Ricardo Martinez is a veteran policy expert who has spent 33 years working for the State of California in the natural resources, agriculture, environment, and procurement sectors, including serving as a Deputy Secretary for Environmental Protection, a Senior Advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state’s Acting Chief Procurement Officer. His expertise and experience provide him unique insights into all layers of the inner workings and processes of state and local government, making him an extremely effective operator in a multitude of areas.
As Deputy Secretary at the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Ricardo served as chief advisor to the Secretary for Environmental Protection on issues related to Mexico, environmental justice, and tribal affairs. In that role, he worked on priorities including water and air quality issues, acquiring NAFTA financing for environmental infrastructure projects, building relationships at the three levels of government in Mexico and developing the concept and structure of the US-Mexico Federal Border Environmental Program.
While at CalEPA, Ricardo was asked to serve as a Senior Policy Advisor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. While in that position, Ricardo served as an ambassador to Mexico and Latin America on climate change policy, where he acted as California’s liaison for engaging and securing the involvement of several countries in promoting renewable energy projects. Ricardo was also successful in getting Mexico to use Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel in the US-Mexico Border region.
In the last ten years of his career, Ricardo served as Acting Chief Procurement Officer for the state of California and Deputy Director for the Procurement Division at the Department of General Services (DGS) as well as Branch Chief for Statewide Policy, Training and Customer Services. In that role, Ricardo was responsible for driving the planning, direction, and coordination of all functions and activities related to the purchasing of goods and services for the state of California, providing guidance and direction to the division on the strategic acquisition of goods and services, updating the policies and procedures used by all state agencies in their purchasing and contracting activities and developing procurement solutions, including statewide contracts, purchasing portals, end-user training and policy interpretation. In this capacity, Ricardo developed and implemented the portal for non- competitive bids, as well as online on-demand procurement training and led negotiations with suppliers on high-tech items like the state’s cloud computing infrastructure.
Ricardo’s subject matter expertise encompasses: environmental law, policy and regulations; specifically, pesticides, solid waste management, water quality, air quality, climate change, environmental justice, and agriculture; international relations and negotiations with the Republics of Mexico, Chile and Peru; procurement law, policy and regulations related to the acquisition of Information Technology and Non-Information Technology goods and services; and relationships with procurement officials across state government, local government, and the United States.