Ravenswood Avenue at Leland, a short walk from The SMB Help Desk office at 4147 N. Ravenswood Ave. Photo: vxla / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Marvin Korves has lived in Uptown since 1999. He moved in because it was affordable and close to the lake. He stayed for the neighbors, the kind of place where you know your mail carrier and the local characters by name.
Korves, president of The SMB Help Desk Inc., has had an unusual career path. In the 1980s he worked as a Russian translator for the U.S. Army. He moved into technology in 1990 and spent years at Sprint.
Function over form
Over time he grew tired of chasing each new technology, especially when new products seemed to put style ahead of function. He shifted toward management, helping companies use the tools they already had to run their operations better.
In 2010 he started the company that would become The SMB Help Desk. A business partner joined in 2012, and they launched under the current name in January 2013. The firm handles IT support for small and medium-size businesses. Within 14 months it had grown to 10 employees, and it works from an office at 4147 N. Ravenswood Ave.
Storefronts on the front line
Korves believes small businesses play an outsize role in neighborhoods like Uptown. Storefront owners, he notes, are the ones on the street every day dealing with whatever comes up. He sees new development bringing fresh energy to the area without erasing its local feel.
Outside work, he can often be found walking his dog, Devo, around the neighborhood. His business model mirrors what he likes about where he lives: practical, personal and built on getting to know the people he works with.
Marcus Hadley covers business, transit and real estate in Uptown.
