Matthew Kohut
Partner
matt@knpcommunications.com
Matthew Kohut has over fifteen years of professional experience writing for and working with public speakers on presentations covering a wide range of topics for both general and expert audiences.
Matt founded and currently consults with InFact Communications, which specializes in strategic written communications. Prior to founding InFact, he was Director of Research and Publications for the Council for Excellence in Government, where wrote speeches, reports, op-ed articles, business development and marketing materials for the Council's CEO and other senior executives.
He previously served as a Senior Writer/Analyst for Valador, Inc., where he worked extensively on the development of case studies for NASA. As Project Director for Valador at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, he revised the Center's risk management policy and was the lead writer for the first Center-wide technical rulebook for spacecraft design.
At Harvard University, Matt worked as Research Specialist to the Dean of the Kennedy School of Government. He was the Dean's principal speechwriter and researcher, and managed three book projects on international relations through all phases of production, including Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics.
He began his career with Princeton Survey Research Associates, where he performed statistical analyses and wrote analytical reports about public opinion for corporate, non-profit, and media clients. While at PRSA he worked extensively with the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press.
His freelance writing and research clients have included Amazon.com, Men's Health Magazine, and the Trenton Times.
Matt holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University.
In addition to his career as a writer and analyst, he worked from 1995-2002 as a professional bassist, touring the United States and Europe with numerous pop music acts.
"A number of years ago I had the opportunity to see someone deliver a speech that I'd written. The words had looked great on the page, but the speech fell completely flat. The lesson was clear: the message doesn't work unless it works for the messenger. The words have to match the speaker's voice and body language — an audience can sense it if any of those elements are out of synch. That's when I started working from the inside out, designing the message with the messenger in mind."
Photo credit: Cory Grace