Iron Mountain Technology Leader Nerina Martinez on AI, Value, and Authentic Leadership

Nerina Martinez, VP of Commercial & Customer Excellence Platforms at Iron Mountain, has built a career on identifying what’s next and ensuring technology is an enabler for business strategy. Her journey—from launching collaboration tools for every employee to leading platforms that drive customer excellence—shows a leader deeply committed to quantifiable business value, cross-functional partnership, and an authentic, hands-on style.

Architecting Digital Excellence

Nerina joined Iron Mountain in July 2019 to lead the digital transformation of the company’s collaboration tools, an initiative that benefited every single Mountaineer. It concluded in January 2020, positioning the organization perfectly for the unforeseen global shift to remote work that soon followed due to the Covid pandemic. Following this success, Nerina was part of the team that launched the company’s first e-commerce site, leading the technology strategy. Over the next few years, she managed workplace technology, identity and access management, IT support and device strategy, before taking on her most recent role.

Today, Nerina leads the technology platforms supporting the customer and commercial excellence teams, which include sales, marketing, and customer service. This role provides direct engagement with Iron Mountain’s customers, allowing her team to use technology to address real-world pain points.

The Power of Collaboration and Quick Wins

Nerina emphasizes that working across functions requires strong relationships and clear communication. To quickly build trust and credibility with new business partners, Nerina and her team focus on delivering tangible results early on. “In those one-on-one conversations of understanding what are the pain points and the goals for a project, we want to identify a few quick wins that will make incremental progress while working towards longer, strategic initiatives.”

This approach ensures the IT teams are seen as proactive partners, demonstrating value while aligning long-term technology initiatives with overall business strategy.

Leadership and Quantifying Value

As a collaborative leader, Nerina is prepared to "get [her] hands dirty" but also knows when to step back and let her talented team members lead.

A major focus for her leadership team is moving beyond simply hitting deadlines or checking requirements. The new measure of success is quantifying the actual value delivered to the business, such as improved cycle time. “Something that we’ve been really focused on this year is going beyond defining success based on meeting a date or delivering a specific set of capabilities. We’re now saying, ‘can we quantify the actual value that we delivered to the business?’”

In addition, Nerina looks at what this means for her teams and how they ultimately serve their internal stakeholders and Iron Mountain’s customers. “I think it helps the IT teams actually feel more connected to the concept of customer centricity. They can see how their work is helping what we’re delivering for our customers.”

Industry Trends: AI and Platform Cohesion

Nerina notes the immense potential of AI, but stresses that a successful rollout requires more than just technology. “There’s no question that AI has a strong technology component, but change management is just as critical. Bringing people along the journey – inviting them into the process of what we’re building and how we intend to use it – helps build understanding, transparency, and shared accountability for its adoption.”

She also points to the vital need for platform cohesion, emphasizing the use of API-based or headless technologies to connect various platforms and tools. This is critical to creating a simplified and cohesive experience for end-users, ensuring they don’t need to juggle multiple systems to complete a single task.

Advice on Trust and Authenticity

When reflecting on personal influences, Nerina shares that observing her young niece and nephew has taught her the importance of staying curious and unafraid to fail - mindsets she brings into her everyday work.

“Somebody once told me: be yourself because everybody else is taken. Authenticity is so important as you move through your career. Don’t try to fit into someone else’s idea of who you should be—that can hold you back. You’ve gotten to where you are because of your strengths, so don’t underestimate them.”