Post from the Community: Lupe Martinez to become president emeritus of UMOS | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Rod Ritcherson
December 14, 2023
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Lupe Martinez, president and chief executive officer of UMOS, will assume the newly created title and position of president emeritus, effective Jan. 1.
Martinez has been with UMOS for 54 years, 49 years as president/CEO.
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“In my request to the UMOS Board to step back from day-to-day management of the organization, I was honored with the title of President Emeritus. This affords me the opportunity to continue to be of service to UMOS and focus on long-range planning, building, maintaining, and enhancing strategic partnerships, securing funding for the agency, overseeing government and legislative affairs, and assisting the board with the transition of a successor CEO,” Martinez said.
Martinez has grown UMOS from a small, single state, single focused organization into the largest Hispanic-managed non-profit in Wisconsin and one of the largest, multi-state non-profit corporations in the country. UMOS currently operates in seven states with over $100 million in secured contracts.
Martinez has devoted his entire professional career at UMOS to improving the living and working conditions of migrant and seasonal farm workers and other low-income populations. Martinez, himself, is a former migrant worker whose family traveled throughout the Midwest harvesting crops.
When Martinez was appointed Executive Director in 1974, UMOS was a  migrant farmworker serving agency only. Today, under Martinez’s leadership, UMOS is nationally recognized, providing diverse programs and services to diverse populations in Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas and throughout Wisconsin.
Martinez has positioned UMOS as a performance-based, data driven, customer focused corporation. He oversees the operations of over 50 programs, often competing against larger, Fortune 500 corporations. UMOS programs are divided into three major divisions: Child Development, Workforce Development, and Social Services. UMOS also produces five corporate and community events.
Martinez advocates for farmworkers and other under-served populations at the local, state, and national level. At the national level, he is chairperson of the National Farmworker Alliance, comprised of 23 CEOs of national and regional farmworker trade associations and organizations.
Martinez sits on the board of Farmworker Justice, a national non-profit that collaborates closely with federal elected officials on immigration reform and other federal legislation that impacts agricultural workers. Martinez also served six years on the board of the National Council of La Raza (UNIDOS US) and is past chair of MAFO, a national partnership of farmworker and rural organizations that conducted a national farmworker conference for 30 years.
At the state level, Democratic Governor Jim Doyle appointed Martinez to sit on the Wisconsin Council on Migrant Labor, a statutory council that enforces the state’s migrant labor laws. He was reappointed by Republican Governor Scott Walker, and recently served as chair of the Council under Democratic Governor Tony Evers.
Martinez is also President of the Wisconsin Farmworkers Coalition, comprised of farmworker serving agencies throughout the state, and served as State Director for LULAC, the oldest Latino civil rights organization in the country.
At the local level, Lupe Martinez serves on the Mexican Fiesta and Employ Milwaukee Workforce Investment Board.
Martinez has received many awards, honors, and recognitions. In the last 5 years Martinez was named by Madison 365 publication as the most powerful Latino in the state of Wisconsin.
He was recognized by the Green Bay Packers Foundation with the Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award. He received the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) Farmworker Advocate Hall of Fame Award, the Farmworker Justice Farmworker Advocate Award, Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee (HPGM) Lifetime Achievement Award, BizTimes Media Non-Profit Executive of the Year Recognition, the Hometown Hero Award from the Wisconsin State Assembly, the Omega School Legacy Award, The World Citizen Award from The International Institute, the Cesar Chavez Community Service Medallion from the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, and in November of this year Martinez was honored with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s 2023 President’s Award for Leadership in Racial Equity and Social Justice.