Arthur C. Martinez

Arthur C. Martinez
Education	Harvard Business School (M.B.A.)
Alma mater	Polytechnic Institute of New York (B.S.) now New York University Tandon School of Engineering
Occupation	Business executive
Title	Chairman and CEO of Sears
Term	1995 - 2000
Predecessor	Edward A. Brennan
Successor	Alan J. Lacy

Arthur C. Martinez is a business executive and a former Chairman and CEO of Sears. Martinez is best known as the person who tried to turn around Sears, Roebuck and Company (Co.). Prior to joining Sears, Martinez worked for several companies, including RCA Records and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Early Life

Martinez grew up in New York and attended Catholic schools in Brooklyn throughout his early years. For university, he attended the Polytechnic Institute of New York, now known as the New York University Tandon School of Engineering where he received a B.S. During his time at the Polytechnic Institute, Martinez co-owned a small business that published a magazine. Martinez wrote the editorial content and his partner sold the ads. Martinez then enrolled in Harvard Business School and served in Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant and spent two years stationed in Stuttgart, Germany.  

Career

Early Career

Martinez began his career working for Enjay Chemical Company, a division of Humble Oil and Refining Co. which would be purchased by Exxon USA. Upon acquiring Humble Oil and Refining Co, Exxon merged Humble’s Esso Chemical and Enjay Chemicals into Exxon Chemicals, which today’s ExxonMobil. Wanting quicker career advancement and not experiencing this at Enjay, Martinez left the company and landed a position as the head of planning for a new ventures division of International Paper, where he worked for two years. Martinez then joined Talley Industries as an director handling mergers and acquisitions and oversaw Talley’s relationship with Wall Street.

RCA Corporation

In 1972, Martinez joined RCA Corporation as one of three directors of business planning and was soon promoted to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of RCA Records. In 1976, Martinez became head of the international division of RCA.

Saks Fifth Avenue

In late 1979, Martinez accepted an offer to become senior vice president and chief financial officer of Saks Fifth Avenue. During this time, Saks was a part of the retail division of BATUS Inc., the U.S. division of British American Tobacco. Martinez’s time at Saks Fifth Avenue was an exciting time of growth for the company, despite a national economic recession.

In 1986 the BATUS empire began to struggle and sell-offs initiated by London were in the forecast. Martinez was offered to head the remaining BATUS retail properties headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. The remaining properties included of Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Field’s, Ivey’s Department Stores, and Breuners. Martinez took the job and moved to Louisville after thinking back to his experience at RCA. They were big changes that involved big challenges, but it had worked out well.  

In 1990, Saks Fifth Avenue was sold to Investcorp and Martinez was offered the position of vice chairman by the new owners. Martinez accepted and moved back to New York.

Books

The Hard Road to the Softer Side: Lessons from the Transformation of SEARS was published in 2001 by Crown Publishing Group, now a division of Penguin Random House. The book, written by Arthur C. Martinez and Charles Madigan documents the time Martinez spent at Sears, the problems he faced and the transformational solutions he brought to the company.