New leadership for Auxiliary Services
Crista Martin, who brings nearly three decades of experience in providing essential services to college communities, has been named executive director of Boston College Auxiliary Services, where she will oversee a broad portfolio of operations.
Martin, who joined the University this summer, served in a variety of roles within Harvard University Dining Services across approximately 28 years. She succeeds Patricia Bando, who retired last summer after 22 years leading the division.
Martin said she has maintained collegial relationships with Bando and other managers at BC, as well as other colleges and universities in the Boston area.
“In Boston, we are all friends,” said Martin. “We collaborate, we talk to each other. I had a deep and abiding admiration for BC already, so the chance to bring my particular skill set here was a wonderful opportunity. I am very community driven. My values have to do with making people feel at home and welcome and cared for. Those are the things Auxiliary Services does. These services are the way we welcome our BC community, but also the world as well.”
At BC, Auxiliary Services includes Dining Services, Heights Catering, Athletics concessions, Parking and Transportation, the Boston College Bookstore, Eagle Print, events management, and spaces such as the Connors Retreat Center in Dover.
“We are here to make your campus life more seamless,” Martin said. “We want to help people move easier through some of their day-to-day tasks.”
Martin said the path that led her to food services began in childhood. “I grew up on a family farm. We could walk out every day and pick fresh produce. So, I was actually born into it.”
At Harvard Dining Services, where Martin started her career in 1998, she served as director of strategic initiatives and communication for the past 13 years, with responsibilities that reached into marketing and communications, employee recruitment and engagement, long-range planning, and coordinating with the central administration and campus services.
Martin said she maintains a focus on the customer experience.
“I’m always thinking first about how to make everyone feel welcome and cared for. How do our operations and services support the very unique ways we come together as a community? Second, I’m constantly innovating within that framework: How to do it better, smarter, yummier, faster. This remarkable team here has been innovating for a long time. That is an example of the energy I get from this work.”
Martin said that focus extends beyond the campus community, through programs such as Dining Services’ food donation program. BC Dining works with student-led Every Bite Counts to package excess prepared food, which is then distributed by local food rescue organizations.
Additional existing initiatives focused on reducing food waste, composting, reducing plastic waste, and sourcing produce from local and sustainable sources are exciting opportunities to have a broader positive impact, Martin said.
“I think a lot about how the services we provide turn around and support our neighbors. How can BC be the best partner, a friend to the city, and a good neighbor to the people who live near us? How can we exemplify the moral standards of this place?”