Martin Hunt, Sr.

Biography

Mr. Hunt obtained a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Swarthmore College in 1990 where he was a McCabe Scholar and started his career at The Prudential in its Advanced Management Development Program (AMDP). Mr. Hunt subsequently earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School four years later after working for the renowned strategy professor Michael E. Porter as a founding member of his Initiative for a Competitive Inner-City (ICIC). After graduation from Harvard Business School, Mr. Hunt became a senior engagement manager for American Management Systems (now CGI Inc.), before finding further success as a senior corporate strategist for Unicom Corporation, the parent to Chicago’s ComEd Corporation, working in its corporate strategy group. Martin’s work included helping the firm through deregulation and executing M&A which concluded in the merger of PECO and Unicom to form Exelon, the largest electric utility in the year 2000.

Mr. Hunt is the co-author of ‘The History of Black Business – The Coming of America’s Largest African-American-owned Businesses’ which was first published in 1998 and has been reprinted several times. The book is available on Amazon.com, and has achieved critical acclaim from the late Earl Graves, Sr. at Black Enterprise Magazine, the editorial review at Ebony Magazine, and the Philadelphia School District, which is one of the largest in the country. From 2000 until 2005, Mr. Hunt joined MBNA Bank (now Bank of America), the largest credit card company at the time, as a management executive in its corporate initiatives group (CIG). Mr. Hunt later was an executive in product development, affinity sector strategy, and led the marketing for the $16 billion non-endorsed loan business before venturing into his entrepreneurial investments.

Mr. Hunt founded a private special acquisition company (SPAC), HWI Search Fund, in 2005 and acquired Custom Cable Industries in 2008 from the Steelcase Corporation. Mr. Hunt was appointed as the chairman and chief executive officer where he was awarded the prestigious Verizon Supplier Award, the PA-NJ-DE 2009 Supplier of the Year Class III award, and received a mayoral citation from Philadelphia Mayor Nutter. Mr. Hunt was the 25th Anniversary MED Week Keynote Speaker for Philadelphia and was listed on the Minority Business Magazine 400 list. Mr. Hunt led a 250-person team, oversaw the development of an innovative fiber optic cable operation, built its on-line customized cable ordering system, and managed the installation of structured cable operations for leading telecommunication companies. Mr. Hunt stepped up to become the CEO of Providence Friends Capital, Custom Cable’s parent, in 2010 where he currently serves as its CEO and Chairman.

Concurrently with his corporate responsibilities, Mr. Hunt volunteered his time at the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Philadelphia between 2001 and 2013 and held several leadership positions. Mr. Hunt served as the President and Vice Chairperson of the board of the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Philadelphia from 2011 to 2013. In recognition of his many contributions, he was honored with the Harvard Business School Alumni Club’s Presidential Service Award in 2013. Mr. Hunt has also maintained an active affiliation with the McCabe Scholar Selection Committee at Swarthmore College from 2003 to 2018.

Additionally, from 2016 to 2019, Mr. Hunt was also a managing director for the Philadelphia based investment bank, Emerging Growth Equities and an investor in SmartInvest Ventures starting in 2019 where he was a Partner and helped with its consulting activities and early stage accelerators in the greater Philadelphia region, London, England, and Donegal, Ireland. Several of the accelerator firms have gone public or raised over $100 million.

Since 2019, Mr. Hunt has continued his entrepreneurial ventures as the founder and chief executive officer of Swanlaab USA Ventures, which is a venture capital firm that invests in disruptive high technology companies and affiliated with the global Swanlaab Giza family of funds. In this role at Swanlaab USA Ventures, Mr. Hunt was awarded the Philadelphia Business Journal Diversity Leader Award in 2021 and attributes much of his success to his family, friends, and colleagues who have also achieved great successes in their lives and who inspire him to be better every day. Mr. Hunt is married, has two children, and is a long-term member of the Harvard Club of New York, the Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of New York City, the Pyramid Club of Philadelphia, and a life-time member of the Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Club.

 

Martin K. Hunt, Sr. recognized by Marquis Who’s Who for Excellence in Finance 2021 – 2022

2021 Marquis WhosWho - Martin Hunt

Martin Hunt was selected by the Philadelphia Business Journal for 2021 Diversity Leader in Business Award. 

2021 Philadelpia Business Journal Diversity Leader

See https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinhuntsr/ for further professional history.

Martin Hunt was the 2011 – 2013 President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Philadelphia.  He joined the club in 2000.

Mr. Hunt was president of the Harvard Business School (HBS) Alumni Club of Philadelphia from 2011 to 2013.  He oversaw the Club’s Resource Round Table meetings, Social Enterprise Initiatives (SEI), Presidents Breakfast Club (PBC), and other special events.  Mr. Hunt was director of strategy for the Club from 2009 to 2010 and chair of membership previously.  Some of the events between 2011 to 2013 included the following: