Matt McKenna

Matt is a Partner with Open Prairie and leads the Rural Opportunity Initiative as an Executive in Residence with the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.  He represents Open Prairie as a member of the Board of Directors for Green Dot Bioplastics.  Matt has over 35 years of experience in working with companies and developing strategies to enhance shareholder value.  Prior to joining Open Prairie, Matt served as a Senior Advisor to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and was responsible for launching a variety of public-private partnership initiatives focused on bringing capital to rural America, including the Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund and the Rural Business Investment Opportunity Initiative.  In conjunction with his work at the US Department of Agriculture, he was named a Presidential Executive Fellow.  During his 15-year career with PepsiCo, Matt held several executive roles, including Sr. Vice President of Finance and Treasurer.  Matt was also a Director for PepsiAmericas.  Before his tenure with PepsiCo, he was a Partner at Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam and Robert, focusing primarily on federal income tax issues.  In addition to his work in the government and financial arena, he is an Adjunct Lecturer at Fordham University.  Matt is an independent member of the Board of Directors for Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) where he serves as the Financial Expert for the Audit Committee and Chairman of the Finance and Strategic Planning committees.  As President and Chief Executive Officer of Keep America Beautiful, Matt helped grow the nation’s leading non-profit working with affiliates and over 2 million volunteers to build and sustain vibrant communities across America.  He received a Juris Doctorate and Master of Laws from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College.