Matthew is an advisor with 20 years of professional experience as an award-winning reporter and communications strategist for Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, and federal officials. As a principal at Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, he develops and executes earned, owned, and paid media strategies that help clients meet financial and organizational goals, as well as leading the strategic communications practice’s AI initiatives.
Before joining Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies, Matthew was an executive speechwriter, social media strategist, and editor at WPP’s Group SJR, Ogilvy, and VML, where he worked with C-suite executives to produce high-impact speeches, enhance social media profiles, and develop owned content that connected a vast array of stakeholders and drove narratives beyond the news cycle. He also led agency-wide AI initiatives across content, thought leadership, and social media functions.
His clients have included global leaders in technology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, energy, manufacturing, aerospace, and academia. His thought leadership placements have included The Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, Politico, Dayton Daily News, The Washington Post, Journal of the American Health Information Management Association, and the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.
Earlier in his career, Matthew spent nearly a decade as a Washington, D.C.-based reporter, covering congressional races, K Street, and campaign finance. During his three election cycles at CQ Roll Call, he served as an assistant editor of their Politics in America book. While at The Chronicle of Philanthropy, he oversaw the annual feature on the nation’s most generous nonprofit donors. He also reported on Capitol Hill for regional outlets including the Brownfield Ag News radio network, the Greeley Tribune, Daily Herald, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Chicago Defender, and The Times of Northwest Indiana, while writing a nationally syndicated column distributed by hundreds of local newspapers.
Matthew earned his M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and his B.A. in English and Russian from the University of Missouri. As a reporter, he shared the Washington Government Relations Group’s Lucile Harris Bluford Spotlight Award and the National Press Foundation’s Everett McKinley Dirksen Award.