Where Are They Now?
Martin (“Marty”) Marshall
MARSHALL
Photo by Robert Holmgren
Speaking from his home at the Meadows of Napa Valley, a retirement community tucked among vineyards north of San Francisco, Marty Marshall (MBA 2/’47, DCS ’53) expounds on the virtues of his relatively new (since 2006) stomping grounds. “It’s a well-run place,” he says, before lamenting that there might just be too many activities available and too much to do, thus decreasing the serendipity of chance social encounters among residents as they crisscross the community’s lush green grounds.
Even so, Marshall, a marketing expert who spent much of his 44-year HBS career teaching entrepreneurial business leaders in the Owner/President Management Program (OPM) that he also headed for many years, is inspired enough by what he has experienced at the Meadows to consider starting a company dedicated to building and running retirement communities. “Look at all the baby boomers retiring,” he says. “It’s a growth industry. We’re going to need more of these places, and I have some ideas on how to make them better. Like me, people who come here don’t want to be burdens to their families, but they still want to remain independent and keep a hand in things and maybe run something.”
That Marshall is still eyeing business opportunities is to be expected. The Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, he was universally held in high esteem during his HBS years, thanks to his penchant for a practical approach to teaching, and his deep knowledge of marketing and advertising. Joining the faculty in 1949, Marshall developed multiple courses, produced more than 200 cases, and taught in virtually every program at HBS, as well as in management programs in universities worldwide, until retiring in 1993. At the urging of his late first wife, Rosanne Borden (HRPBA ’52), he also spearheaded the effort to open the School’s MBA Program to women. “Marty was a terrific teacher,” recalls HBS professor emeritus Stephen A. Greyser, a former MBA student of Marshall’s and his successor in teaching the Advertising course. “Knowledgeable and disciplined in the classroom, Marty also developed excellent cases and created superb interpretive weekly student assignment memos — a technique I adopted and still employ.”
A Missouri native, Marshall was in college when World War II broke out. He enlisted in the Navy, which sent him to HBS in 1943 to train as a supply officer. There, he completed a year toward his MBA before going on active duty until 1946. Marshall returned to finish his MBA in 1947, and then wrote marketing cases for the faculty. He eventually earned his DCS degree in 1953 and began teaching.
Since retiring, Marshall has served as a consultant to several multinational corporations, including Sears Roebuck, Wal-Mart, Bank of America, and American Express. He has also served on the board of Youth Services International, which provides care and developmental services for at-risk youth. He stays in touch with many former students and colleagues, dispensing his business wisdom during social gatherings rather than in classrooms and boardrooms.
These days, Marshall and his wife, Hilda (OPM 13, 1988), spend much of their time on the West Coast, where she owns several San Francisco–area restaurants. They maintain a condo in Cambridge, and Marshall stays there when he attends alumni events at HBS. Looking back over his career, Marshall says, “It’s all been very interesting. I’ve had a wonderful time.”
