Francisco Javier Martinez-Torres
University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School
Age: 54
“Husband, dad, son, brother, friend. Passionate, enthusiastic, loving, team oriented. Tenaciously inquisitive, disciplined, physician, researcher.”
Hometown: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Family Members:
- Wife Betty
- Daughter Daniela, 25, UNC PhD (Class of 2029)
- Son Miguel, 22, UNC/NC State Lampe Biomedical Engineering (Class of 2026)
- Daughter Paulina, 19, NC State/UNC Lampe Biomedical Engineering (Class of 2028)
- Manchester terrier daughter Canela (16)
- Collie daughter Aura (4)
Fun fact about yourself: I train in boxing, and I take it quite seriously.
Undergraduate School and Degree:
- Medical School and Residency (Internal Medicine): Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, México
- Doctoral degree (Dr. med., Neurology): Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Where are you currently working? Dompé US, Senior Medical Clinical Director, Global Development Lead for Adult Neurology
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles: Chair, North Carolina Chapter of Heidelberg Alumni International US (HAUS)
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I’m most proud about having integrated a conceptual framework across all the disciplines that I was taught throughout the program. I can’t express eloquently enough how intimidating my first term lessons were. The anxiety was well-grounded, because I hadn’t been exposed in my previous education to any of the concepts that I learned during the MBA. In retrospect, I feel that my inquisitive nature helped me build a foundation upon which I’ve been able to integrate advanced, complex financial, operational, entrepreneurial, and strategic concepts, which I apply to my day-to-day work.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I’m most proud of my leadership role in the pediatric clinical development program at Merz Therapeutics. My team and I successfully concluded and wrote the clinical study reports for three multinational, multicentric, late-phase studies of an investigational product for spasticity in children with cerebral palsy. I co-authored an article reporting on the results of one of these studies. This article was awarded the 2022 Jacob A. Neufeld Best Paper Award, as the best research paper in the Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine. I’m proud of this achievement mainly because this high-quality scientific and operational effort aimed at improving the quality of life of children with cerebral palsy.
Who was your favorite MBA professor? I’ve enjoyed every single class and deeply appreciate every single professor’s contributions to my education and evolution as an MBA. Now, since you’re asking me to single out one professor, I’d select Robert Bushman, my professor of Financial Accounting. As mentioned before, when I began my coursework, I was completely unfamiliar with financial concepts. Professor Bushman’s philosophy deeply resonated with me, whereby he presents financial accounting as a means to (albeit imperfectly) describe the economic reality surrounding us. I felt deeply intrigued by the subject and greatly enjoyed his course.
He generously extended an invitation to the executive MBA students to attend his doctoral seminar for his accounting PhD students, which I attended during both years in the program. There, I had the opportunity to further learn the intricacies of mathematical modeling of economic reality. I find it fascinating that the human mind has developed to the extent that it can use abstraction and mathematical modeling to describe reality. Professor Bushman’s teachings reminded me of the physicist Roger Penrose’s philosophical framework. I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to learn from Professor Bushman.
Why did you choose this school’s executive MBA program? I chose UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School because I love UNC. I’ve done my postdoctoral training here and my kids study in this institution. Furthermore, I was keenly aware of the program’s great reputation from local alumni. Also, comparing the UNC Executive MBA program to others, I appreciated the depth and variety of elective pathways available to executive students. Not the least, I’ve been a Chapel Hill resident for the past 10 years (and we had lived here previously for three years). It was quite logical to engage with a local institution that would allow me to strengthen my connection with a local network of executive professionals, with the potential to build positive long-term synergies.
What is the biggest lesson you gained during your MBA and how did you apply it at work? The biggest lesson I gained from the program stems from coalescing teachings from several disciplines, generously shared by Professors Paolo Fulghieri (Finance), Eva Labro (Accounting), Isin Guler (Strategy and Entrepreneurship), John Hand (Accounting), Vinayak Deshpande (Operations), Arzu Ozoguz (Finance), Brad Staats (Operations), Robert Bushman (Accounting), Raj Grewal (Marketing), Chris Bingham (Strategy and Entrepreneurship), Al Segars (Strategy and Entrepreneurship), Terence McElroy (Organizational Behavior), Jesse Davis (Finance) and Ted Zoller (Strategy and Entrepreneurship).
While for an MBA it’s important to master finance, tinkering with numbers alone won’t do the trick when it comes to leading a business to success. At the core of a successful organization resides a well-articulated solution to a market problem, supported by a team of motivated individuals whose “why” is aligned with the strategic goals of the business, embedded in an operationally efficient structure. I’ve applied this concept to my daily work, by reminding my team about our “why”, the core problem that we are meant to solve with our work, and to focus on improving our proposed solution. We wake up every day aiming at delivering new therapeutic options to alleviate suffering and improve the quality of life of patients. With this in mind, the path towards operational and financial efficiencies, strategic alignment, and successful value creation becomes clear.
Give us a story during your time as an executive MBA on how you were able to juggle work, family and education? Every weekend, I aimed at sharing quality time with my family, to the extent possible. Sometimes, the tradeoff was working on homework until late at night. However, quality time is important for both students and their families.
What advice would you give to a student looking to enter an executive MBA program? Once you begin the journey, ask questions, remain thirsty for knowledge. Don’t be embarrassed or afraid to come across as ignorant because there are many questions that either truly can’t be answered, or for which only incomplete, deeply flawed answers can be provided even by the greatest minds. Maybe you’re the one who’s meant to answer these questions.
What was your biggest regret in business school? I don’t regret anything from business school per se, since I achieved the goals that I had set for myself. I worked on my studies with great interest and passion. I also built a solid network within my student cohort. On a personal level, though, I do regret not having managed my time better, to allow me to spend a bit more time with my family.
A lesson for future students: Give yourself time to wind down from work and school, and spend time with your family, as difficult as it may be.
What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? Our UNC faculty have taught us to use AI as a research instrument, to gather information from diverse sources in an efficient manner. However, I’ve also learned that AI can’t substitute the human brain’s ability to integrate information across several disciplines in a meaningful way. In the end, the dynamic business environment requires executives to work on the basis of their “intuition”, which turns out to be the manifestation of a deeply rooted knowledge base and personal executive experience.
What was the main reason you chose an executive MBA program over part-time or online alternatives? My work schedule wouldn’t have allowed me to effectively participate in a part-time program. And I didn’t consider online options because I was interested in networking with my professors and peers, and in deepening my connection with my local North Carolina community.
How did you finance your EMBA and what did you do to make tuition and associated costs more affordable? I paid the greatest proportion of tuition and other expenses with my own resources. However, I was fortunate to be a recipient of the UNC Kenan-Flagler Fellowship, which reduced the tuition burden throughout the program. Also, my former employer offered a tuition reimbursement program that covered a small yet appreciable proportion of my first term tuition.
What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? I just wish to be remembered as somebody who contributed to the development of new therapies for patients with neurological diseases with passion, love, discipline, integrity, and a solid medical, scientific, and executive foundation. I’d be very happy if my efforts lead to mitigating suffering and improving the quality of life of patients.
And I may become a founder if the stars align.
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