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Michael A. Martino '79

Michael A. Martino has served as chief executive officer at four research and development companies that have been at the forefront of pharmaceutical advances.

He was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, and graduated from Roanoke College with a bachelor's of business administration in 1979. While a student, he was a member of the club skiing, lacrosse and baseball teams. He served as both pledge trainer and Rex (president) of the Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity. He earned his MBA from Virginia Tech in 1982.

Mr. Martino began his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals in 1983. Over 15 years he held positions in planning, business development, marketing and general management, including as vice president and general manager of Mallinckrodt's global nuclear medicine business. His tenure at Mallinckrodt laid the foundation for his future role as chief executive officer at four research and development companies.

From 1998 to 2007, he served as president, CEO and a member of the board of directors of Sonus Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded oncology company. From 2008 to 2010, he was co-founder and CEO of Arzeda, a synthetic biology company in Seattle, Washington, that began out of the University of Washington labs. From 2011 to 2014, he served as president, CEO and a member of the board of directors of Ambit Biosciences.

In 2015, Mr. Martino became president, CEO and a member of the board of directors of Hemaflo Therapeutics, an early-stage company founded to commercialize a novel new device for the treatment of acute kidney injury and other ischemic conditions. The device could potentially help save thousands of lives a year.

He sits on the board of Arzeda and is a prior chairman of the board of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association and of the Board of Trustees of Cascadia Community College. In addition to his other business pursuits, Mr. Martino owns and operates an avocado and mandarin orange farm in Escondido, California.

Mr. Martino is a member of the College's Board of Trustees, a former member of the President's Advisory Board, an Associate Society member and a generous supporter of the Roanoke Rising Campaign.

Michael A. Martino received the Roanoke College Medal in 2016.