Governor's Press Secretary Receives Clarkson University's Top Award for Young Alumni

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Left to right: Clarkson University President Tony Collins, Martinez, and Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Steve Newkofsky.

POTSDAM, NY (08/05/2010)(readMedia)-- Juan Martinez of Brookline, Mass., press secretary to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, has received the Woodstock Award from his alma mater, Clarkson University.

Given each year during Reunion Weekend, the Woodstock Award honors young alumni who have demonstrated outstanding loyalty and service to Clarkson and the Alumni Association and who have used their Clarkson experience to make a notable contribution to their careers.

Martinez received his bachelor of science degree in accounting from Clarkson in 1995.

Martinez advises the governor on long-term and day-to-day communications and media relations strategies, as well as crisis communications. He designed and executed the communications strategy for Massachusetts Works, the Governor's $4 billion job creation initiative. He organized the crisis communications strategies and protocols across the administration during two major flooding emergencies and a water main break that impacted the drinking water for over two million residents.

Prior to becoming press secretary, Martinez had served in the administration since 2007 as director of communications for the Governor's Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the largest secretariat in Massachusetts with a $13 billion budget.

Prior to serving in Governor Patrick's administration, Martinez was executive director of the Massachusetts Voter Education Network ("MassVOTE"), a non-partisan organization with 300 non-profit partners that steadily increased voter turnout in the state's seven largest cities.

In 2001, Martinez founded Darkhorse Media Inc., a communications firm that integrated marketing strategies into the philanthropic programs of non-profit clients. Prior to starting Darkhorse, Martinez worked for six years at WSKG Public Broadcasting in Binghamton, N.Y.

A former member of the Clarkson Alumni Council, he was born and raised in New York City and has lived in the Boston area since 2000.

Clarkson University launches leaders into the global economy. One in six alumni already leads as a CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. Located just outside the Adirondack Park in Potsdam, N.Y., Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university for undergraduates with select graduate programs in signature areas of academic excellence directed toward the world's pressing issues. Through 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, sciences and health sciences, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo, and connect discovery and engineering innovation with enterprise.

[A photograph for media use is available at http://www.clarkson.edu/news/photos/jmartinez.jpg .]

Photo caption: Juan Martinez of Brookline, Mass., press secretary to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, has received the Woodstock Award from his alma mater, Clarkson University. Left to right: Clarkson University President Tony Collins, Martinez, and Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Steve Newkofsky.