Candidate for
Board Member; Saddleback Valley Unified School District

LINDA M. MARTIN for Saddleback Valley Unified School District Board

BACKGROUND I grew up in a warm extended family in Southern Massachusetts. My parents were Portuguese immigrants, with little formal education who strongly believed in education for their children. Through my parent's example, I have learned and retained a strong work ethic, a sense of community, and the responsibility of active citizenship. With a scholarship, extra jobs and a lot of savings, I graduated from college and originally planned to be a secondary Math teacher, instead I pursued a successful career in Information Technology with a long term plan to return to education. In 1980 I married, moved to California, and started a family. Professionally, I served in many technical, managerial and executive positions in the corporate, government and public sector. I remained actively involved in my son's education, as well as other volunteer organizations and outreach in general. My son graduated from SVUSD and recently from Cornell University. Now, I have returned to education as a teacher and wish to use my experience and enthusiasm to proactively affect my local SVUSD education community.

EDUCATION I have a BA in Mathematics and have completed the Executive Management in Business Program at UCLA. In addition, I have professional certification from Graduate School of Savings Institutions Management and Honeywell Executive Management Program. To underscore my commitment to education, I returned to school for a secondary teaching credential at California State University, Fullerton and I am teaching high school algebra locally.

EXPERIENCE I have over 25 years as an Information Technology professional serving in many executive positions such as Savings and Loan Senior Vice President, Division President of a national Financial Service Bureau, Director and Chief Information Officer of diverse companies and government (Toshiba, USPS, Honeywell). As an independent consultant for my own consulting company, I practiced in multiple industries and functions. In addition I have served as an adjunct professor in computer technology, provided specialized corporate training, lectured and presented white papers at local and national conventions and seminars. In all of my positions, I have managed budgets and capital projects in the millions, involving hundreds of employees. I now want to apply my leadership, educational and management experience to Education.

HONORS and COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Elected School Board Member for 3 years, 2 years as Finance Chairperson for a private school

Girls Incorporated of Orange County

Trustee and Treasurer 2001 # 2003
Volunteer, mentor, tutor and counselor for 7 years
Contributed to educational programs such as Eureka!, a summer Math program; Discovery, a teen pregnancy prevention program; and day hikes and overnight camping trips; after school grade coaching/tutoring

Project Tomorrow, Orange County Business Council for 3 years Served on the Senior Management Committee and Executive team of three diverse companies Who's Who Worldwide, and received Honeywell Management Award for leadership and innovation

Professional Memberships:

Board Member of Association of Information Managers (AIM) -- 4 years
IT organizations such as Orange County CIOs , ASUG, IMC, Financial Managers
Women in Business (WIB), Board Member - 3 years
Women in Leadership (WIL) and Women in Technology International (WITI)