Julie Martin, Senior Proposal Text Analyst, PPD
During a five-month layoff in 2010, I became keenly aware of the need for strategic economic development in the Cape Fear region. I lost my job as managing editor at the StarNews, the product of a local industry’s struggle to make the sea change necessary to innovate and thrive. I work as a proposal manager at PPD now, a “clean tech” company that continues to grow and develop into new global markets while keeping its base in Wilmington.
My initial involvement with the CFEDC board began with development of a grant proposal to support funding for a Green Business Innovation Center in Wilmington. I enjoyed the collaboration with the board to help them articulate a dream for meaningful change in the region. I share the board’s values and point of view. As a professional proposal manager, I bring specific skills to help the board in future grant-seeking efforts. Also, as a former newspaper editor, I am savvy about how to navigate the waters of communicating a message to the community and how to participate in community dialogue on a significant issue.
Without question, I feel the urgency for job creation and responsible economic development here. I think it’s important to organize around the goal of strategically creating good jobs for the region, without destroying the environment. To me, being a responsible steward means having the courage to say: “Here’s what I believe in, because it’s the right thing for our community.”
Information: Julie Martin has spent the last 25 years in search of good stories worth telling.
A native of Wadesboro, she spent 23 years as a newspaper journalist. From 1984 to 2003, she worked as a journalist in Monroe, N.C., Wadesboro and Asheville. From 2004-2006, she lived in Greenville, N.C., where she was a graduate student at East Carolina University and worked as an editorial assistant at the Brody School of Medicine. She moved to Wilmington in 2006 to become managing editor at the StarNews, a position she held until 2010. During her career, she received numerous awards for investigative journalism and was twice recognized by the Associated Press Managing Editors association for her public service and freedom of information work. Julie holds a master’s degree in technical and professional communication from ECU and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Julie works as a senior proposal text analyst for PPD, where she manages government research proposals for the contract research organization headquartered in Wilmington.
Her husband, Steve, is a poet who teaches special education at Gregory School in Wilmington. Their son, Luke, is a welder in Farmville and their daughter, Mary Claire, is a maternal and child health nurse in Austin, Texas. They have one grandchild.
Julie and Steve moved to Preservation Park in the Seagate neighborhood in 2006, as part of their commitment to responsible development and conservation of the region’s natural resources. Sharing green space with their neighbors in a community carefully planned to protect urban wetlands was a logical choice for them. Two years ago, they sold one of their cars and made the decision to travel mostly by bicycle and scooter, using the nearby superhighway of Park Avenue to navigate the city.
