Michael Martin ’82

2023 Distinguished Alumni Award for Professional Achievement: School of Business

Described by Billboard magazine as the “Guru of live event greening,” Michael Martin ’82 is an innovator in business-based tech and social change campaigns leveraging culture for impact. He is the founder and CEO of Effect Partners and r.Cup, two purpose-driven organizations committed to creating global awareness of and meaningful change in environmental sustainability.

Effect Partners creates concepts or companies that become campaigns and then movements. For over 30 years, Martin has helped develop innovative sustainability strategies and campaigns for leading entities including Toyota, Live Nation, UPS, Target, AEG, Clif Bar, U2 and Apple. In addition, he led the sustainability movement in the event and entertainment industries and is known for introducing many of the greening practices used today.

Martin contributed to Earth Day becoming the world’s largest secular event. He also developed the first-ever national global warming campaign with Ben & Jerry’s and Dave Matthews Band, creating a Ben & Jerry’s flavor (Dave Matthews Band One Sweet Whirled), uniting the nation’s top 20 environmental groups, and putting the concept of climate change on the map.

Founded in 2017, Martin started r.Cup to launch the concept of reuse in North America, with the support of globally recognized artists and festivals, including U2, Dave Matthews Band, Rod Stewart, Jack Johnson, Maggie Rogers, Rolling Stones, Camp Flog Gnaw, Sea.Hear.Now, and Vans Warped Tour. As the nation’s leading reuse platform, r.Cup has set the standards for integrity, credibility, impact and operational ease to accelerate reuse at scale. r.Cup’s mission is to build the infrastructure for the reuse economy.

In 2021, r.Cup became a founding business partner of Reuse Seattle, a public-private partnership launched by the city of Seattle, to build the infrastructure and services needed to deliver on widespread reuse while creating a blueprint for other cities and municipalities. A key component: r.Cup’s innovative full-scale industrial “Wash Hub” facility. Designed in partnership with Ecolab - a world leader in water and planet-friendly sanitization - r.Cup’s proprietary washing and logistics facilities provide continuous reuse services to a wide variety of clients throughout Seattle. r.Cup also has Wash Hub facilities operating in Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and continues to grow.

Recently, Martin helped form the Music Sustainability Association, a hyper inclusive member-driven association that facilitates systemic solutions to help the music industry integrate sustainability into its operations.

Martin currently sits on the Boards of MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative and Peoples Organic Cafe. He is a 30-year member of Social Venture Network (now American Sustainable Business Network).

Martin received his Bachelor of Science from Carroll University and his Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. During his tenure as an investment banker on Wall Street for Citibank & American Express, he realized the power of capitalism could be leveraged to create a huge impact for good and started driving purpose-led projects in 1989. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife Gwen and children.