2020 SIOUX AWARDS
Erwin Martens, ’83, ’85, believes in serendipity – defined by Merriam Webster as “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” Perhaps it’s illustrated in the juxtaposition of his humble beginnings and his later success. Or perhaps it’s better told in how he met his wife, Colleen (Finnen), ’84, ’85, during his second stint at the University of North Dakota when they realized they came from the same small corner of Canada and had so many common acquaintances. “Whenever I felt that serendipity was in the neighborhood, I always knew that good things would happen,” Erwin says. Growing up in Cartwright, Manitoba, in a home without running water and little insulation and attending a one-room schoolhouse, Erwin knew his ticket to the world had two options: work on the telephone lines or become a hockey player. A scholar at heart, he decided he would use his hockey prowess as a catalyst for achieving his academic goals – to study computer science at an institute of higher education. So, in 1976, he showed up to a UND hockey practice, looking for a spot as a walk-on. His initiative paid off, and Erwin would go on to co-captain the team, leading it to an NCAA National Championship in 1980.
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UND Alumni Magazine | Summer 2020
At that time, his educational pursuits took a detour. Just 3 credits shy of earning his bachelor’s degree, Erwin hopped a plane to Germany, where he played two seasons in a professional hockey league. “It became evident that the market wasn’t too deep for 26-year-old ex-hockey players, so I decided that it was a good idea to come back to school to complete my education,” he jokes. It was then that he met Colleen, an aspiring speech pathologist, and asked her on a date to the Chester Fritz Auditorium, where they took in a performance of the Vienna Boys Choir. “I guess I felt like I met the whole package. He was smart, fluent in German, he knew a lot about history and music and art. And then of course, he had this business side, but he was an athlete as well,” Colleen says. “And I come to find out that he grew up only 30 miles from where my mom and dad grew up, and all my relatives lived. It was pretty ironic.” Or, one might say, it was serendipity. As they bonded over sweets at Wilkerson Dining Center – Erwin admits to having a weakness for desserts and Colleen, who never ate hers, gladly let Erwin indulge in her extras – they didn’t yet realize what the future had in store.
In 1985, shortly after completing their master’s degrees, Erwin in economics and Colleen in speech pathology, the Martens got married, kicking off a lifelong adventure that would span seven cities, three countries, and two continents. From a rented studio apartment furnished with lawn chairs and a single mattress in Winnipeg, Colleen found her first job in a hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. Shortly thereafter, software
“Without North Dakota, there is no Martens family.” consulting company Coopers & Lybrand hired Erwin in Toronto, where he subsequently founded Analytic Information Management, Inc., a financial software consulting firm. On a sales trip to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, his fluency in German paid off when he struck up a friendship with a German professor who was working for Credit Suisse Group. That chance meeting kicked off a 20-year career in risk management – at the time an unknown term.
