Tony O. Martin
Independent Candidate for Mayor of Beckley, WV

As a son, brother, husband, father and lifelong resident of Beckley, I am like so many of you living and working in our great city.  We all see Beckley’s challenges but now there’s a sense that we need a new kind of leader to make Beckley great again.  I realized at an early age that I wanted to be in the business of helping people.  I always dreamed of being a police officer but never would have imaged that I would end up running for mayor.

Over the years life in Beckley has been pretty good.  Born at Raleigh General Hospital in July of 1973, I grew up in East Park with church on Sunday, singing in the choir and enjoying community get-togethers.  From kindergarten at East Park School through college at Mountain State University (back then College of West Virginia) I’ve spent my entire life in Beckley. 

I have to say that my first leadership role was being a big brother.  I’m the oldest of five children with a brother named David and three sisters, Angel, Amber and Alexis, all of whom along with our parents continue to reside in Beckley.  Growing up, our mother always encouraged individual creativity and would constantly remind us that we have the potential to be anything we wanted as long we were willing to learn and put in the hard work.  It was also my mother who taught me that being a leader was not about being in charge but standing up for what’s right.

From brokering trinket trades in elementary school, to installing phone jacks and video taping weddings in junior high, I was the kid who was constantly coming up with creative ways to earn a little extra money.  Unbeknownst to me, it was that entrepreneurial spirit which acted as the driving force that directed my future career choices. 

After high school I was finally old enough and well on my way to living out my dream of becoming a police officer.  I had decided that I would be a WV State Trooper.  Though she supported me, my mother really didn’t want me to pursue such a dangerous career.  Rather than discouraging me, she convinced me to go to college and work toward a degree in criminal justice first, in order to keep my options open.  Little did I know, this new experience would open my eyes to new opportunities and lead my life in an entirely different direction.

Shortly after college, I married my best friend Jaymi Brownell and we started a family.  We have three wonderful children, Anthony, David and Devyn. My first real job after college was as a licensed insurance agent with Combined Insurance.  I left Combined approximately two weeks after returning from my honeymoon but continued to sell insurance as an independent agent for Designed Benefit Plans, an insurance marketing company that provides health insurance plans to small and medium sized business. 

Without even realizing it, I had delved deeper and deeper into the business world.  I spoke often with business owners, listening to their challenges and discussing their rewards.  I was quickly promoted to Regional Manager and held the state record in sales.  During my insurance career, I began to notice that more and more of the businesses that I worked with were using computers.  The desire to learn more about what they were doing with these fascinating machines developed into a new hobby.  At that, point I was determined to come up with a way to integrate computer use into my job.  Sure, the insurance companies always used computers in the home office, but we still used paper forms in the field. Computers were still pretty expensive at this point so I could only afford to buy used ones.  This forced me to learn a great deal more than your average computer user.  By learning how to upgrade a computer, I discovered that I could sell one computer and have enough to buy a better one. 

Once again my mother encouraged me to use my new skills to discover new possibilities.  With a background in banking and finance, she began teaching me some accounting principals in an effort to help me develop a computer-based accounting system for our church.   After weeks of work setting up the church’s accounting system, I realized that the feeling of accomplishment I had far exceeded that from any sales record I had ever set or any award I’d ever received from selling insurance.  With my computer skills and my newly acquired accounting knowledge in hand, I began once again to explore new opportunities in business but this time at the root of business, the accounting field.

I applied for an entry-level accounting position with a local temporary agency.  Apparently I had a pretty good understanding of the basics of accounting because I scored extremely well on the entry level testing and immediately began my new career in Raleigh General Hospital’s accounting department.   A few more temporary positions followed, one with FMRS and the other at H3O Water before landing my first full time job in the accounting field as a full-charge bookkeeper.  It wasn’t until after working for Edward T. Ryan, CPA that the idea of opening a tax firm developed.

In December of 2000 Mr. Ryan and I started TR Tax, a seasonal tax firm that operated out of his CPA firm’s Oak Hill offices.  In December of 2001, I took over ownership of TR Tax and moved it from Oak Hill to my home city of Beckley.  I successfully transformed TR Tax into a successful year-round tax and bookkeeping firm.  In 2006, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, the nation’s second largest tax preparation company, approached me with an offer to purchase my tax practice.  We brokered a deal that enabled me to stay on as part of their management team and continue to service the clients who’d faithfully contributed to my success over the years.

As a business owner I’ve learned how to be resourceful with time and money, be innovative, creative and constantly seek new opportunity. Through hard work I’ve been able to live life, support my family and earn a living doing what I enjoy.  With three kids in public school, my wife and I are committed to making sure that our children grow up with all of the same opportunities that we had, as well as many that we did not. 

As times continue to change it will require a new way of thinking to continue moving Beckley forward.  It will require making sure our neighborhoods remain the center of a modern and vibrant city.  It means creating a new economy that protects the jobs we’ve built while making Beckley a leader in creating the next generation of high-tech and green jobs. It means fighting to build a responsive city government transparency and community engagement.

This campaign is different - not about the same old ideas from City Hall.  It’s about tackling today’s problems with tomorrow’s solutions.  I offer leadership rooted in what’s made life in Beckley good and inspired by a belief that together, we can make it even better.  I’ve spent the last year engaging residents in conversations to hear what’s on their minds and to better understand how we can work collectively to improve our city. 

Through these conversations I’ve learned that leading Beckley forward begins with listening to its residents.  It is for that reason that before this campaign is over, I have a goal to meet face to face with every single Beckley resident.  As mayor I will take these lessons with me to City Hall.  Most importantly, I will keep the doors as well as my eyes and ears open to make sure that my administration is always in touch with the needs and priorities of the residents of Beckley.