Matt Wachter
Senior Vice President, Finance & Investment, General Counsel
A nationally recognized and sought-after leader in development finance and impact investment, Matt directs his commitment, creativity, and expertise to ensuring financial success and catalyzing investment for Carnegie Foundry and its spin off companies – which in turn - drives economic development success for the region and its world-renown robotics industry.
Prior to joining Carnegie Foundry as Vice President of Finance and Investment, Matt was a founding executive at the Erie Downtown Development Corporation (“EDDC”). The EDDC raised over $100 Million and closed $11 million in real estate acquisitions for revitalization projects in the nation’s poorest zip code (in Matt’s hometown) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact and effect of his operational and deal work experience – including structured finance, fund management, financial modeling and use of tax credits and incentives – was recognized and highlighted by the most influential public and private organizations across the United States.
Matt began his career at KPMG in the M&A tax group in the New York City and Philadelphia offices where he worked on domestic and cross border acquisitions. Matt then practiced law for six years, acting as general counsel for both for-profit and non-profit organizations. His practice largely focused on transactional matters involving acquisitions, dispositions, and mergers of business entities.
Matt has provided public testimony, and on more than a dozen occasions, was a featured speaker for national audiences on transformational strategies for community social impact and public-private development and infrastructure partnerships.
The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council highlighted his worked in the 2020 Opportunity Zones Best Practices Report, and it has received several awards, including, the 2021 Council of Development Finance Agencies (“CDFI”) excellence in development finance, and 2020 Forbes/Sorenson Impact Center 2020 top urban community grand prize. He was named a 2022 Top 25 Opportunity Zone Fund Manager & Developer and collaborated extensively with both the Economic Innovation Group and Drexel University Metro Finance Lab. Matt is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Leadership and MasterCard City Possible Networks.
Matt is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and was recently named to the inaugural class of the Pennsylvania Society’s Keystone Council. He is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law (LL.M, Tax), Duquesne University School of Law (J.D.), and the Pennsylvania State University (B.A.).
