Ari Matusiak

“I had the pleasure of working with Ari closely for two years and during that time developed a deep respect and admiration for his leadership capabilities. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Ari again in the future. His strengths are many and there are several I feel inspired to call out. Integrity - Ari possesses a powerful ethical compass which guides his personal and professional behavior and builds trust with others. People grant Ari moral authority and he organically becomes a partner and counselor to other executives in navigating though difficult situations. This forms a powerful foundation for Ari's leadership style where others actively seek out his direction vs. him needing to assert positional authority. Strategic relationship building - whether it's B2B, B2G, public-private partnership, or in direct public service Ari has an unusual pairing of the ability to conceptualize opportunity with the selling and bridge-building instincts to capture the value of the opportunity. Combined with the trust he establishes, this consistently results in people on all sides of a partnership showing willingness to release an objection, move off an entrenched position, or take the risk of something new and uncertain. Intellectual agility - Ari demonstrates a tremendous ability to assess new circumstances, synthesize facts which may appear disparate to others, and formulate strategic choices. He is open minded and regularly seeks data and solicits other's points of view to inform his decision making. Ari has a gift for articulating the insights from his strategic processing in clear and compelling terms, extracting practical solutions and approaches from complex situations. Playing to win - Despite his naturally collaborative style, Ari is fiercely competitive. He is adept at finding balanced outcomes but also does not shy away from winner-take-all propositions in the market. He energizes others by creating a clear definition of what winning looks like and by setting the pace for others to achieve that outcome.”

“I had the privilege of working with Ari for more than seven years. We first worked together in the Obama Administration while Ari was the Special Assistant to President Obama for Public Engagement and I was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Business Affairs and Public Liaison at the U.S. Treasury Department. I so enjoyed working with Ari in Washington that I later joined his team at Renovate America where I reported directly to him as the Vice President for Policy and Regulatory Affairs. Ari is a seasoned senior executive with experience in both government and the private sector. He has been tested and excelled in high-pressure professional environments that have often been complicated by fluid market dynamics, policy and regulatory challenges, and impacted by considerable operational changes. In those environments Ari has led with vision, analytical rigor, and operational excellence. Moreover, Ari emerged as an industry leader, not only as a leader at Renovate America. He worked effectively with the leadership of our competitors and earned their respect. Ari is also a creative problem solver and skilled strategist and negotiator. He also has the unique ability to identify opportunities and manage them from concept to execution – such as creating efficiencies in core operational processes, developing new markets, and managing legislative and policy efforts. Finally, Ari is an excellent team leader. Both in government and at Renovate America Ari built the right teams for the specific project or challenge at hand, whether that was to organize a strategic outreach campaign, develop a rigorous policy analysis, or implement a new legislative requirement. Ari led his teams with integrity and humor, no matter how challenging the work was it was always fun to be at the table together. As a manager, Ari empowers his team members and employees by proactively seeking growth opportunities and personally mentoring staff. I personally experienced growth and was given opportunity to develop skills under Ari’s leadership. Similarly, Ari cultivated strong relationships across the organization and within departments, not just with executives and mid-level management but also with junior staff which is atypical for many executives but I think is a key reason why Ari is so effective. I strongly recommend Ari and look forward to hopefully having the opportunity to work with him again. ”