Sam Menchyk
Web Director
Favorite Stuff:
Bands: Love all kinds of music, but favs are Johnny Cash, Jack Johnson, Gillian Welch, John Prine, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt
Food: I’ll have some meat with a side of carbs and fat on it. Vegetables are for rabbits
South Side Restaurant: Tom’s Diner Gyro Omelet may be the best culinary invention ever
TV Show: LOST, Hockey in any form, Pawn Stars, Pickers, Deadliest Catch & Family Guy
Author and Book: Into the Wild, The Last Lecture, Freakonomics, Killer Angels, Watership Down
Movies: Casino, Goodfellas, Animal House, True Romance, Napolean Dynamite, O Brother Where Art Thou and any other Cohen Brothers Flick.
Season: Spring & Fall
Interesting Facts You Wouldn't Know Otherwise:
1. I taught myself to read music, play piano and play guitar
2. I LOVE taking multi-day self contained bicycle camping trips
3. My wife is an ice hockey player and we met each other on the ice as opponents!
For the past 10 years, I have been employed as a web developer and graphic designer with Pittsburgh design firm. Using advanced applications of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver, .ASP, PHP, CSS, SQL Server, and a host of other design and programming platforms, I have been responsible for several successful e-marketing campaigns for a broad array of clients. My work in graphic design, development, programming and marketing has been applied to organizations as diverse as professional sports, non-profits, e-commerce, politics, social entrepreneurship, real estate, and industry.
In 2004, I co-founded the popular “Slots for Mario” and “Pittsburgh First” campaigns designed to generate grassroots support for a new arena to host the Pittsburgh Penguins. This campaign collected 38,152 signatures and prompted extensive radio, television, and print media coverage throughout the United States and Canada. My work was recognized by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Isle of Capri and featured locally on television and radio stations KDKA, WPXI, WTAE, Fox Sports Pittsburgh, Fox Sports Radio AM 970, ESPN Radio AM 1250, KDKA AM 1020, WDVE FM102.5, WDSY FM 107.9 FM and WKQV AM 1410.
Prior to my current career in technology, I spent five years working in the nonprofit sector as the youth sports coordinator for the Butler County Family YMCA. In this role I developed, implemented, marketed and evaluated all written and electronic materials related to the administration of the youth sports program.
I also was able to successfully blend my technical, recreation, and non-profit skills as Head Coach and Vice President of the Pittsburgh Piranhas Women’s Ice Hockey team from 2002–2008. By applying targeted marketing strategies as well as fund-raising, team-building, communication, community involvement, and web development skills, I was able to build this team from an initial base of nine players to a championship-winning program in the Pennsylvania-Ohio Women’s Hockey Association. The team was also featured on Pittsburgh radio station WDSY – Y108 FM as well as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ “Hockey ‘n Heels” marketing campaign in the 2007–2008 season.