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Harry Martins is what Newton calls "homegrown." He grew up on Melrose Street, playing baseball and taking things apart...transistor radios, bikes, toys...it didn’t matter what. If there weren’t a lot of parts left over when he put things back together, he considered it "a good sign."
In high school, Harry played lacrosse, baseball, hockey, clarinet and the saxophone. He worked in a machine shop after school, assembling parts and learning to use the milling and drill presses. Math and science came easy and he entertained visions of designing automobile engines.
He graduated from UMass, Amherst with a degree in mechanical engineering, got a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford, and took a job in Manhattan designing custom hip and knee implants. With visions of running a bio-mechanical engineering lab in his head, Harry left NYC for the University of Michigan, to pursue his PhD. But after a few years, he decided he’d rather focus on short term design projects than on a lifetime learning about bone structure. He finished with a 2nd Masters in bio-engineering and headed back to Newton.
Harry bought a home just a half mile from where he grew up and took a job at a start-up orthopedic company making implant devices to repair ligaments and tendons. He continued in this field, designing all kinds of medical devices for orthopedics and arthritis, sports medicine, dialysis and blood infusion technologies, biotech and drug delivery, gastrointestinal surgery and pulmonary surgery. Just when it looked like the course was set for a career designing medical devices, Harry found himself between jobs. A friend, Joe Albanese, took a gamble on Harry. He didn’t know much about the construction business back then, but Joe saw talent and strong project management skills that could easily translate to construction. Joe was right and Harry got his first taste of construction as an APM.
When Boston Scientific recruited Harry to evaluate minimally invasive lung surgery tools for patients with emphysema, he took the job. But when that evaluation was over, he was drawn back to construction.
In 2006 Harry re-joined Commodore.
Medical devices Vs. Construction. What are the project management skills these very different professions both value?
The process of product development in medicine is similar to construction. It starts with a client concept and then a design. A prototype is built, refined, tested, mass-produced, then sold. I was working with surgeons, designers, vendors and manufacturers to get the desired results and the best product at a competitive price. It’s very similar to managing the architect, the client and the subcontractors on a construction project. You have to have a stomach for digging into the details. And you have to be wired for being responsible for getting things done.
After over 20 years developing medical device implants, why the move to construction?
When Joe brought me on, all he knew I was good project manager. Judging by the complexity of the medical projects I’d facilitated, he said he could teach me construction and he was right. It was easy to make the transition. Now I love the challenge of figuring out how to realize a client’s vision, while matching it to what’s in their wallet. Everyday I’m here, I’m learning something new. No two projects or clients are the same. The attitude in this company comes down from the top – you do whatever it takes to make the client happy.
What attracts you to start-ups and young companies?
I’ve always been drawn to start-ups. People launching start-ups don’t have a punch-the-clock mentality. Inside the organization there’s a dynamic feeling that comes from knowing your performance has a direct impact on the success of the company. People are in touch. They aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and do whatever it takes to get the job done, even if the work might be considered beneath them someplace else. And all the start-ups I’ve worked at have beer on Fridays. I like beer on Fridays.
Say something surprising.
I could do ACL surgery. I had to learn precisely how the surgery was done so I could design the devices and grafts to be used during surgery. I even did mock surgery demonstrations.
I have a fear of open heights. I’ve tried to get over it by flying in the front seat of an acrobatic plane doing loops in the air. I’ve gone parasailing in Jamaica. I’ve even jumped from a 42 foot cliff in Negril, Jamaica and scored a perfect 10...but I’m still not over the fear, so you won’t find me on top of the MIT Dome any time soon.
What makes you proud?
My kids make me proud. They’re a reflection of me. I’m glad they still want to do things with their father. Last year I took my son on a road trip from Berkeley, California down to San Diego. We were college searching and we watched all the college baseball teams playing between the two cities. My daughter loves Broadway shows, so we go to see a few of them each year.
...And I still don’t have much grey hair. I’m proud of that, too.
What advice did you give yourself while you were raising your kids?
I coached both my son and daughter’s sports when they were growing up. I tried to make sure they were always improving their skills, but never losing sight of why they were really playing...to have fun.
I’ve tried to teach them what’s right and wrong outside of church, state and school. I want them to know they’re responsible for their actions. We have household rules, but I’m not going to tell them what they can and can’t do. My mother was very strict...which only encouraged me to be more creative in the way I’ve raised my kids.
Were you a resourceful kid?
I’d call it creative. I didn’t like playing or practicing the clarinet. The rule was I had to practice everyday after school before I could go outside to play. One day I used my boom box to record a tape of myself playing. From that day on I would press play on the boom box, close my bedroom door and climb out the window. I’d shimmy down the side of the house and then go play. It worked very well until one night I came home for dinner and the boom box was on my plate at the table.
Easy Rider was all the rage when I was in school. Friends and I frequented the junk-yards looking for old bikes. We’d take them apart, disassemble the front half of banana seat bikes, and with a little tinkering, we’d create "Harley Choppers."
What are your hobbies?
I love mountain biking. I play fast-pitch softball, hockey and lacrosse. I’ll go see live music, except for country, at any venue and travel to any warm place...Commodore Miami has an especially nice ring to it.
What’s one thing you can’t live without?
Good beer. Life is too short to drink cheap beer.
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