Frank Martinez

ow did an economics major wind up becoming a CTO? For Frank Martinez, it was a matter of business,or, at least, business process.

Martinez, who has been involved at a senior level with multiple startups, including InterShop Communications, is a self-taught programmer. Early on, he latched onto the notion that the core technology being used by one of his first entrepreneurial efforts, a company that handled loan processing electronically, could be the foundation for its own company. Soon, he was heading a spinoff.

Martinez's latest venture, Blue Titan Software, centers on managing, securing and coordinating Web services. "My attention right now is focused on the intersection of policy-based computing, adaptive network infrastructure and infrastructure-aware application platforms,all converging around a services orientation," he says.

Martinez cites his children as his inspiration, as he aspires to steer the development of software that helps people focus on the more intangible challenges of business while technology handles the process side. "The thing that I see in them every day is how the world that we live in and the technologies that we are creating are impacting their lives," Martinez says.