Matthew Stevens
Program Manager
Office of Economic Adjustment, U.S. Department of Defense
Arlington, VA
Matthew Stevens is a project manager in the Office of Economic Adjustment, a field activity under the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Matt oversees a variety of projects in the Industry Resilience program, scopes of which include building capacity of small businesses that are part of the defense industrial base. Activities in his portfolio include the piloting of a cold spray technology lab geared for aircraft maintenance innovation to equipping small, traditional manufacturers with advanced manufacturing technologies and skills to improve their efficiencies.
Matt previously served as the manager of strategic initiatives in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development. He oversaw a team responsible for piloting projects ranging from the Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative, the agency’s first sector-focused entrepreneurial development strategy implemented in twenty-five states at its height, to ScaleUp America, an intensive, cohort-based program for companies just beyond the startup phase, piloted in fourteen states.
As a Presidential Management Fellow, Matt completed a detail at the U.S. Department of State in the Secretary’s Office of Global Partnerships, focusing on public private partnerships related to entrepreneurship/economic growth in Latin America.
Prior to his position at SBA, Matt managed a small business assistance program at the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce funded through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant program. He began his career in economic development while serving in the Peace Corps in Ecuador as a small business advisor. Matt holds a Bachelor of Arts from Southwestern University in economics and Spanish and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.