User:Austex/DGM

Career summary

 * Was Publisher and Editor of the weekly "Texas Government Newsletter" and the biennial "A Voter's Guide to the Texas Legislature."
 * Was a co-founder of Legi-Slate, an early computerized bill and vote tracking service on the Texas Legislature, and later the US Congress; which was later sold to The Washington Post and became part of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive.
 * Developed real estate including townhomes, office, office condos and mixed use land development primarily in  Williamson County ;
 * In 1989 formed Don Martin Public Affairs in Austin, Texas to consult on public affairs, public relations, issues management, crisis communications, legal and litigation PR, and later Online Reputation Management and repair. The firm is more than 20 years old.
 * Managed Bruce Todd's successful campaign for Austin mayor in 1991 and was general consultant for his 1994 re-election; chaired the campaign for the Austin Bergstrom International Airport referendum to create Austin's first international airport; was campaign manager for the Round Rock Express Dell Diamond stadium referendum; and ran other campaigns such as the Westbank Library bond campaign, and a half-cent sales tax for transportation in Round Rock, Texas.
 * While running a full-time public affairs business, Martin co-developed with his partner Bill Smalling (1952-2008) several significant land development projects including San Gabriel Village in Georgetown, Texas and the 330-acre master-planned, mixed use La Frontera commercial center in Round Rock, Texas with approximately 1 million s.f. of retail as well as mid-rise offices, a full-service hotel, and urban-density apartments. The project was one of Austin area's first "New Urbanism" style projects for live-work-shop lifestyles.
 * In 2009 Martin wrote a local history book called "Austin" featuring Austin history as told through vintage Austin area postcards from the 1890's to 1930'd. Published by Arcadia Publishing's Postcard History Series.
 * As part of Don Martin Public Affairs in 2011 Martin started an Online Reputation Management Do It Yourself workbook business Reputation-Fix.com.
 * In 2014 Martin published the Kindle Book "The Complete Do It Yourself Internet Reputation Management Workbook".

Early years
Born April 18, 1954, Martin grew up in Baytown, Texas and he attended Robert E. Lee High School and Lee College before entering the University of Texas at Austin. While majoring in Journalism (Public Relations) at the University of Texas (1972-1976) Martin was elected to the Texas Student Publications Board of Directors also worked in the Texas Legislature for State Representative Joe Allen and interned for Congressman Robert C. Eckhardt in Washington, DC.

In 1976 Martin along with other partners co-founded Legi/Slate, a very early computerized bill and vote tracking service for lobbyists to follow the actions of the Texas Legislature, and later expanded it to cover the United States Congress in 1978. In 1981 the partners sold Legi/Slate to The Washington Post Companyas part of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive who in turn sold the business in 1999 to the Congressional Quarterly.

At the same time Martin also wrote and published a weekly newsletter on Texas government and politics, Texas Government Newsletter, as well as writing and self-publishing the biennial A Voter’s Guide to the Texas Legislature. after each legislative session. The business was later sold to Thomas L. Whatley, currently director of the House Research Organization.

Don Martin Public Affairs
In 1989 Martin founded Don Martin Public Affairs in Austin, Texas,specializing in public affairs, public relations, crisis management, issues management, and media relations. In recent years the company added Online reputation management services. Over the years the firm has represented a number of high-profile clients, as well as small businesses and individuals, and managed numerous campaigns for political and business clients. Clients include Dell, Tokyo Electron, Sun City Texas, Round Rock Express, Del Webb Corporation, TXU, Energy Future Holdings, U.S. Postal Service, AT&T Wireless, D.R. Horton, Southland Corporation, and Seton Family of Hospitals. Martin won the state Public Relations Association "Silver Spur Award" in 1997 for his work with Sun City Texas.

Re public campaigns: Martin was the 1991 co-manager (with Mimi Correa) of Bruce Todd's successful Austin mayoral campaign,. and general consultant for Todd’s successful 1994 re-election effort. Martin also managed the campaign for the Austin Bergstrom International Airport referendum; the Round Rock Express Dell Diamond stadium referendum; and the Round Rock, Texas city referendum to approve a half-cent sales tax dedicated to roads and transportation; and other referendum campaigns.

