Mario Martinez does not have a crystal ball. He doesn’t cast spells or practice divination. He says there is no way to know the future—but he is excited for it. He is the senior director of infrastructure and cyberdefense at Plains All American, a Houston-based company that owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and supplies logistics for crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGL).
So, why is the cyberdefense leader fired up for what may lie ahead? Martinez knows that both the oil and gas industry and the cybersecurity discipline are in the middle of rapid evolutions. The pace of change means he, his colleagues, and his peers have the opportunity to drive real impact as they implement new technologies and processes to influence business outcomes, enhance safety, and improve the customer experience.
But that’s not all that has Martinez excited—he’s also looking forward to developing his team and providing each member the chance to grow with the organization and industry as a whole. “We have big goals here, and it’s exciting to see that people want to be a part of reaching these goals,” he says. Embracing the future, even if it’s unknown, helps others find their potential.
“We have big goals here, and it’s exciting to see that people want to be a part of reaching these goals.”
Mario Martinez
Martinez asserts there are three main principles that help guide his teams through uncertainty in a volatile industry. First, he carefully integrates systems, applications, and technologies to guarantee all platforms are future-forward. “We have to make sure Plains All American is operating on an X-tech ready platform,” he says. “I don’t care what tech comes out tomorrow. I want to verify that we’re centralized so whatever comes out can benefit us immediately.”
Secondly, Martinez considers whether each new tech feature is both useful and efficient. By doing so, he avoids overspending and causing delays. Tech leaders, he argues, shouldn’t just install new widgets, turn them on, and hope they flow like Plains oil.
Lastly, Martinez works to ensure all seventy members of his team, tech professionals in their own right, are trained and certified for tomorrow’s emerging technologies.
The experienced cyberleader has already helped Plains All American step into the future once. When he joined the company in 2021, his chief information officer (CIO) was busy preparing to converge systems and applications. Martinez helped transform old legacy environments into newer, cloud-based application systems and started to manage tech infrastructure and cyberdefense.
In many organizations, the infrastructure role and cyberdefense role are separate. However, the chance to lead both areas attracted Martinez to Plains, granting one leader the power to make decisions for both, which increases the organization’s agility and effectiveness. That speed is crucial as rival nations and sophisticated criminals try to control the delivery of not only oil and gas, but also electricity, water, and other essential critical infrastructure services.
In fact, the technology department at Plains recently found and implemented a solution to address delays regarding help desk requests. They created an automated, AI-driven robot that works within Microsoft Teams and their service desk ticketing system. Piper, the bot, diverts low-value work from IT by helping employees reset passwords, order hardware, and complete other routine tasks. Piper has had great success thus far by resolving over 3,000 tickets in an eight-week period, saving over 2,500 hours productivity. Plus, Martinez shares similar solutions that leverage AI are going into other systems, preventing cybersecurity attacks for the organization.
“I take the culture, understand it, figure out what needs to be corrected, and then help those who participate discover avenues for how to do it.”
Mario Martinez
Now, Martinez’s passion for computers and technology didn’t come out of nowhere. It actually started at a young age. He got his first job installing drywall to save up for his first computer. After working through the hot Texas summer of 1988, he had earned exactly $1,507.39—about half of what he needed. Thankfully, his sister, a friend and lifelong mentor, paid for the rest. Then, Martinez learned every chip and every card of the machine, creating the first computer club, called Austin Business Computer Club, at his high school.
That sister and others in the Martinez family showed him the importance of family, faith, community, and generosity. Such an upbringing, surrounded by the people who invested in him, have made Martinez a strong advocate for mentorship. “We have to share what we know with the people around us,” he says, adding that he participates in a formal mentoring program and offers informal mentoring through his relationships, too.
The mentoring program Martinez has designed at Plains All American is specific to each job. “I take the culture, understand it, figure out what needs to be corrected, and then help those who participate discover avenues for how to do it,” he says.
Today, Plains All American delivers about half of the crude oil that runs throughout the United States. They argue the oil and gas industry is the foundation of society, as it is used to create products and heat our homes; the industry provides jobs and generates significant economic growth. Protecting these systems and the platforms involved is a matter of national security. Martinez is poised to defend them well into the future.
Compugen Systems Inc. enables your business outcomes. By coupling innovative technology-based services in the modern workspace and Hybrid IT with our uniquely crafted managed, professional, and field services; we’re redefining the customer experience. We believe every day is another opportunity to innovate, inspire, and impact our world for the better.
