By John Denton
January 2, 2013
ORLANDO – Alex Martins’ impressive reorganization of the Orlando Magic throughout last season has earned the team’s CEO yet another local honor.
Martins is ranked fourth on the Orlando Sentinel’s ``25 Most Powerful People in Central Florida’’ list, a jump of one spot over the previous year. Martins, the Magic’s CEO since last December, trails only Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and Walt Disney World president Meg Crofton on the prestigious list.
The award by The Sentinel comes on the heels of Martins being ranked first overall by Orlando magazine’s ``50 Most Powerful People in Orlando’’ list last summer. He was the first private person to ever rank at the top of the list after the mayors of Orlando and Orange County and UCF’s president – all public employees – had dominated the list’s top spot since its inception in 2004.
Martins, 48, was also was one of five people given ``Hall of Power’’ status by Orlando magazine last summer after earning a top-five ranking for five consecutive years.
Martins led the way in the hirings of General Manager Rob Hennigan and head coach Jacque Vaughn, who helped the Magic become one of the NBA’s early surprise teams this season.
Hennigan, 30, and Vaughn 37, had never before been in leadership roles on the professional level, but their appointments by Martins have been lauded throughout the NBA. Before being beset by injuries, the Magic won 12 games, including a stirring defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers in early December.
Martins’ rise to the top of the Orlando business community is a remarkable one considering that he got his start as a public relations director with the Magic in 1989. Since then, he’s steadily climbed the corporate ladder to where he now runs the day-to-day operations for the Magic. Quite possibly no one knows the organization better top to bottom, and he’s committed to making the Magic champions on and off the court.
In addition to being in charge of the Magic’s day-to-day operations, Martins also serves on several local boards. He is also a leader of the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation, which raised $1 million in grant money last year to award to 19 local nonprofit organizations.
John Denton writes for OrlandoMagic.com. E-mail John at jd41898@aol.com. Submit a question to John for his mailbag segment at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.