eMaxAds grew out of a much longer personal and professional journey rooted in engineering, problem-solving, and hands-on work. It is a direct extension of WebGraphicsRus and, before that, C Jay’s Custom Auto Accessories — but the foundations were laid much earlier.
I grew up in a household where engineering and science were part of everyday life. My mother, Lillian Jay, was an engineer during the earliest days of electronic computing and a member of the team that worked on the first UNIVAC computer. She continued her engineering career while raising four children, long before that was common or easy. My father, Burke Jay, was also a mechanical engineer and later headed research and development at Leeds & Northrup. They met while studying mechanical engineering at Drexel Institute of Technology.
Because of that environment, conversations in our home were rarely about routine matters. They were about physics, mechanics, and why systems worked — or failed. When I asked for a minibike as a child, I was handed a socket set instead and told I could have one when I could build it. When I wanted to use a calculator for homework, I was taught to use a slide rule first. When I struggled with algebra or geometry, the explanations often expanded into physics and trigonometry.
Before personal computers were common, there was already a computer in our home. It wasn’t there for games — it was there because my mother was working on control systems and early computing applications for automated machinery. She encouraged me to engage with it, even writing simple programs and games to try to spark my interest. At the time, like many teenagers, I found it dull. In hindsight, it was an early lesson in listening to someone who understood where technology was heading long before most people did.
That upbringing shaped everything that followed. I entered the automotive electronics field in the early 1980s and worked in fabrication and mechanical environments that demanded precision and adaptability. In 1992, I founded C Jay’s Custom Auto Accessories, building a business focused on vehicle electronics and custom solutions. That business did well through the 1990s, until market shifts and broader economic pressures began to change the landscape.
The events of September 11, 2001 marked a turning point. Like many small businesses, I was forced to reassess direction and sustainability. What eventually became eMaxAds did not start as a planned venture. It emerged after I helped a friend sell a vehicle online, created a detailed listing, and showed it to a dealership I worked with. Their response — and subsequent demand — led organically to web advertising, online inventory presentation, and later, custom tools to support those efforts.
eMaxAds was never intended to be a standalone “tech company” in the modern sense. It was an extension of practical problem-solving — applying engineering thinking, electronics experience, and emerging web technologies to real business needs. Over time, that work expanded to include web development, hosted tools, IT support, and consulting for small and midsize organizations.
This page remains as a reflection of that path and the influences behind it. A more complete historical archive honoring my mother’s work and its broader context now lives separately, where it can be preserved with the depth and accuracy it deserves.
This page is preserved as personal and historical context for the work documented throughout eMaxAds.