Founding Chairman
512.474.0120
98 San Jacinto Blvd
Suite 1200
Austin, Texas 78701
Jack Martin is the founding chairman of Public Strategies, Inc., having served as president and CEO until the company was acquired by WPP of London in 2006. At the time of sale, Public Strategies was the largest independent firm of its kind and today serves clients around the world.
From its original headquarters in Austin, Texas, Martin created a new business model to expand stereotypical concepts of “the public” to include employees, stockholders, community and political leaders, government agencies, the media, as well as customers and consumers. This business model, which helps firms to manage all of their interactions with the public from one strategic platform, has been trademarked by Public Strategies as the “Fifth Seat.” This new offering in business advisory work is today viewed as an essential part of a company’s corporate strategy.
Within Public Strategies itself, Martin created a culture of public service that encourages staff members at all levels to become involved in community activities by serving as volunteers and pro-bono advisors to non-profit organizations. Public Strategies is a long-time supporter of public television, Communities in School, The Nature Conversancy, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, Texas Cultural Trust Council, Planned Parenthood, the Austin Children’s Museum, Austin Film Society, and dozens of other non-profit organizations across the nation.
Martin is a Texas native who grew up in San Antonio, where his father was a firefighter. Before founding Public Strategies, Martin was active in Democratic Party politics in the U.S., having reached a near-perfect record of wins as a political consultant in various U.S. Senate, gubernatorial, and congressional campaigns before deciding to quit in the early 1990s and focus his efforts on building Public Strategies. Martin has served as senior advisor to the Democratic National Committee, a consultant to the U.S. Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and treasurer of the Texas Democratic Party.
In Texas, Martin worked for his long-time friend and mentor, U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen in various capacities for almost 20 years. He served as executive assistant to the senator and ran his last two re-election campaigns, after starting as Bentsen’s travel aide at the age of 20.
Martin has received four appointments to various public service positions from three Texas governors. In 1991, his alma mater, Texas State University, named him a distinguished alumnus, after Martin served as a chairman of the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System.
Martin serves on the Board of Visitors of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, as well as the board of the LBJ Foundation, which supports public policy education at the University of Texas’s LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Archives. Martin also serves on the advisory board to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.