Laya Martinez was raised in a traditional Orthodox home and was destined to become a housewife until her life took an unexpected trajectory that led her to innovative business success and leadership roles. After attending Yeshiva University and Hunter College, she continued her education at IBM Corporation. In her earlier years, she was one of only 22 computer programmers for Master Charge, and the only female. She later moved on to Unisys in Philadelphia. Laya’s business experience includes accounting, computer programming, sales, and marketing positions she held prior to running her own company.
Possessing a high energy level and commitment to excellence, she went on to found two successful Data Processing companies with Fortune 500 clients.
With her commitment to excellence, Laya Martinez was the Chief Executive Officer of CPC Data Systems, Laya developed and met ambitious goals to transform the company from a traditional data processing service bureau into a full-service data management-outsourcing specialist and a division providing services to the Healthcare industry with Revenue Cycle Management, using state of the art hardware and software.
Laya Martinez is detailed oriented and ran a professional and effective organization. She is passionate, creative, a positive thinker, and always focused on growth.
Her clients included GSK, Lockheed Martin, Rohm & Haas, the University of Pennsylvania, General Motors, Campbell Soup, and the Gallup Organization. CPC Data Systems was identified by the Philadelphia Business Journal as one of the Top 25 Women-Owned Businesses.
Ms. Martinez is a life member of the Union League of Philadelphia, where she was the founder and President of the “One Percenter’s” a club table for women entrepreneurs. Laya Martinez designed and implemented Operations Management Software for the Medical Billing industry. Her essay, Through Rough Seas, is printed in the Boston Globe.
As a two-time president of the Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow, she regularly engages in international projects and local public Schools. Laya’s passion is literacy for children. Her philosophy is to teach the child how to think, rather than what to think. When not working, performing speaking engagements, or spending time with her grandchildren, she travels extensively worldwide, from Cambodia to Belgium, Ukraine to Jordon.
Laya Martinez was a member of the Forum for Executive Women, and served on the Board of Trustees at Jeanes Hospital, served on the Board of Trustees at the Arthritis Foundation; served on the Parkinson’s Council of Philadelphia.
Now she is on a mission to assist others who are punished for falling in love with someone outside their faith. She helps them to analyze their struggles and to promote acceptance of interfaith marriage in their families as well as communities. As a prominent woman business leader, she shares how exercising choice led to success outside her marriage.
Her next project will be creating a secular cultural center called, ‘‘Our Cultural Center for Virtue’’. The Center will be a warm and loving place that accepts and finds value in each person. It will be a space for families and individuals to be embraced by a community and participate in events, with no religious affiliation. This will build a community of character that endures from generation to generation.
The conception of this center is tied to her memoir When Your Family Says No.
