Bernard Martin's Page

Mr. Martin has a unique background. Starting his career in finance and management & sales consulting Mr. Martin has had first hand experience in manufacturing, distribution and manufacturer's agency management which gives him a very unique skill set. Very few people have had front line experience in every aspect of channels management.

Mr. Martin has an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh in Political Science and Economics and worked on his MBA in San Francisco at the University of Phoenix with a 4.0 GPA

Mr. Martin has counseled with a multitude of manufacturers on the macro topics of strategic planing, distributor rationalization, product marketing, brand introduction as well as tactical iimplementation of pricing and discount programs, agent identification, Distributor and Agent contracts, trade show design & layout and incentive programming.

Mr. Martin was the VP of Sales & Marketing for Toolex and managed every aspect of their workholding product rollout. He later moved to Northern California and worked for Western Tool & Supply, one of the largest, privately held, cutting tool distributors in North America. In 2000, Mr. Martin started his own "rep" agency and quickly became the #1 sales agency and/or the #1 growth agency in the country for many of his principals. Mr. Martin's agency was twice nominated as a Finalist in the Pittsburgh Technology Councils "Tech 50" awards.

In late 2009, Mr. Martin became President of Highlander Tool, an industrial distributor based in Johnstown, PA. Starting from scratch he negotiated with over 180 manufacturers to develop a unique product offering. He also developed a custom database to manage the company as well as all identity pieces such as the Logo, line card, website, Twitter, YouTube, and Production Tool Catalog. Mr. Martin was invited to be one of five distributors in North America as a member of the Widia Distributor Advisory Council. Highlander Tool is a member of ISA and IBC networks.

In mid 2010 Mr. Martin's role at Highlander changed as he moved into a consultancy role at Highlander Tool and formed Rapid Production Marketing as a consultancy agency.

Outside of his professional business experience Mr. Martin is "Managing Directorre" of the Italian Car Show, "The Cortile", at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Mr. Martin developed the Cortile concept and has garnered international attention within the target demographic of this group.

Mr. Martin is "Social Media Marketing Chairperson" at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. He was instrumental in not only the strategic vision but all aspects of the tactical implementation of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix's Social networking marketing program. From the creation of the Twitter feeds, Facebook page, YouTube Channel and Flikr sites as well as a special working relationship with SpeedTV in the beta rollout of their new website.

The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Association is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization with a mission to hold a world-class vintage automotive event for charity. Since 1983 this volunteer-driven event has raised over $2.5 million for the Autism Society of Pittsburgh & Allegheny Valley School.

Mr. Martin is also President of Ambridge PAGE which works with the local school district to develop programming for Gifted Education Students