Executive edge: Joe Martinez; Elitch GM shaped by early amusement.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: Elitch Gardens Amusement Park - Biography

Three decades ago, Joe Martinez interviewed at Astroworld amusement park wearing a suit and tie--determined at age 17 to land a job as a ride operator, to pay for college, to rise above the poverty of his Houston neighborhood, where in a hard-working family he managed to steer clear of gangs.

Martinez ended up picking up trash that summer as a groundskeeper--a job that would forever shape the life of the general manager of Denver's historic Elitch Gardens Amusement Park.

"In my family I wanted to prove that I could finish college," said Martinez, who graduated in 1978 from Sam Houston State University, earning a bachelor of arts in law enforcement and police science, without so much as taking out a loan to pay for his education. "I wanted to be an FBI agent and even graduated a year early, I was so determined."

But shortly after graduation, Six Flags Astroworld offered him a management job in park operations, and Martinez was hooked.

"A lot of people dread going to the office, but it's hard for me to leave, it's so enjoyable," said the father of two sons who came to Elitch's in 1997.

Year-round, Martinez works with a fulltime staff of 70, but during the height of summer he oversees 1,800 seasonal workers and works 60 to 80 hours a week. "It's so different every day," he said. "And when you're having a challenging day, you just get on a ride and when you get off, you are of a different mind."

Little did Martinez know when he picked up that first broom that his career with Six Flags would ultimately find him opening Six Flags' first water park--Water World in Houston. It would also take him to Spain where he opened Aqualand, to...