“A Day in the Life” is a series where we’ll profile a variety of residents to get an intimate glimpse into their day-to-day. These are your neighbors. Get to know them.
Martha Doyle, Chief Administrative Officer for EF Education First, is certainly busy. Not only is she CAO for the company but she’s also Chief Operating Officer for EF Trifekta Land, EF’s in-house global real estate development group. And that means overseeing numerous projects and developments at once – including one here in Boston.
Recently, EF’s Boston team moved to a sleek new office, which Doyle describes as a “big white and glass striped building on the banks of the Charles at the foot of the Zakim Bridge.” Take a look for yourself at the photo below.
Here, Doyle shares with BostInno how she spends her day-to-day juggling meetings and emails with being a mom.
How do you spend most mornings?
On my most exciting mornings, I’m headed to Logan Airport to catch an early flight to one of our global hubs such as London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, or Lucerne, Switzerland. At EF we take a lot of trips. Most other mornings I’m up early with my kids getting them ready for school. But along with the typical morning chaos, I’m also taking calls. I get lots of early morning calls, starting around 6 a.m. when construction activity for our new building picks up.
What are the top priorities on your to-do list right now?
In the U.S. market alone we have about 1 million square feet of school and office space under development. Our team of EFers in Boston recently moved into 8 Education Street last week – the big white and glass striped building on the banks of the Charles at the foot of the Zakim Bridge – but construction on the glass waterfall, public meeting spaces, and our on-site restaurant and bar will continue for a few more months.
We also just started renovating our existing building at 1 Education Street to make way for a big expansion of our affiliated business school, HULT. Then we have two other projects in New York. Did I mention all of these projects need to open in August?
Other than that, I still need to book summer camps for my kids.
What is the best part and the worst part of your day?
The worst parts of my day are the five minutes before the second cup of coffee arrives and that moment when I realize just how many unread emails are sitting in my inbox.
The best part of my work day is getting to collaborate with EF people – everyone is so smart and interesting and talented and fun and crazy. Actually the way we hire is one of the secret ingredients to our success. It boils down to the fact that I like the people I work with, so work is always fun.
Can you tell us what it’s been like to oversee the construction of EF’s new North American headquarters?
It’s been incredibly exciting. First, to work in partnership with the state and the City of Cambridge to really make our new building architecturally significant. We’ll have nearly 30,000 square feet of community space open to the public in a few months, including meeting rooms with amazing views, and the only waterfront restaurant experience on this part of the Charles River.
If you could impart one piece of advice to our readers, what would it be?
My advice would be to figure out what you love to do, figure out what your strengths are, and find a way to use those strengths doing something you love. The world is a big, beautiful, incredible place. Get out and see it. Take some risks.
What would you do if you were suddenly granted a day off from work tomorrow?
I’d be torn. On the one hand I’d want to grab my kids and do something really fun with them. On the other hand, now that we’ve crossed another major milestone with the new building, I could really use a spa day, too.
If you weren’t answering my questions, what would you be doing instead?
It’s really hard to say. I could be on a plane, or in a meeting with contractors, or at the State House, or signing off on bringing a ferris wheel to Education Street for community rides. I might be wearing a hard hat. Or I might be in Lingo (our on-site restaurant) having a drink with my colleagues. Every day is different, and that’s one of the best things about EF.
