Alonso Martinez is a senior lecturer at Columbia Business School. He combines teaching and research with extensive global experience doing strategy consulting, with particular expertise in emerging markets. He gives the "Catching Growth Waves in Emerging Markets" course in both the MBA and EMBA programs and the "Defining and Developing Winning Strategic Capabilities" course to the MBAs. He has also given the EMBA immersion course on opportunities in India and led the Global Immersion Program to Brazil for several years. From 2008 to 2012 he directed a project at the Wharton School’s Lauder Institute on “Consumption Patterns in Emerging Markets: Catching Growth Waves and Anticipating Transitions”, including field research with a team of students across major countries. He has developed some unique insights into how business opportunities evolve in emerging markets and the capabilities required to capture them, which he leverages in his classes.

Martinez is a former senior vice president at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, having joined in Brazil in 1982 and subsequently opened and/or managed the firm’s offices in every major Latin American country. He moved to the United States in 2000 with global responsibility for major client relationships. Martinez has worked with many of the world's largest multinationals and leading local groups in the consumer products, media, steel and construction materials industries. His focus has been growth related strategies in emerging markets, including international expansion, mergers and acquisitions and go to market strategies.