Matthew Freedman

Matthew Freedman serves as CEO of Global Impact, Inc, providing both the public and private sectors global strategic advisory services and developing and implementing innovative technology solutions. He has thirty years of experience leading corporate and business development programs and projects overseas. He has also served as an Operating Partner at a NY-based private equity firm and a venture capital firm. A national security and economic development expert, Matthew has served in ten USG agencies, including as a civilian Senior Advisor to Defense Intelligence Agency, US Special Operations Command, US Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLEET), Department of Defense (AT&L), and Department of Energy (Remote Sensing Laboratory). Previously, he served as the White House Transition Director reporting to Secretary of State Colin Powell for the Agency for International Development, the Trade and Development Agency, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Later, he was appointed Deputy to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and Counselor, Bureau of Verification, Compliance and Implementation at the State Department. At the Defense Department he served as Senior Advisor, Department of the Navy. He was also appointed to the Advisory Board for Africa of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Mr. Freedman has worked with numerous US and multinational corporations around the world in key sectors: consumer products, energy, information technology, cyber-security and telecommunication, global services, entertainment and media, capital markets/finance, trade, and defense/homeland security. He has experience in cross-cutting sectors including branding and corporate image, public-private partnerships, technology/innovation, and survey research. Mr. Freedman served as Chief of Party for numerous national and global efforts on behalf of the World Bank, the USG, and the private sector where he hired and managed in-country staffs spanning from Russia to the Philippines. He has also managed numerous international electoral campaigns to promote the rule of law from South Africa to South Korea. Mr. Freedman is also a recognized international health expert having advised the USG/Gates Foundation’s Global Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunizations (GAVI), the World Health Organization’s Rollback Malaria Program, and the US Government’s flagship international child health program, BASICS II. In his earlier career in Washington, Mr. Freedman served in the U.S. government in numerous capacities. In the 1980s, he served as the Staff Director in the Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Office of the Secretary of State. Prior to this appointment, he served at the Agency for International Development as International Development Policy Advisor and Coordinator for Narcotics and Terrorism Control. Prior to these activities, he worked in the Office of Management and Budget (National Security) and the White House National Security Council. A native of New York, Mr. Freedman holds a Master’s Degree with Honors in International Affairs from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and an undergraduate degree from Kenyon College. In 2002 he received the Department of State’s “Superior Honor Award.” He also has studied at the University of York, England, and The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands. He currently sits on several corporate and NGO advisory boards.