Christopher Martin
Realtor and Team Leader, Hamre Martin Team, Rovi Homes New England; Age 35
While on active duty at Fort Campbell, a military base in Kentucky, Christopher Martin was a private assigned to a barracks with a roommate he didn’t know. More than a decade later, that roommate is now Martin’s business partner. Not only that, but he was the one who convinced Martin they needed to get out of the barracks.
“He told me ‘hey, we can’t stay in these barracks — they’re from the 1950s.’ There was black mold and a bunch of stuff. It was not an ideal situation to be living in,” Martin explained, adding that he ended up buying a house through a first-time homebuyer’s program, as did his roommate.
“We started buying investment properties, and it kind of snowballed from there,” Martin explained. “When I got out from active duty and went into the Reserves and came back to Massachusetts, it was just a natural fit to continue that process.”
Martin oversees and trains a nine-member team that provides residential and commercial real-estate services in Massachusetts and Connecticut. After each real-estate closing, a donation to a charity of the client’s choosing is sent to local organizations, such as Shriners Hospitals for Children and Square One.
Martin is also president of Suit Up Springfield, recently moved to a new location.. The nonprofit provides professional attire to those who need it, particularly targeting young men in Springfield who otherwise wouldn’t have access to business clothing, and it partners with other organizations to provide mentoring services and give individuals opportunities to attend career fairs. It also teaches basic but useful skills, such as how to tie a tie.
On top of that, the organization works with correctional facilities, veterans’ organizations, schools, colleges, and the general public to further their outreach and access. Since its inception in 2015, Suit Up Springfield has provided attire to thousands in the area.
Beyond his many roles in the community, Martin is a huge fan of the arts and loves live music. Recently, he discovered a new artistic passion.
“The current unit I’m in is in Brooklyn, N.Y., so I have to go to my reserve on weekends there … there was a ballet going on, and I went for the first time,” he said. “That was something that I was never exposed to, and that’s actually one of my favorite things to do now, to go a couple of times a year to the ballet.”
— Elizabeth Sears
