Matthew Freedman

Serves as CEO of Global Impact, Inc. providing global strategic advisory services and developing, identifying and implementing innovative technology solutions. He has over three decades of experience leading business development programs, policy and change management strategies for corporate entities. He has also worked as an Operating Partner at a New York-based private equity firm.

A national security, intelligence and defense expert, Mr. Freedman has served as a Senior Civilian Advisor to numerous USG national security, intelligence and foreign assistance agencies. Over the past forty three years he has worked in or advised 15 federal government agencies including US Special Operations Command, Departments of State, Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Security Council, Executive Office of the President (OMB), Defense Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and others. He has also served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the Army and currently serves as Special Advisor to US Pacific Fleet Command (Navy), and to Secretary of the Air Force/Concepts Development Management Office. 

He has served in multiple US presidential transitions playing a leadership role in the national security arena. During the Bush ’43 Transition 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. In the Bush Administration (’43) 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, State Department Bureau of Verification, Compliance and Implementation. 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 and more recently served as Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. 

Mr. Freedman has worked with numerous global 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, nextgen technology, and defense/homeland security.  He has experience in crosscutting, functional 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 and the private sector where he hired and managed in-country staffs. 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. 

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 corporate and NGO advisory boards, and has appropriate current security clearances.