In 2001, Don Martin Public Affairs changed its name to Martin & Salinas Public Affairs to reflect the firm's new partner Trey Salinas, a former aide to Mayor Todd. . Also hired as a senior executive was Jed Buie, a senior partner in a competing PR firm. The company spun-off a Hispanic marketing business called, Adelante Solutions, run by employee Paul Saldana. Martin sold his 51% interest in the company to Salinas in 2008 and reverted back to Don Martin Public Affairs.

Real estate development


In addition to his public affairs business, Martin has also developed and co-developed Central Texas real estate projects with business partner Bill Smalling (1952-2008) over some 20 years. He and Smalling developed the 52-acre San Gabriel Village project, a "walk friendly" in San Gabriel Village. They also joint ventured with Larry Peel the development of 54 luxury condominium units overlooking the river.

Martin and Smalling also developed the high profile, signature La Frontera project, a 330 acre mixed-use, master-planned commercial center in Williamson County with more than 1000000 sqft of retail including La Frontera Village,, three apartment complexes , multi-use offices  and corporate headquarters and is home to the 200000 sqft corporate headquarters of Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TGSL). The walkability and connections within the mixed-use development was an early form of New Urbanism.The project also includes Williamson County's only full service hotel, the Austin North Marriott which provides space for large conferences, meetings and banquets - a first for the county and an important component of Round Rock's and Williamson County's economic development efforts. The project was also among the first in the nation to pioneer a bundled utility concept in joint venture with TXU.

Their financial partner in the La Frontera project was Fort Worth philanthropist and businessman Ed Bass. The project was located at the busy intersection of FM 1325 and Interstate 35 which later became Austin's first toll road, Texas SH 45 North. Martin and Smalling purchased the land from dairy farmer Tom Kouri in 1999. The project was completed in 2008 when all parcels had been sold

Author

 * As part of Arcadia Publishing's Postcard History Series, Martin wrote a book offering highlights of his collection of historic Austin-area postcards. Titled simply "Austin"  the book presents 247 vintage postcards showcasing historic Austin-area landmarks, such as the Old Main Building on the University of Texas campus, Scarborough Building, French Legation, and the Texas Governor's Mansion.   “Austin” was published March 23, 2009.  The book is available at all major on-line book sites such as Amazon "Austin."

Several reviews of the book include: > (Collecting postcards is called Deltiology and postcards are the third most collected item behind stamps and coins).

Online Reputation Management

 * In 2011 Martin created a Do It Yourself (DYI) Online reputation management e-workbook as part of his public affairs firm, at Reputation-Fix.com.

Community involvement
Martin is a current member of the Seton Williamson Foundation Board of Trustees, part of the Seton Family of Hospitals. He founded the Austin Chamber of Commerce's Project Greenscape program, in the 1980's, dedicated to the restoration of the Texas State Capitol grounds, the planting of 50,000 trees in Austin, and the replacement of trees along Congress Avenue. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA) Board, Executive Committee and Transportation Chair,  The Nature Conservancy of Texas, Austin Board of Directors, was Chair of Leadership Austin in 1991, and served on boards of both the Georgetown and Austin Chambers of Commerce, and many other boards.

He also led the effort and was a founder and Chair of the Northern Edwards Aquifer Resource Council (NEARC), a non-profit dedicated to the preservation of the Georgetown Salamander population, which later became the Williamson County Karst Foundation. These species would be preserved through voluntary donations of land rather than required setbacks and other involuntary means typically enforced on landowners without an incidental take permit. The group eventualy transferred their successful work on an Environmental Impact Statement to the county in 2002 and obtained a $2.3 million grant for the project. A county-wide 10-A permit was obtained in October 2008.

Profile articles

 * Westlake Picayune: Don Martin Builds "Win, win" Image With Never Say Die PR Team


 * Austin Chronicle: Citizen Martin: With a Little Help from his Friends


 * Austin Business Journal: Real Estate Profile: Don Martin and Bill Smalling


 * Austin Business Journal: Through The 'Mists and Fogs.' Profile: Don Martin.


 * Note: Because a number of the references below are in paid archives and cannot be accessed by direct citation, the text of those particular articles are posted HERE for purposes of establishing relevancy and notability.