Meet the Founder and CEO, Matthew Piatt
Matthew’s business career spans over 40 years, landing his first job right out of college representing Chevron USA Inc. as a Petroleum Landman, negotiating oil and gas leases on property they wished to drill upon, a position he held for nearly ten years. During that time, Matthew worked for Martin I. Smith Inc., a highly respected and reputable firm specializing in the acquisition of surface and subsurface oil and gas leases for clients in the petroleum exploration and production business, with a long standing professional and contractual relationship with Chevron USA Inc. to provide leasing services within the Western United States.
Although Matthew worked for Martin I. Smith Inc., and was supervised by Martin “Marty” I. Smith lll, President and CEO of the firm, he ultimately reported to Clair Ghylin, General Manager of Chevron’s Western Region Exploration & Production unit at their Bollinger Canyon Road facility located in San Ramon, CA. Mr. Ghylin had been with the oil company since 1956, and began his Chevron career as a Petroleum Landman in the Dakotas. In April of 1988, the Chevron Board of Directors elected Mr. Ghylin to the position of Vice President and General Manger of the Washington, DC office for Chevron USA Inc., where he managed the company’s international business relationships and worldwide exploration and production activities.
During the time Matthew was representing Chevron USA Inc. as a Petroleum Landman, he was very successful early on through a strategy of hard work and “consistency and persistency”, and soon came to have an enviable reputation of skillfully acquiring business-critical oil and gas leases that no one before him could, and that reputation very quickly came to the attention of Mr. Ghylin, who was very keen to help Matthew, whom he saw as a much younger version of himself, take him under his wing, and mentor him. To be in your early 20’s, working for a Fortune 4 oil and gas company, and having a mentor who is as well known, respected, and knowledgeable as Mr. Ghylin was truly a blessing, and shaped Matthew’s career for decades to come.
Matthew’s Qualifications
Matthew also has over 30 years of experience in Enterprise high technology Sales, in both individual contributor and management roles, having worked at both IBM and SAP selling end-to-end HPC data analytics solutions, as well as a number of early stage/startup software companies during his career.
While employed at IBM, Matthew led the sales efforts of Big Data and Analytics within the Pacific Northwest, and worked with a number of very large enterprise clients such as the Costco, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Standard Insurance, REI, Columbia Sportswear, and Nike, as well as SLED accounts in AK, OR, ID, and WA.
While at SAP, Matthew led the sales efforts of the HANA platform for in-memory real-time data analytical solutions to Aerospace and Defense companies throughout North America, including The Boeing Company, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream Aerospace, Bombardier, Raytheon Technologies, General Dynamics, and United Technologies, just to name a few.
Matthew holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music in Stockton, CA, and performed French horn with the Stockton Symphony, a position he held for nearly 10 years.