The CDC Leaders

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”

— John F. Kennedy

Ruth Martin

Chief Management Officer, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion

Ruth Martin serves as the Chief Management Officer (CMO) for CDC′s Coordinating Center for Health Promotion (CCHP). In this role, she is responsible for CoCHP′s business operations, including human resources, budget, finance, information technology, health and safety, procurement, facilities and administrative services. Ms. Martin first joined the CDC in 2005 as CMO for the Coordinating Center for Environmental Health and Injury Prevention (CCEHIP).

Prior to joining CDC, she had a 23-year career in aeronautics research, technology development and program management with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). From 1998 to 2003, Ms. Martin served as Associate Director of Program Integration at NASA′s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. As the number three in charge of this aeronautical research laboratory, she led significant initiatives in organizational restructuring, business process reengineering and strategic planning. Her efforts led to a notable strengthening of the laboratory′s program management and execution capacity and to an expanded customer base. In 2003, she was recognized with NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal for her contributions in these areas.

During 2004, in between her NASA and CDC positions, Ms. Martin led a team of technology professionals in establishing the Jernigan Institute, a blindness technology research and training institute sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind.

Ms. Martin began her NASA career as a research engineer in 1980, specializing in helicopter acoustics, noise prediction software development and noise control technology development projects. She held key roles in several high-risk demonstration projects, frequently partnering with the U.S. Army, U.S. industry and international research groups. Her technical leadership and innovation created new data analysis methods enabling the acquisition of a benchmark database, which was regarded as standard practices and data references throughout the 1990s. One highly successful project received the American Helicopter Society′s prestigious “Howard Hughes Award” in 2002 for “outstanding technological improvements in rotorcraft technology.”

Ms. Martin is the author or co-author of more than 30 technical publications in aircraft acoustics, including 17 articles published in peer review journals. She is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). She earned a master′s degree in acoustics from George Washington University and a bachelor′s degree in mechanical engineering from Old Dominion University.