Matt Wagner Email & Phone Number

New York, Ny, Us

Senior Communications Strategist and dynamic team leader helping develop, execute and manage a national portfolio of innovative community engagement strategies on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and oversee work for USDA Rural Development. Work includes:1) Deputy Task Order Manager for FEMA's support of Justice40 and Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Direct Technical Assistance (DTA) effort. Work includes people-, community-, and tribal nation-specific engagement strategies and engagement support to bring new resources and support to underserved places and people to address climate change. 2) Overseeing the build-out of an internal workshop and training series for USDA Rural Development to support community-centered engagement efforts and align with Justice40 and direction of the Under Secretary of USDA Rural Development and Biden-Harris administration.3) Built the strategy and oversaw the development of a first of its kind machine learning, artificial intelligence tool to better understand community needs at scale as a crucial step towards providing services and support.4) Overseeing the CERC contract's support of FEMA's partnership with Utah Division of Emergency Management to improve the seismic and multi-hazard safety of unreinforced masonry public school buildings. Work includes strategy, engagement with Utah DEM, workshops and webinars for schools, and local partnership development.5) Lead the start of the equity working group for a federal client. This included finding subcontracting partners, client engagement, internal team DE&I workshopping and trainings, and acting as a subject matter for meaningful and effective engagement with rural communities, including presentations and webinars.

Oversaw work on behalf of Verizon Wireless’ North Central business unit, a 13-state market that coordinated efforts across four agency offices. He also managed local community engagement for Bank of America, and consumer and integrated outreach for General Motors, Columbia Sportswear, Life Time Fitness, and Integrated Beverage Group.

New York, Ny, Us

Served as Ogilvy's Community Engagement and Risk Communication Liaison as part of a government program with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and their resiliency and flood mapping processes. Taking advantage of core behavior change theories, Matt oversaw community outreach strategy for FEMA Region 8, which includes Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. In this role he re-imagined the community engagement process, tested in key markets and proved a new model which was then adopted.Also provided counsel to Abengoa S.A. as part of their Vista Ridge project, a P3 water pipeline to serve San Antonio, Texas.

Charged with building strategic relationships and alliances for WWF’s North American priority programs: Northern Great Plains and US Arctic. General responsibilities include coalition building and partner support, fundraising, corporate engagement, media and communications, and programmatic planning. Since taking the role, new relationships have been formed or enriched with groups such as Western Governors’ Association, US Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6 headquarters, University of Nebraska, Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Daugherty Foundation, Sandhills Task Force, Platte River Basin Environments, South Dakota Grasslands Coalition, and others. Time supporting the Northern Great Plains program includes collaboration with WWF’s Sustainable Ranching Initiative, WWF Government Affairs regarding Farm Bill advocacy efforts, and a partnership with the South Dakota Grasslands Coalition. Authored bylines and produced digital advocacy materials. Providing communications, policy and advocacy counsel and support to WWF US Arctic team, including organizing grassroots alliances, national alliances with other conservation organizations, facilitating dialogue with prospective corporate partners, and fundraising. Also facilitating the organization’s efforts to address emerging Arctic priorities, including off-shore energy development and trans-Arctic commercial shipping.

Pen a quarterly conservation focused article under the series name, The Conservation Landscape.

Co-designed strategies and process to advance Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack’s All Lands vision to promote sustainable land management and local economic development policies. Co-lead five regional workshops with the Forest Service, county officials, state natural resource agencies and private companies to explore organizational and communications improvements to the US Forest Service to advance better collaboration.Communications and outreach counsel for Yale University’s Integrated Climate Change Adaptation and Landscape Conservation Planning, an innovative and modern approach to large landscape conservation planning and globalization. Analyzed federal and state carbon capture and sequestration policy within the Rocky Mountain region. Prepared the policy paper for British Petroleum in advance of the initial meeting of Colorado’s carbon capture and sequestration task force. Co-facilitated Denver-area municipal task forces working towards leveraging county assets and state lottery funding for open space acquisition, improvement and sustainable economic development.

Non-profit, wildlife corridor conservation coalition formed by Patagonia, Inc. to ensure the sustainability of wildlife corridors and applicable conservation policies. Coalition members included large private companies, regional and national conservation organizations, government and quasi-government associations. Chaired the organization’s policy work team and Sportsmen’s Advisory Council. Responsibilities include working with outdoor recreation companies and conservation organizations to collaboratively advance landscape-scale policies.Worked with regional oil and gas and renewable energy companies to proactively assess siting plans and evaluate mitigation opportunities.Served as the organization’s director of communications and public relations. Earned media placements include: Associated Press, Outside Magazine, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Public Radio and local newspapers such as the Denver Post. Provided organization and administrative oversight throughout the integration of Freedom to Roam into WWF.

Provided public and media relations counsel to GEO outreach team, including public company and school district partnerships and engagement, drafted speeches for Governor Ritter, and assisted with traditional and social media planning and outreach.

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Three-time public relations agency of the year. (www.carmichaellynchspong.com) (NYSE: IPG)Planned and directed national influencer and public relations programs for clients such as Harley-Davidson, Buell Motorcycles, AG Edwards, American Humane Association, BRP Evinrude, and Noodles & Company. Work on behalf of Buell Motorcycles and American Humane won national recognition and awards. Oversaw a team of 3 to 5.

Boutique public relations and integrated communications strategy firm.Asked to lead the agency’s largest accounts and grow the business portfolio. As part of the role, worked directly with CEO, COO and CMO leadership at regional and national companies, and regularly presented at quarterly client reviews or partner reviews. Helped grow the agency to Denver’s largest in two years. Directly managed a team of five.

Strategic communications, policy, lobbying and business consulting firm. Managed a coalition of the largest accounting companies working towards rebuilding investor and regulator confidence in the capital markets and the passing of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Organized and facilitated weekly coalition meetings and strategy sessions, prepared the coalition’s comment and lobbying letters and strategy, managed timelines and synergies across four policy workstreams, and handled all client billing and account reviews.

New York, Ny, Us

Leading global public relations agency and part of The Interpublic Group of Companies. (www.webershandwick.com) (NYSE: IPG)Planned, directed and carried out the outreach strategy for a number of coalition-based outreach projects for clients such as the Green Building Alliance and USDA’s got milk? campaign. Other public relations and reputation management clients included, Unilever, General Motors, Circuit City, and Ace Hardware. Served as a national and local spokesperson for got milk?. Oversaw a team of 4 to 12.

Masters Of Resource Law, Environmental Law, Natural Resource Law, Sustainable Development

Ba, Journalism

Certificate, Environmental Collaboration And Conflict Resolution