Chris Martinkat
President and CEO, STOCKMEIER Urethanes USA, Inc.
SABRINA MCCLURE
Photo by Brooke Lopez.
CHRIS MARTINKAT, president and CEO of STOCKMEIER Urethanes USA, Inc., was born in Hamm, Germany, in 1976 to Edwin and Monika Martinkat. Even at a young age, Martinkat knew he wanted to be a CEO or stockbroker.
STOCKMEIER Urethanes was founded in 1991 by Martinkat’ s father and Dr. Juergen Stockmeier.
“ My father told me he would only start the business if I took it off his hands one day when he retired,” Martinkat says.“ Being a giddy, inexperienced 14-year-old who always wanted to be in business on his own, I made that promise.”
Martinkat’ s first job as an adolescent was at his father’ s company. Then, after high school and mandatory military service, he furthered his education at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld, Germany, where he earned a master’ s degree in international business administration and marketing.
In summer 2000, Martinkat made his first trip to the U. S. for an internship at Bayer Corporation in Pittsburgh,
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