Lupe Martinez
President and chief executive officer
UMOS
Milwaukee
www.umos.org
Employees: 300
Lupe Martinez has dedicated his entire professional career to improving the lives of migrant and seasonal farm workers and other underserved populations across the country.
For more than 40 years, Martinez has been president and chief executive officer of UMOS, an organization dedicated to advocating and providing programs and services to improve employment, educational, health and housing opportunities for its clientele.
From an early age, Martinez naturally fell into leadership roles. He was one of 10 siblings in a family of migrant workers. Martinez accepted the responsibility of paying the bills, doing the grocery shopping and managing the family money.
UMOS is the largest Hispanic-managed nonprofit organization in the state, and one of the largest in the nation. It operates in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri and Texas.
Under Martinez’s leadership, the organization has grown from a single state, single issue-focused agency serving migrants to a nationally-renowned enterprise administering more than 40 programs focused on workforce development, child development and social services.
“We’re very focused on running the organization like a business,” Martinez said. “We regularly compete with for-profit companies for government contracts and win because we have a history of proving we can provide xyz services with these results.”
Martinez surrounds himself with a capable staff and strives to hold himself and his staff accountable for everything they do, he said.
“What we do is try to make a difference in people’s lives. We treat every customer, every client like they were our family. We serve them with dignity and honesty and go the extra mile.”
