Matt Briney

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library — Remote

Senior executive responsible for leading institutional communications and public-facing strategy for a presidential library under construction, working in close collaboration with executive leadership, operations, exhibitions, education, and development teams. Serve as a key member of the leadership team helping shape organizational vision, operational readiness, and public engagement in advance of opening.

• Served on the leadership team responsible for developing the Library’s operations plan, including business and earned-revenue components, using benchmarking and planning data from peer presidential and cultural institutions.
• Led a daily historical storytelling initiative focused on Theodore Roosevelt’s life and legacy, tripling social media engagement while using performance data to inform interpretation and audience engagement.
• Implemented internal collaboration and communication tools for a fully remote, multi-city team, improving cross-department coordination, visibility, and operational readiness.
• Direct and manage all press relations for the Presidential Library, overseeing an external agency and serving as institutional spokesperson while monitoring coverage, sentiment, and reach.
• Developed and maintained an institution-wide talking-points framework covering construction, exhibitions, outreach, and Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy, ensuring consistency across leadership and partners.
• Oversee a documentary video team capturing the Library’s construction and development, producing interpretive and archival assets used for education, exhibitions, and public engagement.
• Led the selection of ticketing, e-commerce, and database systems, evaluating platforms for scalability, reporting capabilities, data integrity, and visitor experience.
• Build strategic partnerships with regional tourism organizations, government agencies, and education partners, using referral and participation data to assess impact and drive visitation.
• Established the Library’s membership and annual giving programs, defining value propositions and baseline metrics for acquisition, retention, and engagement.
• Led the development of an AI-driven, GPT-powered collections platform, working closely with collections and curatorial teams to improve access to and exploration of the Library’s collection.
• Built an AI-driven Google Ad Grant optimizer for the TRPL Foundation that crawls the institution’s sitemap, manages campaigns and ad variants via the Google Ads & GA4 APIs, and sustains a 16.46% average click-through rate (peak 25.78%) — more than 3× the Grant minimum.
• Advised exhibitions and interpretive teams on permanent exhibition development, with primary responsibility for shaping digital and interactive components informed by audience research and visitor experience.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon — Mount Vernon, VA

Senior executive at one of the nation’s most visited historic sites, responsible for leading integrated communications, interpretive media, and public-facing initiatives in close coordination with museum leadership, curatorial, education, guest services, and operations teams. Oversaw press relations, community engagement, and creative production across digital, print, photo, video, and design, while serving as a principal spokesperson for the estate. Managed a $2.5M annual operating budget.

• Led website redesign for Mount Vernon, prioritizing content marketing to enhance educational outreach and drive increased visitation via organic SEO impact, boosting annual visitation from 2.5M to 8M+ visitors and 18M+ pageviews per year.
• Produced Mount Vernon’s immersive virtual tour, attracting 4M+ visitors with dwell time of 18 minutes. Widely used in classrooms nationwide. Offered interactive exploration of the estate via vivid HDR photography, stories, videos, and images.
• Achieved major growth in e-commerce revenue, from $1.1M in 2015 to $8.6M in 2021 by leading and completing strategic initiatives, leveraging innovative marketing strategies, and executing seamless online shopping experiences.
• Directed end-to-end creation of award-winning Be Washington interactive theater, a high-value $3.5M capital project. Headed creation of the theater’s highly acclaimed online platform, widely utilized in classrooms across the country.
• Leveraged strong leadership abilities in overseeing the estate’s brand management, including leading Mount Vernon’s graphic design team. Ensured consistent brand representation and aligned visual identity with organizational objectives.
• Functioned as Executive Producer of award-winning short films, including Yorktown Now or Never, The Winter Patriots, A More Perfect Union, Washington’s War, and George Washington and the Pursuit of Religious Freedom. Films received Telly Awards and are distributed on major streaming platforms (Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Curiosity Stream).
• Administered public affairs logistics for high-profile VVIP visits, including President Biden, President Trump, King Charles, Benjamin Netanyahu, and President Zelensky, ensuring seamless protocols and security arrangements.
• Led successful revamping of the estate’s pricing models to enhance the value proposition of membership, leading to a 30% increase in new members within the first year.
• Produced the Mount Vernon Explorer mobile app, putting an audio tour and on-grounds wayfinding in every visitor’s pocket.
• Oversaw and coordinated a wide range of external filming activities, including management of production schedules, preservation of historic structures and objects, licensing requirements, and logistics.
• Gained recognition as recipient of the Thea Outstanding Achievement Award in 2018 for the interactive theater Be Washington; a $3.5M, 36-seat theater that immerses visitors in decision-making scenarios as George Washington.
• Drove an impressive surge in Mount Vernon’s website visitation, driving annual visitors from 4.1M in 2014 to an exceptional 9M in 2021, almost doubling online engagement and expanding reach to a broader audience.
• Replatformed and produced the estate’s audio tour on Guide ID’s Podcatcher Pro, replacing a $7 TourMate add-on with a free-with-admission tour of 53+ stops, 4+ hours of original podcast-style audio, and multilingual accessibility in five languages.
• Ensured smooth implementation of a dynamic email revenue enhancement strategy, accomplishing a 38% increase through meticulous segmentation, rigorous A/B testing, and strategic mobile optimization.
• Devised, deployed, and directed multiple content marketing strategies to elevate organic SEO performance, resulting in numerous search terms ranking within the top 2–3 links in search listings.
• Spearheaded development and implementation of a custom e-commerce platform, enabling efficient management of ticket sales, donations, memberships, and donor retention.
• Steered end-to-end migration of Mount Vernon’s web and database platforms to Amazon Web Services (AWS), yielding a notable 35% reduction in operating costs.
• Served as the editor of Mount Vernon Magazine from Winter 2020 through Spring 2024, overseeing the tri-annual print publication that combines long-form scholarship from working historians and curators with donor stewardship for the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
• Created a groundbreaking augmented-reality tour utilizing Epson Moverio smartglasses, produced with ARtGlass, making Mount Vernon one of the first U.S. historic sites with a regular wearable-AR visitor offering.
• Played a pivotal role in adoption of a centralized CRM system, including overseeing seamless integration across the estate.
• Optimized advertising expenditure aimed at generating trackable ROI campaigns delivering a 3.9% average conversion rate.

