Matthew Diver, Partner
Places lived: United States (California, Massachusetts), Africa (Lesotho)
Education: Harvard Kennedy School, masters of public policy; University of California, Berkeley, BS in business administration
Experience: Boston Consulting Group, project leader for teams responsible for developing and implementing strategies for public health and public sector clients as well as those in the insurance, technology, and energy industries; Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, chairing the computer department for the Thaba-Tseka Technical Institute
Focus: Driving pragmatic progress at the intersection of the public and private sectors
Intellectual influences: Bruce Springsteen, Norman Frank (seventh grade math teacher), Jared Diamond
Turning points: Deciding to leave the world of finance to chart a different course
Matt has a number of things in common with other members of Tapestry’s leadership team. He is interested in change – how it happens in individuals and in institutions. And he has a sense of service to society. Most of all, he is a person who has defined his career, rather than letting a career define him.
He grew up in Pasadena, California, where his father was the CFO of a major financial institution. Matt thought about following in his footsteps. But not too many years later, he found himself thousands of miles away teaching local villagers about computers as a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho. It was the first, but not the last, time Matt broke the pattern and the path he had intended to follow. “The jump from banking to international development was a great way for me to accumulate a very different set of skills and life experiences,” he says.
“I had real impact in Lesotho,” he says about the two years he was there. “Not because of the teaching. There was no job market for locals with computer skills. But I helped with more fundamental challenges. I managed to get several countries to give the money needed to build a sports complex. It became the center of the community and indirectly helped reduce the number of boys who contracted HIV, the real threat facing the community.”
Subsequent to that experience, Matt has spent considerable time working on healthcare issues. But he does not consider himself an expert in healthcare. He doesn’t want to be. “A lot of people sell their expertise but it doesn’t really help accelerate progress when working at the boundary between the public and private sectors,” Matt says. Progress is about reconciling different perspectives and reaching common ground, not about being the smartest expert in the room.
“The world is not predictable,” he says. “And you can’t be either, if you want to change it. Be prepared. But also be prepared to throw out your script and use all the empathy you have to hear the issues directly from the people facing them.” Ultimately, Matt would be thrilled to “bring a little more justice and fairness into the lives of everyday people.”
Matt has been a key member of the Tapestry team working in Europe on drug development. For him the goal of getting new, high-quality drugs to millions of people at affordable but profitable prices is compelling. “I’m learning how to understand and reconcile perceptions to find common ground between very different players – big drug companies, regulators, insurers, and patients. I am getting good at doing this, but there is always more to learn. It is exciting to be in that mix but every now and then, you need to mentally take yourself off to an island and figure out just where you are and what you want to get done. If you’re not changing your mind about things, how can you expect others to do so?”
Matt lives in Boston, MA with his wife and two sons.
Download Matthew Diver's Formal Biography
