Erik Manassy Selected to The Times Leader’s 40 Under Forty 2011 List

Posted by Erik Manassy on Mar 28th, 2011 | View Comments

Erik Manassy – 40 Under Forty

I am being honored on March 28, 2011 for being selected as one of “The Times Leader’s 40 Under Forty 2011″ awards in Scranton Pennsylvania. I am so humbled and honored for being selected to this list of excellence from my peers in NEPA (North Eastern Pennsylvania).

I would like to first congratulate my fellow honorees for winning such a prestigious award.  I also want to especially notice Mark Kishel, whom I had the privilege of working with for the past five years as a member of our web team, who also won for his excellence in programming.  It’s great that I will be accepting this award with you.

Second, I would like to thank the person/people who had something to do with me being recognized and added to this list.  As a rule, we are not allowed to find out who nominated us, but I THANK YOU for your support, whoever you are.

The 40 honorees will be noticed tonight at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center.  My wife and I are planning to attend and I told her it’s a chance to get out and be with grown-ups on an official date.  With three children, two full time jobs and a business, blog and many other initiatives, it’s hard to break away and as they say to “Smell the roses”.

What is the 40 Under 40? The Times Leader proudly presents the 2011 40 under Forty local professionals, outstanding in their profession and within the community.  Many nominations from Northeastern Pennsylvania were sent to The Times Leader, describing individuals who excel in many capacities.  Forty were selected.  These top 40 honorees have exceeded expectation in both life and in their professions and will receive the award of being named leaders, role models and overall pillars of our community.  Click here for the full list.

Erik's Insert - Click Picture to Enlarge

A Little About Erik’s Career: I started my Internet career in 1992, yes I know a very early time, and consider myself a pioneer in web design and I got to experiment with the technology before it made it out to the main stream while working for Picatinny Arsenal.  As a summer intern while I was at King’s College for my four years, I was blessed with being allowed to spend hours upon summer hours learning the HTML language and became enthralled with creating content using basic text editors (VI) and simple graphic programs (Harvard Graphics).

My other Babies: The MacBook Air and the Jets Helmet Signed by Kerry Rhodes

After graduating from King’s College in 1995, I was hired by Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises (CTE) in the epix Internet Services division to be a tech support specialist where I helped people with their Internet solutions.  Being on the ground floor of a new industry, I rose in the ranks to the webmaster, and then manager of the web development and hosting division where we helped customers climb on board the “Information Super Highway”.  Helping many people understand what this ground breaking technology could do to help businesses became a passion of mine.

In 2001 I had the privilege to be hired into Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania where I was the Director of Web Services.  We took their Internet and Intranet solutions to new heights and had the honor of working with many great individuals on many noble projects for the community as well, such as “The Million Pound Meltdown” and the “NEPA United Way Campaigns”.

As the Internet progressed into what some call Web 2.0 or the social media stage, I became fascinated with learning how having “conversations”, earning trust and becoming an expert in certain fields could drive business. Jets Twit  (JetsTwit.com) was born as a hobby and then grew into a fascination and then business model as it’s popularity grew in the New York community and around the world.

With the knowledge and new learned business plan, Manassy Media was born as a stand alone business to assist clients navigate the social media waters and take their businesses to new heights.  Balancing the role of CEO/President of the company, I also work full time with Mercy Health Partners where I continue to hone my talents working with individuals as the IT Business Relationship Manger.

I do not officially work for the New York Jets, but I can see why many could take it that I do.  I have the privilege to know many in the organization and my experiences on and off the field have been tremendous due to social media.  I encourage anyone with a passion and a desire to dip their toe into this new technology to see how it can expand any of your future goals.  You will be amazed at what you find, trust me.

Finally, the article left out an important part that I must clear up.  The question of who inspired me was incomplete.  The first part of my answer was “My Parents”, my Mother AND Father.  My mother pushed me in everything I did to achieve excellence and never allowed me to quit anything even when I had given up.  I would never have excelled in sports and learned the value of a team without her.  My Father, as I state in the insert, was my mentor and helped me in my career as I progressed throughout the years.  By allowing me to “sound off” and seek advice, I am the business man that I am today due to him.  Thank you Mom and Dad for pouring your heart and soul into me.  I hope I make you proud.

* Note:  In the write up, the author stated I have box seats when that is not the case.  It also sounds like I sat with the Jets owner Woody Johnson, also not the case, although, that would be nice one day!!