In the year 2000, I enrolled in a leadership course through Leadership Pikes Peak where I had the opportunity to learn about Colorado Springs from the inside out. It was during that class that the thought crossed my mind for the first time that I may want to run for City Council some day.
My roots run deep in this community and Colorado Springs has always been good to me and my family. I am a third generation native of Colorado Springs. My grandfather, Harry MacDonald, was a State senator in the late '40s and early '50s. It's interesting that his primary concern during that time was, as it is now, water. He worked hard to ensure that my generation would have the water we needed. Today, I'm also working on water issues to ensure the next generation has the water they will need.
I graduated from Palmer High School in 1968 and yes, that means I recently celebrated my 40th high school reunion. After high school, I followed in my sister's footsteps and attended the University of Northern Colorado to become a teacher. I taught for a few years but quickly realized that business was where my heart was. I had come from a family of small business owners (my father and grandfather were the local Buick dealers for 50 years). To make the transition from teaching to business I was able to convince a local company, who was selling computers to bookstores nationally, that they needed to hire a teacher to teach people how to use their computers. Thus began my career in the field of information systems.
I soon returned to school and received my MBA in Finance and Information Systems, which I used to start my own business, Martin Business Group in 1993. Today I specialize in information systems and continue to teach in the Online MBA program at the University of Phoenix.
After getting my business off the ground, I decided it was time to begin giving something back to the community. I enrolled in the Leadership Pikes Peak program and through that course I learned how to make things happen in the community. It empowered me to feel that I could make a difference and I became more involved.
When I announced my candidacy for one of the at-large positions on the City Council in January of 2007, it was the beginning of the most interesting journey of my life. I was elected to the Colorado Springs City Council in April of 2007. I have served the community for 4 years in that position and have worked hard to collaborate with the local business community and others to move our community forward. Although the last 4 years have been challenging economically, our community is ready to move forward in a positive and collaborative way.
I do not have higher political ambitions and partisan politics don't interest me. My desire is to serve the people of Colorado Springs and to give back to the community which I call home.
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