Andrew Mankus

Details

Manager Worcester Dining Commons, University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA
Age: 27
Education: B.S. in business management from Western New England College, Springfield, Mass.
Years at organization: 1

Why Selected?

Garett DiStefano, director of Residential Dining, says: Andrew developed an orientation presentation that consolidated all of the UMass Dining policies and procedures. The program saves managers time and delivers a consistent message to all newly hired employees. He is passionate about healthy eating, particularly consumption of fruits and vegetables. Building on the idea of display cooking, Andrew increased vegetarian service by mainstreaming the selections with cooked-to-order entrées such as pasta, stir-fry and composed salads.

Get to know

Q. What has been your proudest accomplishment?

When I worked as a foodservice manager at Six Flags, I created iPod training videos, which included basic operations of a location and answers for troubleshooting issues that could potentially arise. The videos were used in unsupervised locations so if there were an emergency, the team member basically had the answer at his/her fingertips.
 

Q. What would you say you excel at over more seasoned colleagues?

My creative thinking and enthusiasm—when accompanied by the experience of my co-workers—is what helps our team succeed. 

Q. What's the best career advice you've been given?

Don’t hold anyone back. Take the time to grow employees and let them excel in their career. 

Q. What's been the biggest challenge you've had to overcome?

My age. I was the youngest manager at Six Flags. I was responsible for more than $60 million in revenue at the age of 21. I came to UMass and I’m the youngest manager here. There are obviously people who believe in me, but there are also people who were unsure of my capabilities.

Q. What's been your most rewarding moment?

Joining the management team of an award-winning, very prestigious dining team at UMass. 

Q. What would you like to accomplish in your career in the next two years?

I would like to help renovate a dining commons. I’d also like to manage the largest location. I started at the smallest and in a year they moved me to the second largest. I’d like to be a part of something students in 30 years can still enjoy. Then I can come back when I’m retired and know that I was a part of building something for those students. 

Q. What's been your funniest on-the-job disaster?

At Six Flags I was closing the park with another manager who noticed a really low-hanging cloud. We realized it was not a cloud; it was fire. We followed procedure notifying the safety crew, but we were both trained in fire safety so we started helping. There were multiple types of fires to fight so we didn’t know what fire extinguisher to use. We just tried a bunch of different ones. We eventually put it out, which is when the safety department arrived and was like, “what can we do?” We were like, “nothing, we’re done.”