Matthew Sherman

A founding member of the firm Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher and named President in August 2013, Matt has more than 22 years of experience providing strategic corporate, financial and crisis communications counsel to Boards of Directors and executive leadership of public corporations and private equity firms involved in M&A, hostile takeovers, proxy contests, shareholder activism defense, spin-offs, reorganizations, financial restructurings, management changes, litigation, regulatory actions and a wide range of corporate crises. His areas of expertise include:

• Shareholder Activism: He has advised many companies in their defense against proxy contests, short attacks and other tactics employed by activist investors. Recent engagements, among others, include: Lowe’s (D. E. Shaw); Energen (Carl Icahn, Corvex), Deckers Brands (Marcato); Mellanox (Starboard); Akamai (Elliott); Bemis (Starboard); Commvault (Elliott); Safeguard Scientifics (Sierra Capital); Sabra Health Care REIT (Eminence, Hudson Bay Capital); Ensco (Arrowgrass); Carmike Cinemas (Oasis Management); HD Supply (Jana); Trinity Industries (ValueAct); Outerwall (Engaged Capital, JANA); Allison Transmission (ValueAct, Ashe Capital); Capital Senior Living (Lucas Advisors); Perry Ellis (Legion Partners, CalSTRs), Baxter (Third Point); Viavi Solutions (f/k/a JDS Uniphase) (Sandell); and Manitowoc (Carl Icahn).
• Mergers & Acquisitions: Recent assignments include: Dun & Bradstreet in its pending going-private transaction with an investor group led by  CC Capital, Cannae Holdings and Thomas H. Lee Partners; Bemis in its pending combination with Amcor; Verifone in its pending going-private transaction with Francisco Partners; Penn National Gaming in its pending acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment; DST Systems in its sale to SS&C Technologies; INC Research in its merger with inVentiv Health to create Syneos Health; ShoreTel in its sale to Mitel; Gilead in its acquisition of Kite Pharma; Panera Bread in its going-private transaction with JAB Holdings; Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in its sale to Restaurant Brands; R.R. Donnelley in its separation into three independent companies; Broadsoft in its sale to Cisco; Actua in its sale of three majority-owned businesses and wind down of its operations; Gigamon in its going-private transaction with Elliott Management; Johnson & Johnson in its acquisition of Actelion; Knight Transportation in its merger with Swift Transportation; McCormick & Co. in its acquisition of Reckitt Benckiser’s Food Division (which included Frank’s RedHot Hot Sauce and French’s Mustard); Danone in its acquisition of WhiteWave; Joy Global in its sale to Komatsu; Outerwall in its going-private transaction with Apollo Group; Rackspace in its going-private transaction with Apollo Group; Valspar in its sale to Sherwin-Williams; Keurig Green Mountain in its sale to JAB Holdings; Fairchild Semiconductor in its sale to ON Semiconductor; Lexmark in its sale to a consortium led by Apax Technology and PAG Asia Capital; FMC in its sale to Technip; Aruba Networks in its sale to HP; Altera in its sale to Intel; Life Time Fitness in its going-private transaction with Leonard Green and TPG; J.M. Smucker in its acquisition of Big Heart Pet Brands; Family Dollar in its sale to Dollar Tree; Energizer in its separation into two independent companies; and Smithfield Foods in its sale to Shuanghui International.
• Corporate Governance, Investor Relations & Financial Public Relations: He develops and implements comprehensive investor relations, corporate governance and financial communications programs for clients across a wide range of industries. He also has played a role in numerous corporate reorganizations, financial restructurings, Board and management changes, governance roadshows, earnings pre-announcements, regulatory actions, litigation support and other material corporate developments.

In 2012 Matt received The M&A Advisor’s “40 Under 40” Recognition Award, and in 2007 he was named to PR Week’s inaugural “40 Under 40” list. Matt previously was a vice president in the M&A and crisis communications practice at Abernathy MacGregor Frank. He received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in international relations and a BA in communications from the University of Pennsylvania.