MATTHEW BENSON

Matthew Benson is a Managing Director and founding member of the firm's New Media Strategies group. He advises a number of clients with regard to the development, execution and management of ongoing corporate positioning and media relations programs, as well as transaction-based communications activities.

Mr. Benson joined the firm after serving as a Senior Director of the Washington, DC-based public affairs firm of Bivings Woodell, where he pioneered the use of the Internet as a public affairs and media relations vehicle. Representative projects included an award-winning campaign on behalf of the Monsanto Company for public and regulatory acceptance of agricultural biotechnology in key international markets, and strategic message coordination with regard to various international treaties and regulatory protocols on behalf of the global chlorine industry.

Prior to that, Mr. Benson was a senior Legislative Assistant to US House of Representatives Democratic Whip David E. Bonior, where he authored policy memoranda, floor statements and legislative briefing materials widely circulated on Capitol Hill, as well as op ed essays placed in The Washington Post and other national and regional publications. His background in politics and policy also includes staff work on several national, state and local campaigns extending back to 1987.

Mr. Benson earned an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Michigan's Residential College.

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