Jack Martin is an entrepreneur, rancher, and globally recognized strategic thought leader. He is best known for his behind-the-scenes advice to C-suite executives, navigating them through their most challenging communications and corporate issues. Jack’s counsel has been sought for decades by some of the largest companies in the world, leading strategic crisis communications, forging mergers and acquisitions strategies, and successfully defusing hostile takeover attempts.

Public Strategies Incorporated

In 1988, Jack founded Public Strategies Incorporated (PSI), which grew into one of the most successful corporate advisory firms in the world. Under Jack's leadership, PSI helped shape the business climate in Texas, and later globally, as an advisor to CEOs and board members.

Jack's earliest business relationship was with Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines, who he counseled as the company revolutionized air travel and rapidly expanded from Texas to the rest of the country. Jack advocated Southwest's successful effort to take the airline to "Main Street," eschewing a focus on Wall Street and the travel agencies that had dominated air travel in favor of empowering consumers to reach out directly to the airline - a strategy that would engender a revolutionary level of brand loyalty in the industry. Jack also advised Southwest's leadership on business and public strategies and led the company's successful efforts to block taxpayer subsidies for a high-speed rail service in Texas that would have threatened Southwest's business model.

Another significant relationship was with Ed Whitacre, CEO of Southwestern Bell, which would later become AT&T. Jack crafted the business strategy in Texas and the four other states where Southwestern Bell became the exclusive local-phone provider for a new regulatory framework that upended the traditional ways states oversaw regional Bell operating companies-. Jack continued to advise SBC Communications, which generated regulatory and public support for a series of huge mergers as the company acquired Pacific Bell, Ameritech, AT&T, and Bell South. When Ed Whitacre became chairman of General Motors (GM), he once again called on Jack to assist him. GM was facing several governmental and regulatory challenges, and Jack provided the strategic framework for gaining public support as GM emerged from the government bailout that would save the company and the entire automotive industry.

Another of Jack's significant client relationships is with Goldman Sachs. When the investment firm came under withering scrutiny during a financial crisis, its board and C-suite turned to Jack for counsel that allowed them to reestablish their company as a trusted brand and industry leader. Jack and his colleagues managed Goldman's crisis team, designed its social media strategy, audited its media relations practice, and advised its executives and directors on a multi-year plan to restore credibility with the public. Jack also built an in-house research function–which is still being used today-that surveys attitudes of employees, customers, and the public globally. Included in those efforts was a repositioning of Goldman's philanthropic work that led to the investment bank's “10,000 Small Businesses” initiative, which has graduated more than 13,000 business owners and provided them with greater access to education, capital, and business support services. A similar Goldman project, “10,000 Women,” has provided female entrepreneurs from 56 countries with business and management education, mentoring, and networking.

For thirty years, Jack has served as a business advisor to Ross Perot Jr. and serves as an advisory director for Perot's Hillwood Development Co., one of the nation's largest independent real estate developers. In addition, he served as a key outside advisor to Perot Systems and developed a plan for the outsourcing of investor relations, media relations, government affairs.. In 2009 the Perot family sold Perot Systems to Dell for $3.9 billion, Jack was asked to simultaneously advise both parties on the transaction due to Jack's long-time business association with Michael Dell.

Jack’s business advisory skills have positively impacted Texas communities, specifically San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas, where he led the efforts to build new sporting facilities for the Spurs, Astros, and Mavericks. Jack developed the business strategy as part of public-private partnerships which secured the necessary support from these local communities. Never forgetting his roots in agriculture, Jack successfully negotiated a dual usage agreement between the Spurs and the San Antonio Livestock Show in an unprecedented collaboration between the two organizations.

Counseling companies in acute crisis has always been a particular focus for Jack. He orchestrated the strategy that helped stabilize Bridgestone/Firestone after the company was blamed for hundreds of deaths from rollovers of Ford sport-utility vehicles. Jack tackled the tire maker's desperate situation with an aggressive strategy, demanding that Ford agree to jointly investigate the cause of the crashes with Firestone should they want to continue their relationship. After Ford refused to partner with Firestone, the public and lawmakers rapidly began to see the crisis as a car problem as much as a tire problem, allowing Firestone to correct problems in its plants and restore public confidence in the brand.

