Meet Rod Martin

Rod D. Martin, member of the “PayPal Mafia,” technology entrepreneur, futurist, fund manager and author, is founder and CEO of The Martin Organization and an in-demand speaker who has spoken on over 1,000 stages. Human Events says, “Whether speaking to groups of 10 or 10,000, all across the nation Rod draws the crowd in, bringing them to tears or lifting them to their feet at will. He’s friendly, jovial, self-deprecating. You can’t help but like him.”

Just “a poor kid from Arkansas” turned Silicon Valley success story, Rod has a unique blend of southern gentleman and savvy business acumen that is sure to stimulate, educate, inspire and motivate any audience.

Rod is a Cambridge-educated serial entrepreneur with big achievements. As Appeals Court Justice Paul Pressler puts it, he “has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.”

Rod’s technology career began at Silicon Valley legend PayPal, where he was a senior advisor to founder and CEO Peter Thiel during the company’s startup phase, IPO, and multi-billion dollar sale to eBay. Later, he founded his own hedge fund and struck out on his own. In 2009, Rod and one of his partners led the takeover and turnaround of Galectin Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GALT), which is now developing a drug that, in early studies, has successfully reversed fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver.

Among other ventures, Rod is:

• Founder and Executive Chairman of Advanced Search Laboratories, which is developing an entire new generation of Internet search tools
• Founder and Managing Partner of 10X Capital Management
• Founder of Agincourt Ventures, “a collaboration of Apple and PayPal alumni making magic”
• Founder and Executive Chairman of Global PET Imaging, which is systematically upgrading patient access to state-of-the-art diagnostics
• An director and investor at GORigger.net, “the Amazon.com of the Energy Industry”
• An advisor to Caplinked, described as “LinkedIn-meets-Salesforce for private investing”

Rod draws from his experiences to lead audiences all over the world to exceed their dreams, become leaders in society and industry, and change the world around them for the better.

Rod is highly civic minded, and is one of America’s leading experts in public policy and the mass empowerment of citizen activists through the Internet. He has served as Policy Director for former Governor and Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, has been elected President of two national political organizations, and is a member of the Board of Governors of the elite Council for National Policy.

Rod is also deeply involved in charitable work aimed at alleviating, and eventually eliminating, global poverty. Around the world, from China to Honduras, governments seek his counsel on issues of fundamental reform. At home, Rod has raised large sums for scholarships for disadvantaged children. He serves on the boards of several charities, including Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY), the Institute on the American Future and The 150 Year Foundation. He is also active in the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination.

Rod believes travel broadens the mind and encourages mutual understanding, and he has seen much of the world with his wife and best friend, Sherri. He is also the proud father of Dolly, Archer and Haley, and grandfather of baby Annabelle, who has thoroughly wrapped him around her tiny finger.

Rod’s passion is to educate, motivate and inspire people to think, do and become more than they believe possible. Whether speaking to college students, Fortune 500 executives or political leaders from across the globe, Rod is sure to inspire your audience, leaving them excited and motivated to take on the world!

Most Requested Speaking Topics

Rod is available to speak at select events on various topics as seen below or he can customize a presentation for YOUR specific audience.

The Golden Age Ahead: America and the World From Now to Mid-Century

Rod Martin captivates and inspires audiences with a hope-filled vision, backed up by exhaustive research: that we are entering a golden age, in which illiteracy and abject poverty will be swept away. This new reality will not be the end of problems by any means, but it will change the nature of the problems we’ll face, as well as the opportunities before us.

The Next Big Thing: The Technologies and Trends Shaping Your Business and Your Future

Rod Martin was part of Silicon Valley legend PayPal, and is the Founder and CEO of The Martin Organization, whose portfolio of companies and investments ranges from cutting edge biotech to next generation internet applications, energy, and aerospace. He has been invited to speak by the governments of China, Russia and many other countries across the world on technology, innovation and the future.

What Musk, Page and Branson Know About Space That You Don’t

Rod Martin’s keynote address shows why, and why you need to pay attention. Space is a place not a program, just as the New World was a place 500 years ago, filled with opportunity, resources, and potential to redefine every industry and even civilization itself. The difference now, as opposed to fifty years ago, is that access is no longer monopolized by two superpowers engaged in a chest-thumping exercise. The men developing space today are doing it for profit. And they mean to succeed.

The Noblest Profession

Though sales and selling are constantly derided, salesmen move the world. Rod powerfully argues that salesmen and entrepreneurs work tirelessly benefiting others, and that all human progress depends upon them.

Secrets of a Pharmaceutical Insider: How the System Works Against Us

When after PayPal Rod Martin took on a struggling pharmaceutical startup, helping rescue it from bankruptcy and saving its potentially breakthrough science, he entered a world as different from Silicon Valley as could possibly be.