Martins served a mission for the church in Portugal and later served as a
bishop. In the early 1980s he went back to the United States with his wife and young family to study at
Brigham Young University, where he received a degree in Computer Science and Statistics. He then worked as a computer systems analyst in Brazil. He soon realized he was earning more by teaching his colleagues English, so he formed
Wizard by Pearson. Martins and his wife, the former Vania Pimentel, are the parents of six children. From 2001 to 2005 Martins served as
president of the Brazil João Pessoa
Mission. Prior to this Martins had served for several years as
president of the Campinas Brazil Castelo
Stake. In 2002 Martins wrote a self-help book entitled
Vencendo a Própria Crise (
Overcoming Personal Crisis). His 2012 book
Desperte o milionário que há em você (
Awake the Millionaire Inside of You) was a Brazilian bestseller. In his 2015 interview for the Creating Emerging Markets project at the
Harvard Business School, he discusses in detail how he segmented the English language teaching market by developing a customized methodology which motivated executives and other students. ==Notes==