Charlie Martinez

Last Name: Martinez

First Name: Carlos

Middle Name: E

Suffix:

Nickname: Charlie

Medals and Honors:

ACNSL Offices and Committees:

Rank: Brigadier General

Service/Department: U.S. Air Force

Last or Significant Assignment: Mobilization Assistant to Air Force Chief of Warfighting Integration

Areas of Experience:

• South and Central America

Articles, Books and Publications:

Brigadier General Carlos E. “Charlie” Martínez was born in Havana, Cuba and grew up in Miami, Florida. He graduated from the University of Miami in 1971 with a B.S. in Systems Analysis. Upon graduation, he entered the Air Force to become a pilot. Following officer and flight training in Texas, he was assigned to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, where he flew VIP missions.

In 1976, he was selected to attend graduate school and earned an M.S. in Operations Research from The George Washington University in 1978. He subsequently served tours as a management engineer and as a missile test engineer. Upon separating from active duty in 1981, Gen Martínez began a second career in the Washington, DC area where he has worked in private industry on a variety of analytical, and information systems projects in support of the U.S. Government. During this time, he continued a parallel career in the Air Force Reserve where he served as an operations research analyst and as an acquisition officer in a variety of assignments in the Boston, MA, Dayton, OH, and Washington, DC areas. As a Reservist, he rose to the rank of Brigadier General and immediately following the 9/11 attacks served a nine-month tour of active duty in the Pentagon helping support the Global War on Terror and subsequently served as the Mobilization Assistant to the Air Force’s Chief of Warfighting Integration until his retirement from the Air Force in 2006.

Gen Martínez joined the MITRE Corporation in 2002 where he has led numerous analytical efforts for a variety of government agencies. Among these have been projects for the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Treasury, and Homeland Security. He also spent several years providing analytical support to the Third Branch of government, the U.S. Courts. Most recently, he has been supporting the Federal Aviation Administration meet a variety of challenges, most recently related to the integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace. 

Gen Martinez formally retired from MITRE in 2019 but has continued to support MITRE projects involving UAS and space-based navigation on a part-time basis. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Veterans Leadership Alliance, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing the representation of Hispanics among the senior leadership of our nation’s military.

In his private life, Gen Martínez and his wife alternate homes between their principal residence in Cocoa Beach, Florida and a summer home in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Gen Martínez is a licensed instructor pilot, has owned his own aircraft, and is currently building a kit plane.