Edelman Public Relations — Washington, DC

Orchestrated design and execution of Edelman’s exclusive Salesforce.com database marketing platform, Multiplier, offering efficient engagement analytics spanning web, social, email, and offline initiatives. Delivered strategic marketing insights and technical guidance to prominent brands and directed a global technical team across a portfolio of 60+ projects.

• Implemented and managed various grassroots advocacy campaigns for a range of prominent organizations, including American Petroleum Institute, Pfizer, Microsoft, Walmart, Grocery Manufacturers of America, National Mining Association, Pepsi, Smarter Fuel Future, Embassy of Canada, Halliburton, Hilex, Episcopal Church, ASCD, and the National Health Council.
• Hired by HP CEO Meg Whitman to lead internal communications amid rapid leadership changes. Created HPNN, an internal news platform using native HP technologies.
• Headed development and deployment of a B2G (Business-to-Government) website for BlackBerry RIM, highlighting the robust security features of BlackBerry systems for secure government communications.
• In 24 hours, created an interactive tool using Multiplier technology to tackle Hyundai’s fuel economy miscalculation. The tool calculated MPG discrepancies by VIN, factoring in state-specific fuel prices, and allowed owners to file fuel reimbursement claims. Offered 120% cash value as fair compensation for misrepresentation, ahead of Hyundai’s EPA hearing.
• Oversaw end-to-end creation and execution of a secure, white-label internal project management system akin to Basecamp, tailored to facilitate collaboration on confidential client projects.
• Engineered a bespoke digital publishing system for Chevron, enabling safe and uninterrupted dissemination of information while prioritizing data confidentiality and employee privacy.
• Designed a user-friendly internal communications tool using Salesforce.com for seamless employee communication and collaboration within General Electric.
• Developed a cutting-edge popup event for a leading ride-share competitor, Taxi Magic, that facilitated seamless app-based ordering of conventional taxi cabs.

Emotive, LLC — Arlington, VA

Pioneered the establishment of an interactive direct marketing agency, leading from conceptualization to execution. Offered strategic marketing consulting to 40+ prestigious non-profit organizations, political candidates, and trade associations including the Pickens Plan, Californians for Schwarzenegger, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Republican National Committee, and the Washington DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project.

• Executed digital fundraising campaigns for high-profile political figures, including Governors Schwarzenegger, Kasich, Green, and Haslam; Senator McConnell, Senator Bennett, and Senator Allen; the Republican National Committee; the National Republican Congressional Committee; the National Republican Senatorial Committee; and the Republican State Leadership Committee.
• Delineated growth verticals, created sales and marketing strategies, and managed product pricing and packaging for political, non-profit, and association-oriented products and services, leading to diversified revenue streams and enhanced market reach.
• Transformed open-source CRM system CiviCRM for political campaigns, while providing source code to enhance the platform’s email throughput via efficient server multi-threading, thereby improving operational efficiency and response times.
• Headed digital marketing for T. Boone Pickens’ Pickens Plan campaign, reducing US gasoline dependency. Managed a Super Bowl campaign with a live stream that attracted millions; the petition amassed 13M+ signatures, expanding campaign reach.
• Managed and maintained Emotive’s technology alliances with Blackbaud Sphere, Blackbaud Convio 360, and Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge, ensuring seamless integration and technological advancements.
• Designed and executed marketing and fundraising strategies for the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial capital campaign. Managed digital ticketing (VIP and public RSVP for the 2006 groundbreaking ceremony on the National Mall), distributed celebrity advocacy spots including Morgan Freeman’s “Build The Dream,” and raised $15M+ through digital outreach toward the memorial’s ~$120M total cost.
• Unified and spearheaded a multidisciplinary team comprising account managers, graphic designers, and web application developers, fostering a high-performing work environment.
• Amplified company’s annual revenue to $1.6M within a two-year timeline using robust growth and business acumen.
• Generated annual revenue of $5.7M through effective management and execution of business strategies.

American International Automobile Dealers Association — Alexandria, VA

DCI Group — Washington, DC

Virginia Tech — Blacksburg, VA

Minors in Communications, Graphic Design, and Humanities