When news outlets look for someone to steer them in the right direction on today’s tumultuous economic sea, they often turn to Saxe Distinguished Professor of Finance and Director of the Weissman Center for International Business Terrence Martell. But Martell also offers advice closer to home. All three of his children either have or are earning a Zicklin School of Business MBA.
“I always knew I wanted to pursue an MBA from Baruch,” says daughter Laura Martell (MBA ’09), whose degree is in marketing. “However, if you asked my dad, he would say I didn’t have a choice,” she kids. Laura calls Baruch the kind of “place where the American dream can become a reality.” She is currently a marketing coordinator at Oliver Wyman, a leading global management consulting firm.
Sister Kathryn earned her MBA in 2011, specializing in operations management. Baruch grew in her estimation when she worked as a trader on Wall Street. “It seemed that every other person I met had gone to Baruch,” she says. As a Baruch student, Kathryn prized the “global perspective in every class”: “No matter the industry, company, or situation being discussed, someone would raise his or her hand and give a personal account of it—be it banana farming in Bolivia, being attacked by pirates off the coast of Africa, working at the Port of Dubai, or even performing in the circus in Mexico.” (Kathryn is the author of the forthcoming book Tacos & Tigers, which details her exploits as a performer in the Mexican circus.)
Representing the finance and marketing specialization is Professor Martell’s son, Alex (MBA ’13), who is in the third semester of his program. Martell’s niece, Mallory, is also earning a Zicklin MBA.
It’s no wonder all of Martell’s children have studied at Baruch. Their dad is dedicated, with a deep and abiding affection for the College. “As chair of the Zicklin Graduate Curriculum Committee, I know better than most what our MBA program has to offer,” says the professor, who has taught at Baruch for 23 years. Laura Martell recalls that, growing up, her father “always had the biggest smile on his face when he talked about the College and his students.”
She got that right. Professor Martell is enormously pleased with “the quality of the Zicklin School and the MBA program. The curriculum is solid; the faculty, knowledgeable and committed to student success. We just received our highest rating from Forbes, putting the Zicklin MBA program in the top 50 in the country.”
On a more personal note, Papa Martell adds, “I take great pride in my children’s individual performances in the MBA program. I am delighted that they have learned to love the school as much as I do.”
—Diane Harrigan