After teaching, Matt joined Causes, a startup and early Facebook app that enabled people to raise awareness and funds for their favorite nonprofits. Over the course of five years, Matt worked his way up from Director of Business Development to COO and eventually CEO. Causes ultimately grew to 190 million users in over 150 countries, and helped individuals fundraise over $50 million for nonprofits in the U.S. alone. In 2014, Matt co-founded Brigade along with a few colleagues. Brigade built the world’s first voter network: a nonpartisan platform for voters to discuss issues, advocate to their elected officials, and vote for candidates who reflect their values. In the 2016 and 2018 elections, Brigade reached millions of voters and empowered them with better information and tools. Brigade’s team and intellectual property were recently acquired by Pinterest and Countable, respectively.
Deeply involved in the community, Matt serves on a number of neighborhood and civic boards, including the:
- Almaden Valley Community Association (AVCA)
- District 10 Leadership Coalition
- City of San Jose’s Clean Energy Community Advisory Commission
- Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG)
- Joint Venture Silicon Valley and
- San Jose Rotary.
He is also a founding member of the Friends of Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, co-led the effort to save the 63 and 13 bus routes in Almaden Valley (the only bus routes that serve all of Almaden Valley), and co-chaired the 2018 Measure T campaign to secure funding for road repairs and preserve Coyote Valley.
He and his wife, Silvia, live in the West Santa Teresa Foothills neighborhood, where they are raising their two young children, Nina and Luke. They are members of Holy Spirit Church.