Honoring the past by investing in the future
Their connection with Ohio State is a family affair. In 1984, they were married at the Ohio State Faculty Club on the Oval. Greg’s family has lived in the university area for more than 100 years and, for the past 60 years, have owned and operated a real estate business, Eventide, Inc., which rents primarily to Ohio State students on north campus.
Susan and Greg moved away from Ohio for their careers, but their hearts always remained with Ohio State. They initially moved to San Francisco, then to Houston and finally settled in Atlanta. In 2008, Susan took over the day-to-day management of Eventide, Inc., which brings the two of them to Columbus several times a year.
They attribute a large portion of their professional success to the educational foundation they gained at Ohio State. “Ohio State is a very well respected institution, nationally and globally,” said Susan. “Earning degrees here provided each of us a strong endorsement to graduate schools and future employers.”
Greg worked as a telecommunications sales manager with Harris Corporation during his entire 33-year career. Susan earned an MBA from UC Berkeley and a JD from Georgia State University. Her professional career started as a siting engineer for Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and she later became an environmental engineer at US EPA Region 4. After earning her JD, she represented the Georgia Department of Transportation in a number of eminent domain matters.
For many years, Susan and Greg made small donations to Ohio State. Once their children were out on their own, they decided the time was right to make a larger, more meaningful impact. “Now that we are older, empty nesters with adequate resources, the timing was right to aggressively pursue our philanthropic goals,” said Susan.
They established the Susan F. and Gregory D. Martin Scholarship fund to support the Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) Honors Program, a partnership between the College of Engineering and Fisher College of Business. Each year, IBE offers 36 honors students the opportunity to participate in an academically rigorous program that encourages students to reach their full intellectual and personal potential. The program is strategically designed to prepare students for a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving — similar to that required in most businesses.
Since Susan’s and Greg’s careers have been closely tied to engineering and business disciplines, the IBE program was a perfect fit. “We believe that there are many career choices in which an IBE background will provide graduating students a strong advantage,” said Greg. “We hope this endowment can have a positive and meaningful impact to the success of the IBE program by helping to attract top students from around the world, and growing the IBE program into a center of excellence for the university.
