Martin John Cottingham was born in Brooklyn in 1970 and, as a life-long parishioner of Holy Name of Jesus in Windsor Terrace, attended Holy Name School and graduated from La Salle Academy High School.
In 1989, Martin began his professional working career as a Splicer’s Helper at Con Edison. In 1993, he joined Bear Stearns’ Corporate Real Estate Department where he became a Managing Director responsible for all global facility and property, design, development and construction. He was responsible for all site activities in the development of Bear Stearns’ 1.2 million-square-foot world headquarters at 383 Madison Avenue in New York City.
From 2007-2012, Martin worked as Managing Director at Grubb & Ellis in the Corporate Services Group which offers clients with multi-market real estate interests a full array of planning, financial analysis and portfolio management services. He was appointed to the New York State Real Estate Board by former Gov. George Pataki, and is currently a board member of the Construction & Real Estate Services Committee for Enterprise Ireland, an organization charged with promoting the growth of Irish companies and business in the United States. Since 2012, Martin has been a Principal at Avison Young Commercial Real Estate.
Martin has a Bachelor’s Degree from St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn, and a Graduate Degree in Real Estate Development from New York University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of: La Salle Academy, the Irish American Building Society, the YMCA, the Emerald Association, and St. Joseph’s College Alumni Association.
Martin is also a founding member of the Holy Name Foundation, organized to address Catholic School issues in the Brooklyn Diocese, and Chairperson of The Great Irish Fair Committee, a group of dedicated Irish Americans who are responsible for resurrecting the Brooklyn Irish Fair in Coney Island in 2007.
Martin’s most direct traces of his Irish roots are Swinford, County Mayo and Clifden, County Galway – the birthplaces of his paternal grandparents, Nora Doyle and John Cottingham. Martin continues to reside in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, with his wife, Kathleen, and his children, Brendan Christopher and Genevieve Nora.