'll stick around that long. If the if the people will have me, you know, um, but I don't know. I don't know if I would do it that way. Right.

Doug Drohan: 9:50

So what's going on in Northvale? Like what is um like what's exciting about what's happening with the community? Uh, you know, a lot of us are familiar with with Livingston and and all the commercial properties there and and the growth and and kind of uh I'd say off of Livingston when you go back into those old industrial areas and you have the sports complexes and uh you know the converted warehouses that are turning into pickleballs and things like that. That's that's exciting. It's great to see you know reimagined use of spaces that might have seemed mothballed, mothballed for a long time. Is like what what have you seen in the in the few years that you've been mayor and and what do you see as the direction of Northvell?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 10:30

Yeah, I you know, we we see a change in community, but I you know, I guess if you think about it, the community is always evolving and changing and so on. And and what you mentioned is uh is one of the big parts of it. So, you know, Northvell does have a very healthy retail and industrial um area in it, and uh and that industrial area used to house all manufacturing um companies and so on. And uh and now, like you said, it's uh there there are different uses that are are going into those uh spaces now, and and and much of it is sports, whether it's uh there's a there's a basketball place, a pickleball place, uh a complete huge uh sports place that has about seven different uh sports in it. Um and and this is this has been going on now for a while. The other thing that is happening that we're all being affected with uh here in um in the suburbs in northern New Jersey is the um the push by the state for um for affordable housing, which has created um uh a haven for developers, if you will, because uh they can they can bypass a lot of um uh local planning uh boards and and be able to bring developments in. So we have a a larger development that's going in on Paris Avenue now, about 31 units uh right.

Doug Drohan: 11:47

That's next to Video Maui's, but by the Rockley.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 11:50

Uh well, so that's that is Paris Square. That's a senior living community.

Doug Drohan: 11:55

Okay.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 11:55

Um that's completed a little bit further up from there, um, by the by the train tracks, you'll see the uh the uh the new building that's going up. And um but yeah, that's going in. So there's always the potential for that to to happen, and we'll probably see more of it. Um that's gonna happen as well. But you know, Northvale is is definitely changing. There's um, you know, we we've made a lot of we made a commitment to really try to improve our parks. Um, so you're seeing a lot of improvement in the uh in the parks with uh field.

Doug Drohan: 12:28

Hogan's field, yeah. My son plays baseball, and Hogan's Field is a great place to have some baseball games.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 12:35

Yeah, so we know absolutely, yeah. So we we've gone and and really tried to improve those spaces for people. Um, and we're still, you know, it's it's a it's a process, and you know, we have that and we have Veterans Park, which we're we're concentrating on. Yeah, so um, so yeah, I mean it's it's it's we're really trying to improve the infrastructure, which has kind of been neglected for a long time, not unlike many of the the towns in northern New Jersey.

Doug Drohan: 12:59

Right, right. So what happened to high exposure? That was such a great uh indoor rock climbing and ninja hardcore space, and all of a sudden they're gone. They were always packed. My son had plenty of birthday parties there, and I mean, was it an insurance thing, or like what happened?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 13:16

I I know that uh the ownership changed about two two to three years ago, something like that. And when the new owners came in, they just they had a different vision for it. They they were not um enamored with with the the uh the use that was there at the time, and they have uh they just wanted to move in a different direction from from what was there.

Doug Drohan: 13:38

Wow. Yeah, so now it's an empty space.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 13:40

It's an empty space right now. What they're planning on is something which is um a little unusual. They're they're looking to put a a shooting range, a gun shooting range in. Oh, okay. Uh guard, uh, yeah. Yeah. And uh, but it's it's kind of a a a different way uh of than you you have your normal ranges. This is gonna be like uh what they would consider like a high-end um club, if you will, um uh there. So I think they're they're planning on opening somewhere around mid-2026.

Doug Drohan: 14:12

Oh wow, that's too bad because the ceilings are so high you can do another baseball. Exactly. Field house is great, but you know, the ceilings aren't very high. So, you know, really tall ceilings would be ideal for indoor baseball. And that's one of the things, again, being a um a dad of a 12-year-old, you know, we we've played in the field house, we've we go everywhere, you know, but uh space is a premium in Bergen County.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 14:36

You got it. Everyone's looking for more space, yeah, more fields, everything.

Doug Drohan: 14:41

Yeah, yeah. And then so what uh so the are the demographics changing much uh you know in in Northvale, or is it pretty much been uh the same over the 30 years or so? I mean, I'm sure it's changing slightly, but um Yeah, demographics are changing.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 14:57

Um, you know, Northvale traditionally, if you go back now, you know, 30 to 50 years, Northvale was really a blue-collar community. Uh, and it was uh it was that way for a long time. And what we've seen over the certainly over the last you know 10 to 15 years, we see a changing demographic in that there it's more of a mixed community now, where it's a lot more uh white-collar uh that is here. You still have the uh the blue-collar base that that's been here for a long time. And we also see, like many other communities, uh a larger Korean population that's there. We estimate somewhere like around 25% of the population in Northvale is uh is Korean.

Doug Drohan: 15:42

Okay.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 15:42

Um so we we see that happening. And then certainly since uh since COVID, we've seen a pretty healthy turnover of homes with people that are coming in from other areas, particularly New York, yeah. Um, that that came in. So yeah, things are are definitely changing.

