Martin
Head of Strategic Partnerships
Global Acceptance
Not What You Would Expect
Coming from a consulting background, Martin initially worried that a job with Visa might be too traditional and routine for his liking. However, he was pleasantly surprised to find “a very entrepreneurial atmosphere. You have the opportunity to achieve excellence and define your career.”
For Martin, that has meant being the driving force behind a number of initiatives for Visa. Originally, he came aboard as Director of Commercial Solutions for Public Sector, focusing on state and local government. His consulting role at another company led him to the position. “Visa was one of my clients,” he notes. “I had spent several years helping them develop products and services for the public sector when they asked me to join the company in 2004.”
After being promoted to Head of Commercial Partnerships for Public Sector, his role expanded to managing the public sector team and working with the federal government and educational institutions.
In 2008, Martin and his team received Visa’s President’s Award, which recognizes particularly successful sales efforts. “The federal government card program contracts must be renegotiated every 10 years. The new contracts were set to commence in 2008, and we started working on a sales strategy to grow and retain our market share in 2004. We actually achieved results that exceeded our goals, growing both market share and sales volume.”
Martin recently became Head of Strategic Partnerships and is currently developing new partnerships for Visa. In addition to building relationships and selling relevant products and services to these partners, Martin and his team look for other opportunities to expand these relationships, including Corporate Development, Marketing and Government Relations opportunities that align with Visa’s long-term business goals.
Colleagues Make a Difference
He credits the collegial nature at the company for his success and for why he likes working at Visa. “I really believe that some of the smartest people in the industry work here, and that’s definitely a plus. But what’s really different is that people here always take the time to help others. You don’t always find that, especially at such a small organization where everyone is extremely busy. It makes a difference.”
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