I have worked with Matt on a number of high profile and large capacity events delivering travel demand solutions. Matt always provides clear and effective communications that are well targeted at customers whether they are attending the event or as background users.

Matt has a superior knack of understanding the challenges and developing the right messages that directly influence travel behaviour – his comms make the right things happen.

With even a limited brief I am always confident that Matt is able to pull together the often many moving parts and offer customer information that is informative, impactful and engaging.

I had the pleasure of working with Matt during his tenure with TransPennine Express from 2012 through to 2016. Matt was nothing but a loyal, dedicated member of the team and it was an absolute pleasure to work with him. We were a small but perfectly formed team, so it really was all hands to the pump when needed, and we still miss Matt.

Matt was always first to volunteer, whatever the task and never afraid to get involved in wider business demands. He was a great ambassador for our business and fronted a number of external events at the cutting edge.

Matt has extensive experience of responding to a range of issues, which he always does in a calm, considered way. He has a lot to be proud of during his railway life, from managing a number of high profile events, delivering leadership conferences, launching a new fleet of trains, responding to industrial unrest, and working with the bid team to mobilise a new franchise to name a few.

I would highly recommend Matt to any prospective business whatever your comms requirements. Matt is an impressive specialist across a range of subjects including media support, crisis comms, event planning and PR, but is also a highly flexible leader and willing to support wider business requirements.

I have worked with Matt for many years during his time with Transpennine and can't highly recommend his skills enough.

He has the ability to convert detractors into advocates and never shies away from a challenge, be it internal or external. Matt believes it's better to face a problem head on through grown up conversation rather than bat back and forth with social or mainstream media. This is something I have personally witnessed when he invited customers who had an ongoing campaign against our business operation to meet with him so that he could personally address their concerns and effect change.

Whether it's crisis management (something he has won awards at) or day to day engagement, he puts his all into making sure the job is done well. He can rustle up a conference as easily as he can recruit a group of volunteers to get out of bed at the crack of dawn to talk to upset customers, because colleagues want to help and support him as he's a thoroughly nice guy. He is always the person who I would go to for support, to proof read some work or just generally use as a sounding board.

Matthew was a pleasure to work with. He readily grasped the strategic element of staff engagement and how it fitted into the business context. Not only that, but he was able to take forward the recommendations and implement them on the ground in a highly effective manner.

I have been lucky enough to work alongside Matt on a number of communications projects and can honestly say he is one of the best I've worked with. A genuinely lovely guy, Matt is the perfect person in a crisis. He is calm, logical and strategic in his approach. For the more creative briefs, no ideas were off limits for Matt who I worked with on a number of launches and events. He got the results but whilst having fun along the way - a perfect combination.

Matt is a brilliant communicator - and the thing that makes him special is his ability to quickly build strong working relationships and become part of the team. He brings simplicity to everything he touches, even when we chuck him a ridiculously complicated brief. He's also a guru on train stuff, which has been a GIFT in my job. Highly recommend!