Kiwanis Club of Houston
May 19th Luncheon
Speaker: Vidal Martinez
Vidal G. Martinez is Managing Partner of Martinez Partners LLP, and is a highly respected international lawyer, speaker, and author who began his career in 1978 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Houston with the U.S. Department of Justice. Since 1981, Vidal, who is of Mexican descent and fluent in Spanish, has been engaged in private practice handling primarily litigation, regulatory, and transactional matters.
In 2001-2002, Vidal was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas, the governing body of all Texas lawyers. In 2008, he received the prestigious Reynaldo G. Garza Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Bar, which is given annually to just one individual “who has demonstrated a long commitment and made great achievement in addressing concerns and issues affecting the Spanish speaking community.” Vidal has also received the Five
Outstanding Young Houstonians and the Five Outstanding Young Texans awards from the Houston and Texas Jaycees. He was appointed by former Texas Governor Bill Clements to the
University of Houston Board of Regents and also served as Vice-Chairman.
Vidal has served on the Board of Directors at Houston Methodist Hospital System since 1992, which is ranked the #1 hospital in Texas. He previously served as a Commissioner of the Port of
Houston Authority and on the Board of Directors of the Greater Houston Partnership. He and his wife Debbie live in the Central Northwest Houston area. Vidal is the father of two, Grant (a lawyer
who resides in Houston with his wife and two children) and Kate (an epidemiologist who resides in Boston with her husband and daughter).
Additionally, he was a founding director of several prominent Houston Hispanic organizations, including the Houston Hispanic Forum, the Mexican Cultural Institute and the Hispanic Political
Action Committee (HISPAC). Vidal served as Chairman of the 1993 Houston International Festival commemorating Mexico, an event that drew over 1.5 million participants and was recognized by then Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari as the largest foreign event honoring his country in Mexican history. Vidal was selected as one of eight Vice Chairmen of the 1990 Economic Summit Host Committee and chaired one of the four principal committees. He was also named as one of the 12 Vice Chairmen of the 1992 Republican National Convention Host Committee. In 2003, Vidal was
honored as Humanitarian of the Year by the National Conference of Christians & Jews and by the University of Houston as UH Distinguished Alumni. From 1996-2013, Vidal was a member of the
Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, a group of approximately two-dozen lawyers and judges throughout Texas formed to review candidates and advise both U.S. Senators from Texas of
qualifications for persons nominated for federal judicial appointments and U.S. Attorney positions.
