Martha Barrett, a professional presence in Jacksonville for nearly 45 years through her corporate and civic work, will step away from her extensive community involvement when she retires Dec. 28 as a senior vice president for Bank of America.
Barrett has served as Jacksonville market executive for the bank since September 2001.
In that job, she plans and coordinates the bank’s local philanthropic contributions, manages its events and sponsorships and oversees foundation and sponsorship budgets.
When she began her job at Bank of America, Barrett was one year into her first term on the Duval County School Board. From the beginning, the bank supported her dual roles, Barrett said.
From 1979 to 1987, she was communications director for Mayor Jake Godbold.
Those experiences helped make her a good fit at Bank of America, she said.
“I knew the community, and I think that’s the important part of this job. It’s a community job. I’m not a banker,” Barrett, 73, said in a recent interview.
“The bank is all about community service, community leadership. We have 8,000 people here. Many, many are involved, not just me. Our volunteers are involved in many different issues. And they’re all ready to work and volunteer in this community,” she said.
Early political involvement
Barrett was born in Milwaukee and moved to Jacksonville with her family in the early 1950s.
She attended Bishop Kenny High School, earned a bachelor’s degree from Maryville University in St. Louis and a master’s in education from Xavier University in Cincinnati.
She moved to Washington, D.C., in the 1970s to work for Florida Sen. Richard “Dick” Stone and then on Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. She returned to Jacksonville to help with the Florida primary.
Barrett returned to Washington when Carter was elected in 1976 and worked on the inaugural team. She then served as public information officer for the U.S. Fire Administration at the Department of Commerce, now part of FEMA.
In 1978, she decided she wanted to come back to Jacksonville.
That year, Jake Godbold, then Jacksonville City Council president, was appointed interim mayor when Hans Tanzler resigned to run for governor.
Through a friendship with Edward Holt, known as the “Mayor of the Eastside” Barrett was able to meet with Godbold.
Godbold needed a press aide and, somewhat to her surprise, offered her the job over lunch.
“The mayor looked at me and said, ‘Well, you’ve had some press secretary (experience), you can do it.’ I said, oh lord, if I had known that, I probably wouldn’t have come home.”
Godbold decided to run for the office. He was elected in 1979 and again in 1983.
“I loved it. I loved working with Mayor Godbold,” Barrett said. “He was tough, tough, tough, but was he good. I mean tough in the sense that everybody worked hard.”
Godbold became known as a city leader who worked to represent the entire city.
He did not hold grudges, which was one of many important lessons she learned from him, Barrett said. It taught her that when it comes to the good of a community, “We’re all in this together.”
Barrett and Godbold, who passed away in 2020 at age 86, became lifelong friends.
“He would call me up sometimes and say, ‘Marti, why did you do that?’ But he always gave me great advice. Sometimes it was not wanted advice. But it always turned out for the best.”
Three School Board terms
Barrett served three terms on the Duval County School Board, starting in 2000. She was defeated for a fourth term in 2012 by Cheryl Grimes.
“I loved the School Board. It’s difficult, it’s very difficult. There are always issues. And as close as we all were as friends, we wouldn’t always agree,” she said.
“That was where I learned a lot in the political world. Because it was one thing for me to be an aide to somebody and work with the mayor, but now I’m in an elected position, and you really represent people.”
Bank of America saw her work on the school board as service to the community, she said.
“I give them a lot of credit, because there were many days when I was not here because I was at board meetings or board retreats. I admire companies who will give that kind of time to those employees, because it’s not easy.”
Barrett found her time on the school board fulfilling.
“It was so rewarding to go into schools and see some of the programs that we put in and really were working,” she said.
“I think we really tried to take those underperforming schools and put in some great programs and more money, but not just money, really good teachers, and pay attention to them.”
Praise, admiration
Alberta Hipps, principal of Hipps Group consulting firm and a former Council member, met Barrett in 1980s.
Barrett and her sister, Mary Alice Phelan, a colleague of Hipps’ when they both worked at St. Vincent’s Hospital, encouraged Hipps to join the Mayor’s Committee on the Status of Women.
“They are responsible for me getting the political bug,” Hipps said.
Hipps and Barrett became close friends. Barrett, she said, is sincere and deliberative in her work in the community.
“I don’t know of anyone else in this city who knows its history as well and is as in tune with the political and civic fabric of the community,” Hipps said.
“There’s just not anybody else in town as involved. And I’ve never seen Martha get mad.”
Mike Tolbert, a political strategist and longtime aide to Godbold, said Barrett “has remained remarkably consistent all these years. I don’t think she’s changed a bit.”
“Martha is a supreme networker. I’ve always said that if two or more people are together, chances are that Martha is one of them.”
“Marti loves Jacksonville, loves the community and has served both at the highest levels. She loves people, and I can’t think of anyone who dislikes her,” said John Delaney, who served as mayor from 1995-2003 and is now president of Flagler College.
“Her time in City Hall with Mayor Jake Godbold gave her great insight into our huge consolidated city-county government. And she has used her insight only for good, not for any personal gain. A dear and enduring friend.”
John Peyton, president of Gate Petroleum Co., served as mayor from 2003-11. He spent a summer working as an intern for Barrett when she was part of the Godbold administration and learned about some of the inner workings of city government.
“I like say to say she was my first boss,” he said.
Peyton praised her “in-depth knowledge of both the public and private sectors” in Jacksonville, and described her as “beloved and respected.
Bank of America
As Jacksonville market executive at Bank of America, Barrett works with employee networks, volunteers and board membership.
The bank’s philanthropic efforts target affordable housing, which includes minority homeownership and neighborhood revitalization; and economic mobility and the needs of families and individuals with low to moderate incomes and includes access to health care, food and jobs, she said.
“That’s where it really can make a difference as a bank, and again with volunteers,” Barrett said.
“They really mean what they say about communities and how they want quality of life for every person, but especially those who are struggling and trying to get ahead with their lives. It’s incumbent upon us to go out into that community and know what’s going on and know what’s important to people.”
For example, Bank of America is a sponsor for the annual Children’s Christmas Party of Jacksonville, and Barrett is a board member of the nonprofit for the event, which this year gave away more than 17,000 toys at the Prime Osborn Convention Center.
It’s one of the community-oriented programs she cherishes the most.
“All of the toys are donated, all brand-new. You see children who probably would not have a toy for Christmas go through there. And they can decide which toy they want,” she said.
“I was down there just watching it. And the glory in those children’s eyes. There’s no place in this world that does this except Jacksonville, Florida. I am so proud of this city.”
The decision to retire
Barrett described her 22 years with the bank as “a great journey.”
She also said she knows the time is right for retirement.
“I’ve been very fortunate every single decision I’ve made (about my career) as it turns out has been really good. And I thought to myself in the beginning of the year, it’s probably time for me to look for something new and something different,” she said.
“I think I’ve done a good job here and they think I’ve done a good job here. But it’s probably time to move on. It’s not an easy thing for me. I love this job, but I decided that it was best for me and probably best for the bank to just do new things. So that’s what I’m doing.”
Barrett doesn’t envision the next phase as less rewarding, or less involved, for that matter.
She doesn’t like the word “retire.”
“I am not retiring. I’ll be rehired in many ways. I’ll have more time to put into some volunteering that I haven’t had time to do, other than board work. As Jake would say: to get out and get my hands dirty. And maybe do a little consulting. I now know how boards work. I know how nonprofits work,” she said.
“But I’m not going to do full-time anything, I just really will enjoy doing what I want to do and also making a difference in the community. Because I love this community.”