Ernesto Martens
{{Short description|Mexican chemical engineer (1933–2024)}}
{{family name hatnote|Martens|Rebolledo|lang=Spanish}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ernesto Martens
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|01|28|df=y}}
| birth_place = Tilapan, Veracruz, Mexico
| death_date = {{Death date and given age|2024|01|13|90|df=y}}
| death_place = Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Chemical engineer
| known_for = Secretary of Energy
| website =
}}
Ernesto Martens Rebolledo (28 January 1933 – 13 January 2024) was a Mexican chemical engineer, who occupied several high-profile business positions and was Secretary of Energy during Vicente Fox's government.
Life and career
Ernesto Martens was born in a small town close to the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve in Veracruz. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Tec de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey, in 1956, where he met the founder of the school Eugenio Garza Sada.{{cite web |url=http://www.itesm.edu/wps/wcm/connect/snc/portal+informativo/por+tema/educacion/70anostecdemonterrey053_29abr13 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629092240/http://www.itesm.edu/wps/wcm/connect/snc/portal+informativo/por+tema/educacion/70anostecdemonterrey053_29abr13 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2013 |title=Ernesto Martens: quiere una universidad que siga afianzando los valores |date=29 April 2013 |publisher=Tec de Monterrey |location=Mexico |language=Spanish |trans-title=Ernesto Martens: wants a university that continues to strengthen values. |accessdate=28 June 2013 }} He did postgraduate studies in the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and at Harvard Business School in the United States.{{cite web |url=http://www.ogj.com/articles/2000/11/martens-named-mexican-energy-minister.html |title= Martens named Mexican energy minister |date=11 November 2000 |publisher= Oil & Gas Journal |accessdate=28 June 2013 }}
His first position was with Union Carbide Headquarters where he remained for eighteen years, becoming its CEO.{{cite journal |author=Nancy A. Nichols |url=http://hbr.org/1993/09/from-complacency-to-competitiveness-an-interview-with-vitros-ernesto-martens/ar/1 |title= From Complacency to Competitiveness: An Interview with Vitro's Ernesto Martens |year=1993 |journal=Harvard Business Review |location=Boston |accessdate=28 June 2013 }}
In 1977, he began with a Monterrey glass company called Vitro, becoming its first non-family CEO in 1985. During his tenure, he expanded the company’s business from glass bottles into plastic containers, suitcases and washing machines with joint ventures with Ford, Corning, Samsonite and Whirlpool. He led Vitro into the U.S. glass market in the early 1980s, when Mexican demand for its products slowed and led to the only hostile takeover of a U.S. company by a Mexican company when Vitro took over Anchor Glass Container Corporation in 1989. However, he made some controversial decisions including a 1992 decision to lay off 3,000 workers, where before the company used to claim that it gave workers "a way of life".
In 1994, he became president of the board of Cintra (Corporación Internacional de Transporte Aereo), the entity which ran Mexico’s two state airlines, Aeromexico and Mexicana.{{cite news |author=Mayela Cordoba |title= Ernesto Martens Rebolledo: El gerente al rescate |publisher= Reforma |location=Mexico City |date=14 January 2001 |trans-title=Ernesto Martens Rebolledo: Manager to the rescue |page=16 }} He restructured the finances and operations of the two airlines{{cite news |author=Miriam Pineda |title= Sale de Cintra Ernesto Martens |publisher= El Norte |location=Monterrey, Mexico |date=1 September 1999 |trans-title=Ernesto Martens leaves Cintra|page=18}} and was credited with saving them.
In 2000, Martens was named Secretary of Energy by President Vicente Fox, a position which he held until 2003.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-23-fi-56303-story.html|title=Mexico's New Cabinet Hailed as Business-Savvy|work=Los Angeles Times|date=23 November 2000|access-date=5 March 2011}}{{cite book|author=Taylor & Francis Group|title=Europa World Year Book 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gP_-8rXzQs8C&pg=PA2874|accessdate=5 March 2011|date=September 2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-85743-255-8|page=2874}} His nomination by Fox was something of a surprise and Martens had not considered a career in government before.{{cite news |author=Armando Flores |title= Entrevista/ Ernesto Martens/ Muchos anos salvando empresas |publisher= El Norte |location=Mexico City |date=24 November 2000 |trans-title=Interview/Ernesto Martens/Many years saving enterprises|page=7}} His appointment as energy chief was thought to be last-minute and that Fox might keep his predecessor, Luis Téllez, in the position. When he became energy secretary, PEMEX faced problems with the inability to refine oil and gas taken from Mexico's deposits, selling mostly crude.
Martens was a member of the faculty of the Tec de Monterrey and the Thunderbird School of Global Management.{{cite web |url=http://www.thunderbird.edu/faculty/mr-ernesto-martens|title= Mr. Ernesto Martens |date=11 November 2000 |accessdate=28 June 2013 }} He died in January 2024, at the age of 90.{{cite news |title=Muere Ernesto Martens, empresario y ex secretario de Energía |url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2024/01/14/economia/muere-ernesto-martens-empresario-y-ex-secretario-de-energia-4605 |access-date=15 January 2024 |publisher=La Jornada |date=14 January 2024}}
References
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See also
List of Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education faculty
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{{succession box| before=Luis Téllez| title=Secretary of Energy| years = 2000–2003 |after= Felipe Calderón }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Martens, Ernesto}}
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:Secretaries of energy of Mexico
Category:National Action Party (Mexico) politicians
Category:Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education alumni
Category:Mexican chemical engineers
Category:Academic staff of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education