A founding member of the firm and President since August 2013, Matt has more than 25 years of experience providing strategic corporate, financial and crisis communications counsel to Boards of Directors and executive leadership of public corporations and private equity firms involved in M&A, hostile takeovers, proxy contests, shareholder activism defense, spin-offs, public listings, reorganizations, financial restructurings, management changes, privacy and cybersecurity, litigation, regulatory actions and a wide range of corporate crises. His areas of expertise include:

Shareholder Activism 

He has advised many companies in their defense against proxy contests, short attacks and other tactics employed by activist investors. Recent engagements, among others, include: Janus Henderson Group (Trian Partners); Foot Locker (Vesa); Virtusa (New Mountain); MasterCraft Boat Holdings (Donerail); Perspecta (JANA); AIMCO (Land & Buildings); Red Robin (Vinage Capital); MVC Capital (Wynnefield); Olin (Sachem Head); Circor (GAMCO); Merit Medical (Starboard); GCP Applied Technologies (Starboard, 40 North); LKQ (ValueAct); L Brands (Barington Capital); Bed Bath & Beyond (Legion, Macellum, Ancora); Cerner (Starboard); Knowles (Calligan); and Lowe’s (D. E. Shaw).

Mergers & Acquisitions

Recent assignments include: The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Tribune Publishing with respect to the unsolicited acquisition proposal from Alden Global; FLIR Systems in its sale to Teledyne Technologies; Pluralsight in its going private transaction with Vista Equity Partners; Teladoc Health in its acquisition of Livongo; Illumina in its acquisition of GRAIL; Varian in its merger with Siemens Healthineers; Ionis in its acquisition of Akcea; Virtusa in its sale to Baring Private Equity Asia; LBrands in its planned separation into two publicly-listed companies (Victoria Secret/Pink and Bath & Body Works); BorgWarner in its acquisition of Delphi Technologies; Leidos in its acquisition of Dynetics; InterXion in its sale to Digital Realty Trust; Penn National Gaming in its investment in Barstool Sports and acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment; Circor in its successful defense against an unsolicited tender offer from Crane; an investor group led by Richard Baker in its going-private transaction with Hudson’s Bay; Anadarko Petroleum in its sale to Occidental Petroleum; Newmont Mining in its acquisition of Goldcorp; and Energen in its sale to Diamondback Energy.

Corporate Governance, Investor Relations & Financial Public Relations

He develops and implements comprehensive investor relations, corporate governance and financial communications programs for clients across a wide range of industries. He also has played a role in numerous corporate reorganizations, financial restructurings, Board and management changes, governance roadshows, earnings pre-announcements, regulatory actions, litigation support and other material corporate developments.

In December 2020, Matt was recognized as a Top-10 “Power Player” by The Observer in its PR Power 50 List.  Matt received The M&A Advisor’s “40 Under 40” Recognition Award in 2012, and in 2007 he was named to PR Week’s inaugural “40 Under 40” list. Matt previously was a vice president in the M&A and crisis communications practice at Abernathy MacGregor Frank. He serves on the Board of Trustees of The Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, NJ.  He received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in international relations and a BA in communications from the University of Pennsylvania.