Matt Deatrick

Matt Deatrick(opens in new window) , who graduated with Honors and BA in Economics in 1998, is the device lead for B2B(opens in new window) Strategy at Verizon Wireless in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Matt received the Smale Award for Outstanding Achievement in Economics. He was a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society(opens in new window) and Omicron Delta Epsilon , the national economics honors society. While a student at Chico State Matt helped support himself working as a barista and a manager at Bidwell Perk, Café Varese and Mezzaluna Café. After graduation, he took a position as director of wholesale sales at Covista Communications where he worked for three years.

In 2002 Matt moved on to Vonage(opens in new window) as senior vice president of sales where he “reported to the president and directed all sales and marketing activity,” according to his LinkedIn(opens in new window) page. After almost 4 years with Vonage Matt moved on to GetConnected, Inc.(opens in new window) , a computer software firm where he worked for a year as vice president of business development, “reporting to the CEO, responsible for all aspects of sales and client management.”

In 2007 Matt accepted a position as vice president of business development with Acceller, Inc.(opens in new window) where he was “responsible for re-branding the company's image and expanding service offerings into new verticals,” according to his LinkedIn page(opens in new window) . Almost a year later Matt opened his own business, CS Consulting, LLC where he provided “management consulting for service providers operating in alternate channels and their channel partners.” After 2 years running his own business, Matt accepted a position as director of Sales, Northeast, for DIRECTV(opens in new window) . In 2010 DIRECTTV promoted Matt to Director of Sales, Telco(opens in new window) .

In 2013 Matt began working for Verizon as marketing executive where he focused on bringing 4G LTE speeds to more traditional consumer electronics devices like watches, cameras, and other bespoke experiences. His goal was to enhance consumer devices with cellular technology such as connected homes, gaming, health / wellness, security, and tablets. Matt's duties included initial market research and analysis, partner engagement, business modeling and strategy, design of product road maps, negotiations, and go-to-market support. “We find, vet, and launch the next generation of mobile devices (non-smartphones) on the world's most reliable 4G network,” Matt stated in a recent email.

Verizon promoted Matt to his current position as device lead for B2B(opens in new window) Strategy in 2016 and recently expanded his role to include all B2B portfolio and XR (AR / VR) for 5G. B2B or Business to Business marketing involves selling products to businesses where the emphasis is on rate of return on investment rather than psychological factors which are often of concern in consumer marketing. In many cases, B2B may also involve B2B2C where cellular charges normally purchased from a carrier are included (security systems are a good example of this).

“Economics provides a deep understanding of the market context within which any new technology, product, or service might operate at the time of its commercial launch,” Matt stated in a recent email. “Being able to model, forecast, and weight risk scenarios is critical to understanding the 'business development why' of any new investment a company might make. Economics education gave me the critical thinking tools that creative business people need to make smart decisions; including both quantitative and qualitative skillsets.” (Last Updated 5/10/19)