Before Cornerstone, Matt served as the director, Navy Liaison Office to the U.S. House of Representatives and as the Navy deputy chief of legislative affairs. In that role, he developed the Navy’s strategic engagement plan in support of legislative priorities and was a key advisor to the Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations during two National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) cycles. His initial congressional experience was with the legislative liaison to the U.S. Senate.

Matt’s Navy background includes experience in command of a U.S. Navy helicopter wing in the Pacific and as commanding officer of a helicopter squadron deployed on an aircraft carrier to the Middle East and Europe. As a requirements officer in the Navy Staff Air Warfare Directorate, he was a champion for enhancing the Navy’s electronic warfare, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare capabilities. Matt also served as a senior executive and flight instructor in a helicopter training squadron, as a human resources manager with the Navy Personnel Command, and in various staff headquarters assignments. He was the U.S. Navy Hudson Fellow to the University of Oxford during Academic Year 2015-2016.

Matt holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.  Matt and his wife, Andrea, reside in Bethesda, MD with their three boys, Matthew, Stephen and Nicholas.