VisionARIES – Q&A with Denis Mangifesta (Spotlight)
catheryn2023-09-01T20:18:01+00:00Your formal title at Aries – Territory Sales Manager
Your job duties & responsibilities – I represent Aries in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.
How long have you been at Aries? I’ve been at Aries for 6 months.
Where did you work prior to Aries; was it in the same industry or something totally different?
I started with GE Capital in 1996. I’ve been in the modular industry my whole career.
If you weren’t working for Aries, what job would you probably have?
I love the industry. I don’t know any others where you have such a diverse customer base and unique problems to solve. It is a blast to learn about a customer’s process, understand their problem and solve it. I have literally been within a nuclear plant, a maximum-security prison and presented to a hospital board all in the same day.
When I leave the industry, I’d like to work with one of the organizations I have met while solving their space needs. The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, for example, is such an important organization. I will continue to help long after their temporary school is removed. After helping the Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum, they asked me to become a board member which was intrinsically rewarding but time consuming. I look forward to having more time to bring attention to important organizations and raise money for them.
When you’re not at work, what would we find you doing?
Not long ago, I’d say coaching my children’s sports, most recently ending 5 years of coaching my son’s baseball teams. Since them, I‘m enjoying the discretionary time to work on my golf game and platform tennis, a winter sport played on a 1/3 sized tennis court where you can play the ball off of surrounding fencing. You can often catch me reading and hiking. Travel is also important to me and I look forward to the world opening. I have the quote on my desk, “The world is a book and those who do not travel only read one page.”
Hometown?
My dad immigrated to a blue-collar town in southern New Jersey where he met my mom. While times could be tough, I couldn’t ask for a better upbringing for my brother and me. My dad came to the US with nothing and with my mom taught us the value of character-building hard work through their actions. To their delight, I was the first in our family to get a college degree.
My Hometown now is in Pennsylvania. Our family lives close, some in the same neighborhood. I like a full house.
Family, children?
Julie and I have been married for 27 years. We have two daughters (a junior in college and a senior in high school) and my son is a sophomore in high school.
A bright spot during the pandemic has been having everyone together under one roof. I kept reminding myself to appreciate being all together as it will be a luxury in the future. For example, this was the first summer that my oldest daughter didn’t travel in the last 5 years. She’s a Linguistics major. Last summer she spent it in Morocco which was restless for me.
What would “your perfect day” consist of?
Hmmm…a morning hike in the mountains, a round of golf, dinner at sunset on the beach, all with family and friends. That would be a pretty nice day.
What’s your favorite part about working for Aries so far?
To work with people within the organization who I’ve long admired. After being out of direct sales role for 4 years, it has been great working directly with customers again, introducing them to Aries and solving their problems. It’s nice to wake up on Monday morning excited for the week.
What sets Aries apart from other companies that deliver the exact same things?
Aries doesn’t have thousands of customers. Each customer is special. We can’t help everyone. The company empowers me to take the time that each customer needs and deserves. There’s no pressure to churn customers/equipment. The objective is to come up with the best, most cost-effective solution, hopefully we have it, if not, we’ll help the customer find it.
What do you hope to bring to Aries in terms of leadership and company culture?
As Aries continues to grow, I hope to help recruit young people to the industry and share my passion for it. I spent a year as a trainer and it was interesting to quantify what us veterans have learned over the years. You’re constantly learning new things- it’s not one year of information over and over again.
Is there anything we didn’t bring up that you’d like to talk about?
Did you know that with the amount of concrete used to build the Hoover Dam, you could build a 2-lane highway from New York to San Francisco?