SEPTEMBER 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 47
BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
CUSTOM COMPUTER SPECIALISTS
GROWING WITH LONG ISLAND
Custom Computer Specialists has certainly
come a long way throughout more than 40
years in business that all started with a small
storefront in Riverhead in the late 1970s.
Since then, the company has expanded to several
locations throughout the Northeast, including a
100,000-square-foot facility in Hauppauge that
focuses on servicing local and state governments,
schools, hospitals, and healthcare facilities.
To those who don’t know, the company
may seem like just another tech firm, but
the company’s president and CEO, Greg
Galdi, keeps the idea of gratitude in mind
throughout his business endeavors. He has
curated his company to constantly find ways
to give back to the community beyond the
realm of technology.
Prior to the company’s founding in 1979,
Galdi was working as a chemist at Brookhaven
National Laboratory doing radioactive waste
research. Part of that role involved using
specialized counters that were computerbased,
and he had to draw upon the
programming courses he took while at Long
Island University. It was those programming
courses combined with his desire to be his
own boss, which helped him decide that
technology might be the way for him to
accomplish that.
“I started writing some code at Brookhaven for
my work there, and one thing led to another,”
says Galdi. “I used to travel out to Mountain
View California and I’d meet the presidents
of these companies and see where the industry
was going, and it was very exciting because
things were changing very rapidly, and you’re
doing stuff that couldn’t have been done just
a year or two earlier.”
In the late 1970s garage computer companies
like Apple and Microsoft were emerging in
what is now known as Silicon Valley, and
major innovations came to the technology
industry where computers were made to
be more efficient and affordable, such as
the roll-out of the Apple 11 in 1977. It was
around this time that Galdi landed two of
his first big clients, both of which are still
around today. One was a company on the
East End that created the Hampton Jitney.
Galdi automated its reservation system and
gave it terminals to make booking a client
quicker and more efficient.
The company’s first storefront opened in
1979 in Riverhead and included just two
programmers and Galdi. By the mid-1980s,
the company was putting technicians on
site at companies in the city. That evolved
to full-time professional services and
maintenance throughout the 1990s and grew
to all professional services in the 2000s and
up to current day. The company currently
has locations in New York, New Jersey, and
Rhode Island, but its largest facility is a
100,000-square-foot property in Hauppauge.
Galdi is actually not a born-and-raised Long
Islander. He was originally from Westchester,
but his affinity for Long Island and its
residents is what keeps his focus there.
“I think Long Island is the greatest place to
live in the region,” said Galdi. “We always
felt that the Island was a good source of smart
people who wanted to work, and we offered
the opportunity to not have to commute into
Manhattan, which, when you’re young, that’s
pretty exciting, but once you get married and
have kids, no more schlepping into the city
every day gave us a competitive edge.”
While the company’s CEO has certainly done a
stellar job of building a legacy, he is also quick
to acknowledge the great team and support
he’s had along the way on his journey to bring
great service to clients all over along with his
more than 400 full-time employees.
“I didn’t get here by myself,” said Galdi. “I’m
a big believer in paying it forward and the
strategy’s worked out great for me.”
Throughout Galdi’s business endeavors, he
prioritized giving back to the community
and has been heavily involved this way
throughout his life. While growing up he
noticed his parents giving back, which he said
was certainly “where the seeds were sown” to
continue doing the same. He feels it’s a civic
responsibility as well. Many are Long Islandbased
but are also all over like New York and
London.
“I work on holding on to my gratitude every
day because it’s easy to lose,” said Galdi. “And
that’s part of my pay-it-forward strategy, to
stay grounded, because we’re here for 80 years
if we’re lucky, and it’s all how we live, not
how we leave.”
Custom Computer Specialists headquarters in Hauppauge, NY.
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