Matthew Leifer Email & Phone Number

Washington, DC, US

Wheaton, Maryland, United States

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

• Directed day-to-day operations of the VEO, occasionally assuming the role of Chief as needed. Led a team of 11 full-time, part-time, contract employees and 200+ volunteers to engage and provide programming for over 1M.
• In collaboration with the Chief of VEO, set and implemented the department’s operational strategy including, but not limited to, staffing, visitor engagement strategies, volunteer recruitment and volunteer continuing.
• Re-imagined the volunteer staffing strategy including onboarding, the development of the volunteer training handbook and courses, tour evaluation and tour scheduling.
• Led the execution of the VEO’s new engagement strategy tasked with prioritizing the visitor’s experience.
• Led the effort to re-establish volunteer-led guided tours of the Library, including creating and providing engagement strategies classes required for all volunteers.
• Led the transition to a new volunteer management software system, including overseeing requirements gathering and customizing the database and website to ensure alignment with organizational priorities and increase.

Arlington, Virginia, United States

• Reported directly to the Executive Director of the Memorial. Directed all Memorial operations including visitor services, education, public programming, gift shop, volunteers, training, accessibility initiatives and.
• Led team to create interactive and engaging standards of learning-aligned lesson plans and other education programs to assist educators engage students in historical events through the lens of servicewomen.
• Partnered with Collections Department to ensure all education and public programming is grounded in Memorial-supported content.
• Planned, managed and evaluated Memorial-wide visitor experience and customer service strategy in addition to education and public programming strategies.
• Established a monthly signature interview program where we fulfill our mission by sharing servicewomen’s stories with new audiences.
• Established and implemented required customer service and accessibility training for all Memorial team members resulting in more engagement with visitors and increased registration of women’s service.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Guided daily operations of museum visitor services team with 9 managers, 50 full and part time representatives and 100+ volunteers for 800K+ visitors annually. Managed $2.8M budget. Planed, managed and evaluated the.
• Led organization-wide accessibility compliance initiatives through the strategic use of technology and staffing to ensure Newseum was within ADA guidelines.
• Reviewed, analyzed and interpreted historical data, informing future staffing structure and directing and scheduling management team.
• Realized nearly 24% savings in staffing budget through leadership of department-wide strategic staffing re-alignment to minimize organizational resources and target staffing for most effective visitor experience.
• Created and administered organization-wide orientation training, reinforcing organizational culture which included security procedures, customer service, accessibility, diversity, exhibit content, building navigation.
• Responsible for department-wide hiring for full- and part-time positions.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Led and trained diverse team consisting of part-time and full-time representatives and 100+ volunteers. Created daily and weekly schedules for all team members to ensure best coverage of exhibit galleries as well as.
• Re-imagined television studio experience to provide better visitor engagement by introducing hourly interactive programs about the studios which averaged over 1,400 visitors daily.
• Supported team members by creating an extensive training and evaluation program to ensure accuracy of information.
• Boosted scheduling protocol efficiency, reducing administrative time following a shift in staffing from predominantly part-time staff to a full-time staff.
• Developed data-informed operations protocols for high-volume days and special events that included: - Unstructured free admission days, family programming days and teacher open houses. - Structured events such as three.
• Oversaw the development of multiple team member handbooks including: -Staff Handbook to streamline processes resulting in standardization and adherence to policies and procedures. - Visitor Services Leadership Handbook.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Supervised up to 180 part-time representatives. Coordinated scheduling and facilitated training provided by training department. Supervised and coached team on guest services on exhibit floors.
• Monitored museum visitor flow in the security office using cameras and radio communications.
• Mentored, coached, led and advocated for Visitor Services team.

Cleveland/Akron, Ohio Area

• Supervised, scheduled, coached and mentored Visitor Experience team of 20 part-time team members and 30+ volunteers to provide front line guest service to visitors.
• Created schedules for all school group field trips including tours, programs, theater shows and lunches.
• Researched and created dynamic and engaging educational STEM-based programs.

Cleveland/Akron, Ohio Area

• Supervised registration team and call center, redeveloped registration procedures for groups, events and overnight experiences and prepared analyses of registration trends which informed resource management.
• Managed and streamlined billing operations to reduce unpaid invoices.

Cleveland/Akron, Ohio Area

Provided front-line guest relations including exhibit interpretation, facilitated guided groups and camp-ins, performed demonstrations for guests and developed new demonstrations.

Master Of Arts - Ma, Museums Studies

Graduate Certificate, Nonprofit Management

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Media Studies