Additional crisis work includes advising the board of Martha Stewart Living on a strategy to save the company after the founder was indicted and sent to prison; advising the board of Target on a hostile takeover attempt and on its response to a major data breach; advising former FBI director Robert Mueller who was working on behalf of NFL team owners to investigate the Ray Rice scandal; and advising Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, on a stream of difficult political and public affairs issues over several years.

Jack also has extensive experience counseling private equity funds, including advising KKR and Texas Pacific Group (TPG) on corporate strategy and establishing the first public affairs division on behalf of TPG.

Hill + Knowlton Strategies

In 2006, WPP Group acquired Public Strategies and subsequently merged it with Hill & Knowlton, creating Hill+Knowlton Strategies. Jack was appointed Global Chairman and CEO of Hill+Knowlton Strategies where he took his work globally by leading the multinational strategic communications firm consisting of 80 offices and clients consisting of half of the 2011 Fortune Global 500.

During his eight-year leadership at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Jack added a new dimension to his career by advising clients on a global level. Based in New York, he directed the company's delivery of invaluable counsel and expertise to its 3,200+ clients. He traveled extensively visiting every corner of the world where he personally managed corporate and communications issues for leaders at some of the world's largest corporations and gained valuable insights on businesses in other regions.

JPM Advisory

Upon stepping down as the Global Chairman and CEO of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Jack formed JPM Advisory, LLC as part of a family investment platform active in ranching, oil and gas, consulting with select corporate clients and entrepreneurial endeavors.

Awards and Recognition

Jack's communications leadership has been honored by organizations at the forefront of communications excellence. In 2014, PR News lauded him as a PR pioneer who has "helped to shape the world of public affairs consulting, public relations and corporate consulting for more than 25 years." He was previously honored by the Center for Public Policy Priorities for his lifelong civic leadership in 2010. In 2016, the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO), based in London, inducted him into their Hall of Fame. Jack was invested as a Member of the Order of St. John, on the instructions of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In February 2017, the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Austin Chapter awarded Jack and his wife, Patsy, the Philanthropist of the Year award. This honor highlighted the couple's work and leadership within the philanthropic community. In 2018, he received a Presidential Citation from the University of Texas at Austin. This award recognizes the extraordinary contributions of individuals who personify the university's commitment to transforming lives. Most recently, Martin was awarded the Individual Achievement SABRE Award at the Holmes Report's 2019 North America SABRE awards ceremony in New York.

In November 2023, Jack will be inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame. The Texas Business Hall of Fame honors the accomplishments and contributions of outstanding leaders in the state by celebrating and telling their stories. He was nominated for this honor as a result of his significant contributions made both in business, as well as his philanthropic and civic engagement in his local communities.

Currently, Jack serves as Chairman on the board of Baylor Scott and White Health, the largest not­ for-profit health care system in Texas and one of the largest in the United States with 48 hospitals and over 40,000 employees. In 2004, Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson asked Jack to serve on the board of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, which supports the educational missions of the LBJ Presidential Library and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He previously chaired Texas State University System's Board of Regents and was named a Distinguished Alumni of his alma mater, Texas State University, then called Southwest Texas State University. Other board leadership positions have included the Caesar Kleberg Foundation for Wildlife Conservation, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Former Texas Rangers Foundation.

Early in his career, Jack served as Executive Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas. He managed the respected legislator's two re-election campaigns both of which established records for margin of success. Jack has received five appointments from governors of both political parties in Texas. In 1996, he chaired Texas Governor-elect Ann Richards's Transition Committee. In 1994, then Governor-elect George W. Bush and Lt Governor Bob Bullock appointed Jack co-chair of the Texas Inaugural Committee.

Jack is married to Patsy Woods Martin. The Martins carry on the grand Texas ranching traditions that have been a part of both of their families for five generations. Their JPM Ranch Company currently owns the Mallard Creek Ranch in Montague, Texas, and the Open C Ranch in Forestburg, Texas. The Martins are proud members of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Farm Bureau, and the American Quarter Horse Association. The Martin ranches have received numerous awards and distinctions for excellence in the ranching business including cattle and horse breeding.