| Matt was born and raised in West Hartford, CT. I attended St. Thomas the Apostle school until the eighth grade and then entered the West Hartford Public Schools, Plant Junior High School and William H. Hall High School. In addition to my academics I participated in sports to include football, wrestling, and lacrosse, going on to play lacrosse in College, serving as captain during my senior year. Matt knew early on in my high school career that he wanted to be a teacher. Matt initially enrolled at Central Connecticut State University where he obtained both a Bachelor Degree in Technology Education, as well as a Masters Degree in Education Administration. Upon finishing my Bachelor Matt began teaching right away, receiving his first teaching job with the Connecticut Department of Correction, Unified School District #1. During this time he also served as Chief Steward for the Connecticut State Employee Association. In this role he spent countless hours working with the administration and members of the General Assembly to draft, and pass legislation which not only preserved the status of Unified School District #1, but the eventual growth of Unified School District #1 to 4 times the size. In addition to working with the legislature to preserve critical education and public safety programs Matt worked with CSEA on the contract negotiation team.
After teaching for six years, at the same time starting a family, opening and operating two Nursery Schools and Daycares, pursuing my Master Degree in Education Administration, and certification as a Principal, Matt was promoted to State School Department Head and responsible for opening a new school for youth at Maloney Correctional Institution, located in Cheshire CT. After two years in this position Matt was promoted to Principal at Enfield Correctional Institution where I remained for 7 years. During this time in addition to serving on the Suffield Police Commission and raising a family of now 4 children, Matt pursued a Masters degree in Criminal Justice, and received my Doctoral Degree from the University of Massachusetts in Education Administration, Policy, and Research as well as being certified as a School Superintendent.
In 2000, Matt was asked to take over the principal position at then MacDougall Correctional Institution, here in Suffield CT, with the responsibility to merge programs at both MacDougal Correctional Institution and Walker Correctional Institution, now known as MacDougal-Walker Correctional Institution. During this time, in addition to again serving on the contract negotiation team, this time representing management, I was also responsible for ensuring for the successful national accreditation of the facility by the American Correctional Association.
In 2003 Matt was again promoted to Director of Correctional Enterprises, responsible for complete over-site of programs designed to both educate and provide real work experiences for the inmate population throughout the state, and at the same time operate a business to provide assistance to all state agencies municipalities and non-profit organizations.
During this time Matt was fortunate to be recognized by both local and national organizations for my work in the field of education and criminal justice. Connecticut General Assembly for Outstanding Service, and leadership in the field of Education (2001), the National Major Gang Task Force(2001), Connecticut Correctional Institution Manager of the Year (1998), State of Connecticut Manager of the Year for the DOC (1999), Middle Atlantic States Correctional Association for outstanding service in the field of Corrections (2000), and State of Connecticut Outstanding Managerial Performance every year 1998 through 2006.
Additionally, Matt was appointed to serve on numerous planning committees for Curriculum Development, Grant Writing, Common Core of Learning, Technology Education, Teacher Evaluation, and Contract Negotiations to name a few.
In March 2006 after a great and satisfying career Matt retired to pursue new interests and dreams. I am now founder, President and CEO of MyZipple.com a nationwide company with over 7200 community websites.
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