Erie's McManis & Monsalve Associates is a fast-growing management consultant with an ingenious business strategy, an array of high-profile clients and, now, the distinction of being listed in the Hispanic Business 500.
With an emphasis on risk analysis and mitigation for clients including the federal departments of State, Homeland Security and Defense, much of the firm's work is classified. CEO and founder Marco Monsalve can discuss projects including analyses of threat and risk, and mitigation strategies, for State Department personnel going to Iraq and Afghanistan, and background checks of federal job applicants.
Monsalve, a native Venezuelan and Vietnam veteran, established the firm in 2000. Moving to Erie in 2005 for personal reasons, he quickly hit upon a brilliant strategy, acquiring a janitorial services firm that helped qualify the company as a HUBZone Certified Enterprise, a federal job-creation and procurement program for economically depressed areas.
Today, McManis & Monsalve employs 116 total, including 45 at the Erie headquarters and 15 in Boyers. Most of the Erie staff work in the ProFloor Care Division and 18 are from the refugee program at the St. Benedicts Education Center, with which the company works closely to provide training and employment opportunities.
But many employees are of necessity in Washington and Monsalve remains determined to create more local jobs. “Our one regret,” he says, “is that many of [our] job opportunities are outside of Erie. We’re trying to change that.”
The company is working with the highly regarded Institute for Intelligence Studies at Mercyhurst University in Erie, and the Congressional delegation to establish a federal Intelligence Center in Erie. Meanwhile, Monsalve anticipates doubling the workforce in Boyers this year, adding 15 new analyst positions.
Source: Marco Monsalve, McManis & Monsalve
Writer: Elise Vider