Matt Lehrman

Matt Lehrman Speaker Biography

Over 36 years, Matt Lehrman turned a career that started as an advocate for big business into a mission for all voices to be meaningfully heard. Today, as Co-Founder and Managing Director of Social Prosperity Partners, he inspires people in communities, companies, and causes to meaningfully hear each other.

The Long Island, NY native started as a Washington, DC lobbyist after earning a double degree in government and sociology from Oberlin College in Ohio. He worked for the Mortgage Bankers Association and National Association of Realtors before pulling up stakes and moving to Arizona as a newlywed in 1988.

After joining the corporate sales team at Citibank in Phoenix and later serving as Marketing Director for Bank of Scottsdale, Matt’s career turned towards nonprofit management where his experience in sales and public policy played a big part in his subsequent successes as an advocate for arts and culture in Arizona.

He was appointed Marketing Director of Scottsdale Center for Arts in 1995 and helped that organization exceed $1 million in annual ticket sales for the first time that season, and then surpass $3.4 million in ticket sales just five years later. He also led the marketing for the launch of SMoCA, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, in February 1999.

In the aftermath of the tragedy of 9/11, Matt conceived and founded Alliance for Audience & ShowUp.com, an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization, to pursue collaborative audience development initiatives on behalf of Greater Phoenix’s, and ultimately Arizona’s, entire arts and cultural sector. As Founder and Executive Director, he pioneered new technology-driven approaches to promoting arts and cultural attendance, selling discount tickets, and analyzing aggregate data on cultural participation. For his innovative leadership, Matt became sought after across the US and by communities internationally for guidance in organizing multi-party collaborative initiatives.

Matt was a 2007 participant in Stanford University's joint Executive Program for Non-Profit Leadership in association with National Arts Strategies.

In 2012, he was appointed a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University's Herberger Institute for Design & the Arts where he taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses in marketing, business management, and entrepreneurship.

He served as Arizona Theatre Company's Interim Managing Director for 13 months beginning in September 2014, to guide the beloved State Theatre Company through a dire period of financial, governance, and management instability.

In partnership with long-time friend and former Scottsdale City Manager John Little , he founded Social Prosperity Partners to facilitate courageous conversations that inspire companies, causes, and communities towards resilience, innovation, and collaborative action.

In addition, Matt presents original workshops to CEOs, business owners, and key executives as a national speaker to VISTAGE®, the world’s leading business advisory, and executive coaching organization.

Matt and his wife are empty-nesters whose children reside in New York and Boston. With a passion for food, travel, and making new friends, they look forward to expanding their world travels, which most recently have included Spain, Cuba, Israel, Italy, Scotland, England, Thailand, and France.