Erik Ronningen | 9/11 Survivor

An Army brat. A professionally trained classical oboist, at the age of sixteen Erik performed for a season with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. before receiving a full four-year scholarship to the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Upon graduation in 1966, Erik was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He asked to serve in Vietnam, but the Army sent him to the Republic of Germany to take command of a NATO nuclear weapons facility with site security and weapons deployment responsibilities on the border of the then Iron Curtain in the Fulda Gap.

Leaving military service, Erik experienced the normal business process, eventually starting his own company. He received a United States Patent for a unique software package that audited the destruction of financially and proprietary sensitive components in mainframe computers.

In October of 1996 his best friend, the Director of Security for the World Trade Center asked him to consult for seven months to architect the new access control systems for the Twin Towers. Seven months turned into nineteen years.

Erik was on the 71st floor of the North Tower the morning of September 11, 2001, and was the last person to escape the South Tower before it collapsed.

Post 9/11, he developed a security Personal Assurance Program to determine the character of individuals requiring access to critical transportation infrastructure. Authored an award-winning book titled: FROM THE INSIDE OUT, Harrowing Escapes from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Erik is a Keynote Speaker on the events of 9/11, and can be reached through Carole Barnes at: cbaspeakersbureau.com