Alex Martins, chief executive officer of the Orlando Magic [1] and a UCF alumnus, was appointed Thursday to serve on the university’s Board of Trustees.
The appointment, which is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate, was made in Miami during a meeting of the Board of Governors of the State University System. Martins replaces former UCF trustee Meg Crofton, who moved to California.
Martins holds an MBA from UCF, where he is a member of the College of Business Administration’s Hall of Fame and serves on the Dean’s Executive Council for the college.
He has spent 26 years in professional sports management, mostly in executive positions with the Magic, and became the team’s CEO in 2011.
Over the past eight years, Martins also led the Magic in a transformation of its business operations, which saw the most successful business year in franchise history in the 2010-11 season. The transformation received the recognition of the SportsBusiness Journal, which named the Magic as a finalist for Professional Sports Team of the Year, the only NBA team to be named a finalist.
In addition, Martins was instrumental in helping to secure the new state-of-the-art Amway Center in Orlando, which opened in October 2010. The facility was named a finalist for the SportsBusiness Journal’s Sports Facility of the Year Award for two consecutive years, and captured the award in 2012. Additionally, the Amway Center was honored with the 2013 Customer Experience Award by TheStadiumBusiness Awards.
Martins also is past chairman of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission and The Central Florida Partnership. He serves on the board of directors of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, the executive committee of the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center and the Central Florida board of directors for Seaside National Bank & Trust.
Martins, a native of New Jersey, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Villanova in 1986. He lives in Orlando with his wife, Juliet, and two daughters.
Each state university in Florida has a 13-member Board of Trustees responsible for budgeting, implementing programs and maintaining education standards. The Board of Governors appoints five of the trustees; the governor appoints six members, and the other two members are the chair of the Faculty Senate and the president of the student body.
The appointment will run until January 2016.