Tom Matlack is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author. In 2009, Matlack founded The Good Men Project with the hope of sparking a “national conversation” around the question of “What does it mean to be a good man?” His most recent endeavor is a company called Game Empire Enterprises which he owns and holds the title "Emperor".
Career
Matlack, a graduate of Wesleyan University and Yale School of Management, was the chief financial officer of The Providence Journal until 1997 when the paper was absorbed in a $1.5 billion takeover by the A. H. Belo Corporation of Dallas, owner of ‘’The Dallas Morning News’’ and a number of television stations. The deal was orchestrated by Matlack. Matlack has led several venture investments in the technology arena, such as Art Technology Group, where he invested at a $7.5 million pre-money valuation and exited most of his investors at a $5 billion valuation. In 2010, Art Technology Group was purchased by Oracle for 1 billion. From 1999 until 2010, Matlack founded and ran as a managing partner Megunticook Management, a venture capital firm that started more than 30 companies. Megunticook's biggest success was a company called Telephia in which the company was a lead investor. In 2007, Telephia was sold to Neilsen for over $500 million. Beyond his work with The Good Men Project, Matlack continues to invest in media and technology companies on a personal basis.
The Good Men Foundation is a registered New York State nonprofit charitable corporation dedicated to helping organizations that provide educational, social, financial, and legal support to men and boys at risk. A portion of the proceeds from the publication and sales of the book and the companion DVD, The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Front Lines of Modern Manhood, are distributed to the foundation and are used for the charitable mission of the foundation. The foundation has not-for-profit tax-exempt status under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code. Tom Matlack and his business partner, James Houghton, started The Good Men Foundation with two main objectives: to help at-risk boys by contributing money to proven nonprofits, and to initiate a broad discussion on what it means to be a good man. The founders hope that an all-inclusive dialogue—by men, among men, and about what it means to be a man in America today—will lead to an increased awareness of the problems specific to at-risk boys and men, and, with that, progress toward real solutions. The foundation also put out a documentary film, "The Good Men Project: Real Stories From the Front Lines of Modern Manhood" that was released on DVD November 15, 2009. The film was directed and produced by Matthew Gannon and features Kent George, John Sheehy, Bruce Ellman, Mark St.Amant, Konstantin Selivan, Amin Ahmad, Charlie LeDuff, Stuart Horwitz, Michael Kamber and Rolf Gates. Matlack left the Good Men Project April 9, 2013, two days after publishing an article critical of an editorial by Catherine Rampell in the New York Times published April 2. During that same week, he also deleted his Twitter account.
Publications
Tom Matlack's work has appeared in Rowing News, Boston Common, Boston Magazine, Boston Globe Magazine and Newspaper, Wesleyan, Yale, Tango, and Pop Matters. He is a regular columnist for The Huffington Post. In addition to writing for The Huffington Post, Matlack has a regular column titled “Good is Good” as part of ‘’The Good Men Magazine’’, a blog titled “The Good Man” for Men's Health, and regularly publishes pieces on his Scribd page Matlack has had op-ed pieces featured in the Boston Globe as well as regular feature articles. He has also contributed multiple pieces to Boston Magazine. Once an avid rower at Wesleyan, he has also had pieces featured in Rowing News. His connection to Wesleyan also allowed him to interview Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner for the Wesleyan Magazine.
Media appearances and interviews
In October 2009, Matlack started the Good Men Book tour at Sing Sing prison. According to Matlack, "My book is about manhood and redemption. I have in my mind the image of Johnny Cash going into Fulsom Prison. Like his music, my book is about manhood, raw and unvarnished. So I need to find guys who understand what that is about. It's also about the possibility of redemption, about making mistakes, and about picking yourself up. I have no idea what I am going to say to these guys but I am going to try." In December 2009, Matlack appeared on the Tyra Banks Show where he donated, on behalf of the Good Men Foundation, $5,000 to help cover Christmas expenses for a family who had just lost their husband and father. Matlack has interviewed David Kohan, creator of Will & Grace and artist Shep Fairey. He has also been interviewed by his own foundation where he discusses his reason for starting the Good Men Foundation.
