Jose Martinez Takes the Reins as UMOS CEO: From Fields to Boardroom (Part 3 of 3)
Jose Martinez started working in the fields at age four, travelling from Texas to Montana to Michigan and back again.
Below: Martinez with Centro Hispano Executive Director Karen Menendez Coller at Centro’s “Evening of Dreaming” event
by Jonathan Gramling
For over 50 years, Lupe Martinez built UMOS into a multi-state human service provider with migrants and their families at the core of whom they serve. In 2022, UMOS had $74 million in revenue and had hundreds of employees providing services in six states.
Earlier this year, Martinez announced that he would be stepping down as the UMOS CEO and that a national search would be conducted to replace him. On September 1, Jose Martinez — no relation — took over the reins of the organization he has worked at for almost 30 years., steadily climbing up the UMOS ladder of responsibility.
A few years ago, there was a number of seasoned leaders serving under Lupe Martinez. One of them was Tina Koehn who was the chief operating officer who would be a natural to succeed Lupe Martinez when he retired. But as fate would have it, Koehn retired around the same time.
“Tina had decided to retire,” Jose Martinez said. “She said, ‘Jose, I told Lupe I would stick around as long as I can. But I am already at that point that I am ready to retire.’ She made the decision and she had talked to Lupe about me assuming the role of chief operating officer for UMOS. Obviously it was a blessing in disguise. That was soon after we operated our emergency services for undocumented children. We were successful. We completed the grant. They wanted us to stay and offered us another us another location in San Antonio. But at the time, we were talking with our insurance carrier. Our insurance was going to cost $500,000 because of the risk factors, not because of UMOS’ record, but because of other agencies where there was all sorts of abuse and allegations. We decided to not take the offer. I came back to the office. Soon after that, Tina said, ‘Jose, you can do this. You’ve been doing it. And so then she had announced her retirement and there was a transition time frame. There was a transition between her and I before I assumed the COO role.”
After Tina retired, Lupe followed suit.
“When it came time for Tina to make her departure, Lupe said, ‘I’m also retiring,’” Martinez said “He announced in October 2023. The recommendation was for me to be the interim CEO at the time. He didn’t quite retire. When December came, they created a position where Lupe would provide support through the end of this year. Soon after, I became the interim CEO and I was managing UMOS’ programming.”
Martinez applied for the position. He didn’t take it for granted that he would succeed Lupe as a national search was conducted. Martinez put his best foot forward and won the national competition.
“Back in late August, the announcement was made that I was selected the new CEO for UMOS,” Martinez said. “It was something that wasn’t given. You have to earn it. You have to go through the process. One might ask, ‘Why the process?’ But afterwards, you could see it was about validating, validating you as a leader. When you do go through the process, you have to be able to show why and convince others who interview you as to why you are the best candidate for that position. And the candidacy starts from when the time you submit your application and letter of intent, answering the questions as to why you are the best candidate because they review those questions and they make a selection on how you responded. They interviewed us and you had to be able to showcase what you could do and then be able to present an effective interview and presentation to be able to showcase your skills. And then you answer more questions as a part of the selection process.”
Martinez sought the CEO position not for the status, but for the possibility of getting things done.
“I’m a doer,” Martinez said. “If someone gives me an assignment, I like to tell folks, ‘Don’t tell me. I got it. I’ll take care of it.’ I feel that it is my role, it’s my responsibility going back to my value system that if someone has to help you, it means you are not fulfilling your role. I’ve always been that kind of
doer individual to make things happen. I would be out there starting new projects and making it happen. There always was that drive.”
Martinez is a team player. It’s not about him; it’s about that staff that serve with him united for a common purpose.
“When you aspire to be a leader, more so I think, it is the opportunity to inspire others whom you work with and create the greatest impact,” Martinez said. “Maybe that is why I said yes. I wanted to be the next leader of UMOS because it afforded opportunities that I had as senior vice-president to work with a team. And to make sure that my team succeeded, making sure my team are the best and to be able to showcase the team. Now as the CEO, I would say my bigger team and the success of my bigger team to serve all of UMOS.”
And in many ways, Martinez will serve those underneath him on the organization chart.
“When we want the loyalty of our staff, I think the question is, ‘What are we doing to earn that,’” Martinez said. “We have to be loyal to them. That’s the whole idea and reality behind servitude. When you are a servant and you say, ‘Hey I’m a servant leader,’ they aren’t here to serve you. You are here to serve them. That’s a servant leader. Our job is when we work with our team, what is it that you need from me in order for you to be far more effective. It’s about us making sure that in terms of professional development, what skill sets do I need to make sure that you have in order for you to be very successful. And then turn around and do that with your staff. If we do that, then the impact is broader because then when we say that we are data-driven, we look at data to make decisions in terms of what we do and how we provide services.”
And just as Martinez will be the “servant leader” to his staff, he will expect the staff to be the “servant leaders” to the people they serve.
“If we are client-focused and we are doing what we are supposed to, we don’t do our job to meet the federal mandate,” Martinez said. “We do our job to meet the needs of our clients. If we are meeting the needs of our clients, we are meeting the needs of the federal mandate, not the opposite because the opposite is basically I will only do enough to serve you to meet that mandate. I don’t care what outcome is generated, but at least I can show on paper that I did everything I was supposed to. Did I create impact? I don’t care about impact because the only thing that I needed to do was X, Y and Z and I provided that. On the other hand, my goal is to create impact. My goal is if you are coming in and there is a crisis, a situation, my goal is to identify what that crisis is, collectively look for those resources and help you navigate to those resources. Sometimes, it is skill set. Sometimes it’s the fact that we all may experience situations in life where we just need help whether it is mental health services or health services, we have to get those infused in working with clients. And then afterwards is when we can create this impact. Yeah, we can get you a resume and get you back on your feet and do all of these things. But we are focused on that outcome. What is my outcome? My goal is to get you back on your feet. My goal is to make you self-reliant. My goal is when you are self-reliant, earning the wages that you are supposed to, that is where our intended focus is.”
And while UMOS has grown tremendously in the last decade or so, it has been driven by the service and not its own growth.
“It takes some analysis when you have to look at your contracts that are going to continue to be viable for UMOS,” Martinez said. “There are going to be some contracts that are no longer viable for UMOS. For me, when I look at the viability of contracts and services, the question is, ‘Can we continue to provide the same impact of services with those limited resources or with the set of regulations being imposed?’ The decision always has to be based on the best interests of the client. You don’t want to stay in a contract just because you want to keep a contract. ‘Hey, we got this contract.’ You still provide viable services, but at whose expense. I would rather keep a contract that showed tons of outcomes than keep a contract that has nothing to show for it. If an agency isn’t showing sizable impacts, why keep it? You would rather give up the contract before someone else tells you that you are going to give it up because you are not performing.”
Jose Martinez has been of service to the community for the vast majority of his life. Perhaps it is a trait that he learned working in the fields when he was four-years-old. Martinez is a doer, driven by a desire to get things done the right way. Now as the CEO pf UMOS, Martinez will be able to do and serve on a level he never imagined as that four-year-old. It is the fulfillment of a lifetime of hard work and service. It is a dream fulfilled.