Donnie's Biography:

Donnie Martin brings over 15 years of hands-on and industry leadership experience in automotive refinishing, with a career uniquely spanning production, technical training, and distribution leadership.

Donnie began his career as a full-time production painter, spending 9 years in high-volume collision environments where precision prep, color accuracy, cycle time, and profitability were non-negotiable. This foundation gives him a deep, practical understanding of real-world challenges technicians face—from substrate preparation and defect prevention to tinting strategies and blend control under production pressure.

He then spent 3 years with BASF as a Regional Training Specialist, delivering advanced refinish education across multiple markets. In this role, Donnie trained painters, estimators, and shop leadership on color theory, variant management, spray technique optimization, and process standardization, while supporting complex color match issues in the field. His experience includes both classroom instruction and on-site shop problem-solving, bridging theory with application.

For the past 3 years, Donnie has served as Regional Sales Manager with Industrial Finishes & Systems, where he continues to work directly with top-performing collision centers, MSOs, and dealership shops. This role keeps him closely connected to current production trends, materials, and technology—ensuring his training remains modern, relevant, and profit-focused.

Donnie’s instruction style is technician-driven, process-focused, and practical, emphasizing repeatable results, reduced rework, and improved color consistency. His unique combination of production experience, OEM-level training expertise, and day-to-day shop engagement makes him exceptionally qualified to teach advanced prep and color match strategies that work in today’s collision repair environment.