Ernesto Martens

Ernesto Martens Rebolledo (28 January 1933 – 13 January 2024) was a Mexican chemical engineer, who occupied several high-profile business positions and was Secretary of Energy during Vicente Fox's government.

Life and career Ernesto Martens was born in a small town close to the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve in Veracruz. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Tec de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey, in 1956, where he met the founder of the school Eugenio Garza Sada. He did postgraduate studies in the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and at Harvard Business School in the United States.

His first position was with Union Carbide Headquarters where he remained for eighteen years, becoming its CEO.

In 1977, he began with a Monterrey glass company called Vitro, becoming its first non-family CEO in 1985. He restructured the finances and operations of the two airlines and was credited with saving them. His nomination by Fox was something of a surprise and Martens had not considered a career in government before. His appointment as energy chief was thought to be last-minute and that Fox might keep his predecessor, Luis Téllez, in the position. He died in January 2024, at the age of 90.