By Zack Sampson, News Staff

Newly named Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ralph Martin said he’s looking forward to helping plot Northeastern’s future and pleased to be contributing to an institution he’s seen develop over several decades.

The former Suffolk County District Attorney’s appointment was announced Jan. 26 in a university press release. Martin replaces Vin Lembo, who acted as general counsel for the last 25 years. Lembo will continue to serve as vice president and senior counsel within the general counsel’s office.

Martin will leave his position as managing partner of the law firm Bingham McCutcheon’s Boston office before assuming his role at Northeastern.

He has more than 30 years of experience in law, and is a Northeastern alumnus and trustee. He also served on the search committee which hired President Joseph Aoun in 2005 and was asked to review the university’s debt collection process in 2007.

Despite his significant history with the university, Martin said the job offer “came out of the blue,” and he considered it for three weeks before accepting the position.

Collectively, Martin said his past experiences at Northeastern and the school’s positive evolution encouraged him to take the job.

“I have a real affinity for the school because I went to law school here … [and] I’ve really watched the university evolve over the last couple of decades,” he said. “The intensity of the academic operation and how the stature of the university has grown locally, nationally and internationally … for me to be a part of a mission-driven organization at a very high level, all of those things were very appealing to me.”

Martin also said he saw a general sense of collaboration at the university which drew him to the position.

“Part of the attraction of this job is not only what I might do singularly, but there’s a very strong collaborative ethic among members of the senior team who work with Joseph Aoun, and if that kind of ethic didn’t exist, then the job would not have been as attractive,” he said.

In an e-mail to faculty and staff, President Aoun said Martin will have many duties in his new role.

“Ralph will lead a broad portfolio of additional responsibilities, including community affairs, master planning, compliance and risk management, and the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity.”

He will also help manage the school’s relationship with the city of Boston.

“I’m going to have a very hands-on role in the master planning process that the university has to pursue with the city of Boston, and I’m going to be heavily involved in state government and local government affairs,” Martin said.

University administrators said they expect Martin’s legislative background and involvement in the Boston community to help him succeed in this role.

“Ralph’s many skills will be tremendous assets on this exciting journey,” Aoun said in the press release.

Aside from his legal career, Martin also serves on the boards of Children’s Hospital Boston and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. He was chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce from 2006 to 2008, a role centering on business advocacy.

“I consider myself to be a product of a lot of different experiences, not only as a lawyer,” Martin said. “To me it’s a really broad array of experiences that make me who I am and hopefully give me the diversity and the experiences to advise the university on a very broad range of topics.”

As for specific goals for the school, Martin said he does not have any, but does have a plan for the future.

“I’m not prepared to articulate hard or concrete goals, because I’m still absorbing a lot of the job,” Martin said. “[But] it’s important that we calibrate both a civic lens, a community-based lens, an academic lens and a business lens in the operation of the institution.”

There has been some previous media speculation about Martin’s potential political career. In 2008, The Boston Globe wrote of him as a potential candidate for mayor, but he did not run. He said he has no political aspirations now and hopes to stay at Northeastern for some time.

“I didn’t come here to be a short-timer,” Martin said. “I came to make a contribution. You measure that over time.”