Cordell Martin, who joined the 100 only a year ago and already has made himself indispensable, earned the coveted designation this year. Along with the other members of the 2022 class, he was profiled in a special section of the South Bend Tribune on Sunday, June 26. Cordell also appears in a video on the Forth Under 40 website.
Cordell’s designation comes one year after that of another member of the 100, Shanon Buari. Shanon, an attorney with the firm of Anderson, Agostino & Keller P.C., is a member of the 100’s board of directors and currently serves on the 2022 Gala Committee.
Coincidentally, Shanon’s wife, Raquel Buari, also an attorney and the vice president of compliance for the Four Winds Casinos, is also a member of the Forty Under 40 Class of 2022.
Cordell, whose first contact with the 100 was as a member of the Michiana Diversity Leadership Institute several years ago, is a South Bend native and a graduate of Riley High School. He earned a B.A. at Indiana University Bloomington and a master’s in advertising at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. He worked for several years in marketing and advertising in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago and other locations, before returning to South Bend in 2020 as a senior project manager in the South Bend Community School Corporation.
Since joining the 100, he has taken on two crucial tasks and done them splendidly. Virtually singlehandedly he initiated our Riley High School initiative, working with Principal Shawn Henderson to create a mentoring program for about 25 African American boys.
More recently he has taken on the role of membership committee chairman, replacing Geovanny Martinez, who is leaving the area. Already, Cordell has moved four new members through the membership process.
Congratulations to Cordell. Congratulations also to Shanon and Raquel.