Jose Isasi


José Antonio Isasi is a Cuban-American businessman.
He is the owner of the Que Pasa Media Network, the largest Hispanic Media company in North Carolina, which comprises three newspapers in Charlotte Metro, Raleigh Metro, and Greensboro/Winston-Salem, seven AM radio stations reaching across North Carolina, Makin’ It Work–Pronto!, a Hispanic marketing and communications company serving clients internationally, nationally and regionally, and other related Hispanic businesses located in North Carolina.

Overview and business

Jose Isasi was born in 1944 in Havana, Cuba, and migrated to the US in 1960. Isasi became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1971. In 1965, he married Flora Maria Appel and they had four sons: Jose II, Domingo, Fredrick, and William. Isasi has lived and worked in the US, Cuba, Venezuela, England, Japan, Germany, and Switzerland and has been a resident of North Carolina since 1976. Isasi's company consists of the following components:
Que Pasa radio stations

1000 AM Raleigh

1530 AM Durham–Chapel Hill

1220 AM Reidsville, Greensboro

1590 AM High Point, Winston-Salem

1470 AM Greensboro/Burlington

1380 AM Winston-Salem

1040 AM Winston-Salem/Lexington
Que Pasa newspapers

Winston-Salem / Greensboro edition

Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill edition

Charlotte Metro edition

Community involvement

Member of the Board of Directors of the Forsyth County United Way

Member of the Board of Directors of the Winston-Salem / Forsyth County Arts Council

Member of Board of Directors, BB&T Triad Region

Member of the CRA Advisory Group for BB&T Bank–Forsyth County

Founding member of the Board of Forsyth Health, Inc.

Member of Regional Board of the Maya Angelou Institute for Minority Health, Inc.

Member of Board of Directors–Accion Hispana, Forsyth County

Education

, Bachelor of Science in Engineering 1962–1966
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, –Master of Science in Engineering 1966–1968

University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, postgraduate work 1975–1976

Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh - executive program, Westinghouse 1981–1982

The Quality College, Crosby & Associates 1988–1989

Patents and publications

Granted two US patents for manufacturing technology with turbine components

Authored / co-authored two technical books

Authored / co-authored 26 technology papers in science and engineering literature

Numerous national and regional keynote presentations

Author / co-author of 11 papers in strategic product and marketing planning

Community and other awards

Salvation Army Excellence in Leadership Award

The Winston-Salem Chronicle Community Service Leadership Award

Hispanic Business Person of the Year for North Carolina Award

North Carolina Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence

Piedmont Triad Technology Gold Award

Japan’s MITI Leadership Award

Benjamin B. Lanme Fellowship Award

In the media

Selected as one of fifty national Hispanic media executives who has made significant contributions to the Hispanic community by San Antonio based On The Edge Promotions organization May 2007

Featured on Bill Friday’s North Carolina People, UNC-TV, 2005

Featured on Chris Matthews’ Business Carolina Show, UNC-TV, 2005 and 2006
Named as one of the ‘50 Most Influential People’ in the Triad by Triad Business Journal, December 2004
Named, along with his Que Pasa Media Network, as a ‘Fast 50’ company by Triad Business Journal in 2004

Appeared on the cover and in the main story in the premier edition of the national Marketing y Medios magazine in September 2004

Featured, along with his Que Pasa Newspapers and Radio Stations, in the December 2003 edition of Southern Living magazine

Named by the Triad Business Journal as one of the Ten People To Watch in 2003, 2006

Featured, along with his Hispanic marketing and communications company, Makin' It Work - Pronto!, on the cover and as the feature story in the June 2003 issue of BizLife