Leadership
The Difference Between Being Good and Being Great: Monica Martinez
BY JENNIFER MILLMAN / © 2007 DiversityInc
Ambition is instinctive for Monica
Martinez. Before she was born, her
family emigrated from Mexico to
Michigan to find work in the robust
automotive industry. “Grandpa
worked for Ford on the line to be
able to provide for all of his children,” says Martinez, a Detroit native
and vice president of Hispanic
Business Affairs at Comerica, No. 12
in The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50
Companies for Diversity®.
“When you come from a family
where you want to pursue the
American dream, the standards are
set so high that you want to make
sure that you’re doing better than the
last generation. It’s expected of you.”
For Martinez, excellence is all
about building relationships. An
American grounded in the values of
her Latina heritage, Martinez
says the wisdom
imparted by her
mother and
grandmother—
dichos—still
guides every decision she makes.
“Having a pas-
sion for what it is Monica Martinez
that you’re doing Company: Comerica
is the difference 2006 Top 50 Rank: No. 12
between being Headquarters: Detroit, Mich.
good and great,”
says Martinez, who directs Latino
business and community outreach
for Comerica.
Her open-mindedness has helped
Martinez develop positive relationships and bridge gaps between com-
panies and the communities
they serve. During her 10-year
tenure with Ford Motor Co.,
No. 37 in The 2006
DiversityInc Top 50 Companies
for Diversity, Martinez focused
on developing communications,
most recently as Ford’s grass-roots and political communications manager. She has directed
a range of diversity-awareness
activities and served as a liaison
across public, private and nonprofit sectors.
“All the success I’ve had has
been accomplished by working with
others,” says Martinez. “Even if
you’re a manager that supervises
others, you’re not going to make as
much impact if you don’t have other
people working with you.”
Hurdling Over Life’s Obstacles: Eugene Marsh
BY ERIC L. HINTON / © 2007 DiversityInc
To say Eugene Marsh’s
life has been forged under
fire is perhaps the greatest
of understatements. At 15,
he was spit on as one of
four black teens who integrated an all-white high
school in the rural South
in 1965. A few years later,
during a tour of Vietnam,
he found himself in kill- Eugene Marsh
or-be-killed situations,
Company: Construction Project
which “fundamentally Management Services
changed” him to the core. Headquarters: Princeton, N.J.
Yet those very obstacles
may be the reason Marsh has enjoyed
so much success as founder of
Construction Project Management
Services (CPMS). Overcoming seemingly impossible odds has become
second nature.
Formed in 1998,
CPMS is a certified SBA
8(a) program participant
that provides a complete
array of professional con-
struction services includ-
ing cost estimating,
scheduling and design
building. With a client
list that includes Merrill
Lynch, No. 44 on The
2006 DiversityInc Top
50 Companies for
Diversity® list, the com-
pany, which has seven
full-time employees, is expected to
bring in revenue in excess of $1 million
in 2007.
Marsh graduated from the
University of South Carolina with a
degree in business administration.
His first hands-on experience came
with Duke Power Company in
Charlotte, N.C. After spending many
years in the industry, Marsh’s “aha”
moment came when he was down-sized out of his last job.
“I sat back and looked at my 20
years of experience in the industry. I
said to myself, ‘I’m a black man of a
certain age. What do I want to do
with the rest of my life?’” The answer
came quickly. Marsh wanted to strike
out on his own. But he had no
money and no one would give him a
loan. That’s when he made his
biggest gamble yet—he bet on himself. “I cashed out my 401(k) to lay
the groundwork for my own business. I knew the worst that could
happen was that I’d walk away
knowing I’d tried.” DI
