Executive-Turned-Entrepreneur Credits Skills Cultivated at St. John’s
From the beginning of his high school days, Patrick J. Martone ’12CPS had a sense of his college destination. Born in Smithtown, NY, he believed St. John’s University offered him the best combination of education, extracurricular engagement, and career preparation.
Now a successful entrepreneur with stakes in two businesses, his instincts were correct.
St. John’s lit a fire in me, and I could not wait to put everything I learned and all the experience I had gained to use in the business world.
“Growing up on Long Island, we would always watch the Men’s Basketball games,” Mr. Martone recalled. “When the Johnnies are good, there is an electricity around the city. A few family members—uncles, cousins—had gone to St. John’s and agreed it would be great for me to go there.”
“I also did my own due diligence, and I knew St. John’s would educate me well and help me secure certain internships. St. John’s lit a fire in me, and I could not wait to put everything I learned and all the experience I had gained to use in the business world.”
Mr. Martone’s time at St. John’s began a professional journey that led him to sports media and today continues with the establishment of PJM Acquisitions Inc., the holding company for a series of entrepreneurial ventures that he founded in October 2022.
PJM has since acquired a Long Island franchise in the wellness giant Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa. He also started the home improvement company Patio Doctor. At the time of PJM’s establishment, Mr. Martone was working as Senior Director, Digital Advertising Yield Management, for the telecommunications titan DIRECTV. He had previously worked for ESPN, Fox Sports Media Group, The Walt Disney Company, and WarnerMedia.
While at St. John’s, Mr. Martone completed internships with the New York Islanders hockey team, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports and Olympics.
Mr. Martone’s pivot from media to entrepreneurship came accidentally through corporate downsizing. While difficult at the time, he now believes it was an opportunity in disguise.
“It was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” Mr. Martone said. “It forced me to consider whether I would just apply for another corporate position and let someone else determine if I am worth it. I was feeling like I needed a bigger and different challenge.”
Patio Doctor is a particular point of pride for Mr. Martone. The paving stone restoration firm began humbly in Nesconset, NY, with 75 residential and commercial customers in their first year. Mr. Martone has now grown the business to an average of nearly 450 customers per season, which runs from April through October.
The company specializes in bringing aging patios, driveways, and walkways back to near-new condition for a fraction of the cost of rebuilding. Services include power washing, polymeric sand installation, sealing, and masonry repairs.
“I am very entrepreneurial and ambitious,” Mr. Martone said. “I saw the potential and believed that I was on to something big, where this had the legs to become a franchise that I could develop and scale across the country.”
Hand & Stone offers customized spa services, including facials and massages, using an “affordable luxury” business model that appeals to a broad audience. It has more than 600 franchises across the country and in Canada.
Mr. Martone’s franchise in Holbrook, NY, is open seven days a week, serving the south shore of Long Island. His background in building customer engagement played a major role in the spa’s exceptional preopening performance, with nearly 550 founding members enrolled before opening day—the highest number of founding members for any Hand & Stone opening in the franchise’s history. He credits St. John’s for providing him with the tools for success in the corporate world and as an entrepreneur.
Among those tools was a competitive advantage cultivated through his work with other students in the undergraduate Sport Management degree program.
“I was surrounded by students who were just as driven as I was,” Mr. Martone recalled. “Maybe it was my upbringing, or just being from New York in general, but it felt like the students alongside me at St. John’s shared a particular type of grit and motivated attitude, sort of a chip-on-our-shoulder mentality. Being surrounding by likeminded people forced me to level up and be better. That, in tandem with all St. John’s offers, helped me translate my college experience into real-world opportunities.”
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From the moment he first visited, there was something “cinematic” about the St. John’s University campus, according to Hollywood producer Glenn Milley ’09CCPS. Set in the heart of multicultural Queens, NY, the University’s 100-plus acres laid out like an “oasis” in front of the prospective Communication Arts student.
“I was really drawn in during my tour; I was so impressed by the scale of the campus and the community,” Mr. Milley recalled. “I am a visual person, and it did not seem like New York City. I remember leaving the lobby of Donovan Hall and thinking, this will be my life.”
Joseph Duggan ’86CBA never planned to become an accountant—let alone build a decades-long career at one of the world’s top firms. Through a combination of practical advice, relentless hard work, and invaluable mentorship, he rose from being a student at St. John’s University to an intern at a top consulting firm, to securing a seat on KPMG’s Global Quality and Risk Management leadership Team.
Soon after Mehmet Sengulen, C.P.A. ’02TCB, ’05MBA arrived in America from his native Ankara, Turkey, at 12 years old, he learned English by going to the movies in his neighborhood on Long Island, NY.
“I didn’t speak English when I first came here with my parents,” said Mr. Sengulen. “I would walk over to the movie theater on Saturdays and Sundays, buy a ticket for the 11 o’clock matinee, and stay the entire day to figure out what the actors were talking about.”