• At STORYhouse Partners, we work with writers, agents, and editors to expedite manuscripts and proposals to market. We coach clients through the writing process, heavily edit and even co-write manuscripts, and resolve structural and strategic concerns of projects. We deliver writing and craft workshops and provide copyediting and indexing services.• As of September 2015, our team has worked on a dozen fiction and nonfiction book-length manuscripts, and delivered workshops to more than 100 writers.• As Director of Operations, I write and edit with clients while also managing client relations and workflow.• In addition to working directly with writers, we also take on freelance writing projects which may include extensive research for written and video projects, reports, white papers, presentations, and more.

• Non-fiction: Author of In Pursuit of Giants: One Man’s Global Search for the Last of the Great Fish (Viking/ Penguin June 2012) a 5-year, 75,000-mile journey to encounter the great fish of the sea—marlin, bluefin tuna, and swordfish—and tell the story of their 70% decline in the past 50 years. Locations included Mexico, Nova Scotia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Mediterranean. Website: www.inpursuitofgiants.com.• Conducted research into global fisheries law and history; species biology, range, evolution, and impact of fishing technologies, as well as issues related to specific locales (e.g., Shark Norma law in Mexico). • Communicated with international contacts ranging from Greenpeace marine scientists, sport and commercial fishermen, conservationists, and undercover pirate fishing researchers. • Coordinated logistics for a dozen different international excursions including to remote fishing villages, offshore charters, interview subjects, translators, accommodations, and more. Shot 26 hours of high-definition video plus hundreds of professional Velvia negatives. Conducted dozens of interviews with subjects ranging from commercial and sport captains to government bureaucrats, Washington lobbyists, and environmentalists.• Published articles on international fishing in The Boston Globe, The Huffington Post, Orion Online. Huffington link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-rigney/• Helped craft nonprofit environmental testimonial language for Congressional submission on topics related to fisheries.• Giants was nominated for the 2013 Massachusetts Book Award in Nonfiction. Wall Street Journal review link: http://bit.ly/WSJrev• In 2017, The University Press of New England published In Pursuit of Giants as part of their “Seafaring America” series of classic works depicting America’s relationship with the sea.

• Act as Executive Producer, scriptwriter, and project manager to create videos for the Springfield Public Schools focusing on Common Core standards and the district’s new teacher evaluation system (called SEEDS: Springfield Effective Educator Development System).• Coordinate with district supervisors, educational consultants, outside vendors, district instructional leaders, and videographer to script, schedule, shoot, integrate feedback, final edit, package, and deliver videos focusing on specific SEEDS content. Create videos articulating the district’s public relations message about the new evaluation protocol and the new superintendent’s five-year vision for the district.• Assist in the development of the SEEDS website, meeting with district IT staff, web designer, and supervisors to determine content, site structure, and means of video delivery.• SEEDS videos can be viewed at: http://seeds.sps.springfield.ma.us/videos/

• Ensured quality implementation of five-year, $16.6 million federal Striving Readers grant. Grant evaluated according to a random control trial with two targeted and one whole school intervention, as well as control groups. Teachers and students randomized to the interventions across five urban high schools. Evaluation relied on quality of implementation at the scheduling, teacher, and classroom levels.• US Dept of Education rated evaluation design as “the gold standard” among 8 national grant recipients.• Managed communication and relationships with all outside vendors (Scholastic Inc., University of Kansas Strategic Learning Center, Brown University’s Education Alliance), and the US Dept. of Education. • Oversaw implementation team of four, designed long-term implementation timelines, resolved policy questions regarding students, data, teachers, vendors, and the public. • Responsible for all official documentation and communication for the grant including quarterly and year-end reports, district and school committee updates, communications with vendors and the USDOE, meeting notes, and formulation of policies for participating schools and districts.

• Grants & Proposals: Oversee all phases of grant or proposal research, concept development, and program design, including budget and narrative content for federal, state, foundation, and local entities. Proven success at writing all portions of grants and proposals, from executive summary through budget narrative and evaluation plan.• Engage with community members, build coalitions of essential partners, guide team through design consideration of program components, implementation logistics, and construction of final proposal. • Contracts have included local and state grants for at-risk youth programming and the arts, grants to foundations for leadership or technology development, federal grants to the Technology Opportunity Program (T.O.P.) and Striving Readers to support literacy development in high school students.• Clients include the Massachusetts Department of Education, Clarke School for the Deaf, the Wallace Foundation, local school districts, educational collaboratives, regional employment boards, artists, and quasi-public agencies for education reform and workforce development in Massachusetts and Canada. • Grant amounts range from $5,000 to $16.6 million. Total funds raised to date: over $22 million.• Development & Fundraising: Interim Director of Philanthropy (Summer 2011) for Adamant Music School in Adamant Vermont, a 70-year old music school transitioning to a formal fundraising infrastructure. Raised $34,000 through direct solicitation.• Freelance: Prepare brochures, manuals, training exercises, web content, and articles for a variety of businesses, organizations, and educational entities. Conduct interviews with students, teachers, alumni, education and business members, attend and report on business and education events, meet deadlines, structure articles according to editor’s guidelines.