Doug Drohan: 15:58

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think uh all the I mean the school system is what uh attracts a lot of people and you know, NVOT's uh you know, great system.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 16:08

So yeah, oh absolutely.

Doug Drohan: 16:10

Yeah, and I had one of your uh, you know, you have a resident who's the CEO of a major hospital was on the cover of our magazine last year or earlier this year. Uh Debbie Deborah Viscani from uh Bergen Newbridge. Yes, yes, yeah, yeah, that's great. Yeah, so we started to branch out into featuring Northvale families on the cover.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 16:29

So sure, she's done a great job there too.

Doug Drohan: 16:32

And yeah, she's great.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 16:33

That facility is is changing completely as well. So it's it's been very good for her.

Doug Drohan: 16:39

Yeah, yeah. So what um I mean, going back, uh, you know, there's two things we could say, like um, if you're a business owner and you need help and you don't know where to turn to for IT needs, it could be telecommunications, it could be cybersecurity, it could be other things. How do they reach you? How do they reach the company?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 16:58

Yeah. So you could go to our website, which is mtmg.eu. And a lot of people get thrown off by the EU. It's because when when we started, uh my my partner, he was living in Ireland. Um he had been there, he's from the United States, but he had been living there for about seven years. We are in the process of changing it in 2026 to uh mtmg inc.com because it does throw so many people off. But we we do have operations here, but we also have people in Europe as well. But you could go there. Um, you can see us on uh on LinkedIn if you're on there. Uh just look up MTMG Inc. Um, and um and we're also on social media on uh you know uh Facebook, uh Instagram, and so on. Yeah.

Doug Drohan: 17:42

Now what if you're a vendor? So what if you're a a small business IT company? I've interviewed a few, somebody based in Demarest. Uh there's a woman in Harrington Park who's going off on her own, starting an IT uh you know consulting business. Would you um entertain like speaking with them? And and I guess you vet, obviously you vet all your vendors, but is that an opportunity for them to reach out to you to get vetted?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 18:07

100%. So um we we we love to talk to you know folks like that too, because what we find is that our services are complementary. There are going to be things that uh they're offering customers uh where we can probably fill in the gaps uh that their customers are asking for, they might not provide. And then we share in uh in the revenue with them. So we could become partners, you know, very quickly.

Doug Drohan: 18:31

Great. And then as the mayor, uh if anybody from Northville is listening and they have some ideas uh or they want to contact you, maybe they want to volunteer. And then let's speak just let's backtrack a second. So speaking of volunteering and and events, uh, you know, we have Christmas coming up, we have Hanukkah. Uh, what's the town doing for the holidays?

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 18:51

So we just had our tree lighting on December 5th.

Doug Drohan: 18:54

Okay.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 18:55

Um, and that has turned into really a whole big production and winter village sort of a feel at uh at Hogan Park. Um yeah, it was great. We had a nice little uh bonfire going and um you know vendors and so on. Oh wow, and uh you know a couple of choirs and bands. So it it it was really nice. So we're doing we we did that where um you know our streets are lined with uh the you know decorative snowflakes and so on and some wreaths. Uh so we try to make it uh as as festive as possible, and we're expanding that every year. So um, so yeah, we're doing, you know, that's basically what you know what we're doing for the holidays. Yeah, um, and we've made a push to people too with um with food pantry donations too, okay especially for the holidays. So there's one in uh North Vale at St. Anthony's Church, and then there's also one in Norwood, the wholesome food pantry, uh on on Summit Street, which is right uh in with a church. I think Church of the Holy Communion. Right, okay.

Doug Drohan: 19:52

Yeah, I had uh a woman who's lives in Harrington Park, but she was she works at the food bank there. We had her on the cover a couple years ago.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 20:00

Okay. Okay.

Doug Drohan: 20:01

So it's good to know like people don't realize that yeah, we're in Bergen County or Northern Valley, but you know, there's a need out there.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 20:08

Well, it's interesting. You're talking about the NBOT community, right? And the NVOT community, you've got those four towns. Within those four towns, there's about 200 families that are on some kind of uh snap or federal assistance.

Doug Drohan: 20:22

Okay.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 20:23

Which a lot of people are very surprised at that number, but it's it's there.

Doug Drohan: 20:28

Yeah. So that's important. So again, drop it off at the St. Anthony's, which is off of Paris Ave.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 20:34

Yeah, it's on Walnut Street, 199 Walnut in um in Northvale. Right. And the Wholsom Pantry, I think, is 66 uh Summit in Norwood. Okay. Okay.

Doug Drohan: 20:45

Well, Joe, this was great. I really appreciate you being on. This is uh interesting. It took a different turn than I thought it would take.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 20:51

Yeah, that's right. That's right. Oh, yeah. You were asking me about contact information. So yeah, yeah. Anybody can go to uh northvale nj.org and just, you know, we've got contact information there for me. Um, and you can also you can find me on social media, whether it's on the Facebook or Instagram. You you just look up Mayor Joseph McGuire, you'll you'll find me.

Doug Drohan: 21:12

Great, that's great. All right. Uh you and I'll be right back. We're just gonna have Chuck take us out. Thanks very much.

Mayor Joseph McGuire: 21:18

Great. Thank you.

Doug Drohan: 21:19

Thank you.

Intro/Close: 21:20

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 2425.