Martin Obern:

British born Martin Obern was originally trained as a graphic designer and operated his own design practice for more than 25 years. His client base included organizations as diverse as Motorola, IBM, TD Canada Trust, the governments of Sweden and Finland to 'Ma and Pa' start-ups. He was also the creator and instructor of "Design for Organizational Communications" at Centennial College in Toronto.

During this time, Martin was asked increasingly to help various organizations to market their goods and services in addition to creating design solutions. This business evolved into full time marketing consultation in which he developed numerous products such as BrochureCheck® which measures the effectiveness of company's brochures and collateral material.

Today, Martin pursues his first love by teaching new and small businesses to create effective marketing strategies without spending a fortune. Or as he puts it: "Learn more. Earn more." His eclectic and irreverent style, simplifies complex issues in a way that makes them easy to understand and removes all of the intimidating factors that often prevent small business owners from being effective marketers.

Martin teams with fellow BNI members Oliver Lepki, for web hosting and design, together with Michael Winters, for computer support, Nishi Diaz, for video and photography as well as Ken King for print related resources.