Mr. Matt Armstrong is an author, lecturer, and strategist on public diplomacy and international media. He has worked on traditional and emerging security issues with both civilian and military government agencies, news organizations, think tanks, and academia across several continents.
Mr. Armstrong serves on several organizational boards, including the Public Diplomacy Council, a nonprofit organization committed to the importance of the academic study, professional practice, and responsible advocacy of public diplomacy. He is also on the board for the Lodestone Trust, a land conservation trust providing an enduring venue for the research and development of programs in outdoor group therapy for military service-related post-traumatic stress disorder patients under professional supervision. He is also on the editorial boards for several journals covering strategic communication and national security. Since 2009, he has been a member of the National Press Club.
Previous public diplomacy related roles include Executive Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, adjunct lecturer of public diplomacy at the Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California, and president & founder of the MountainRunner Institute, a 501(c)3 non-profit focused on issues related to public diplomacy. In 2004, he launched the leading blog on public diplomacy and strategic communication, www.MountainRunner.us.
Mr. Armstrong earned a B.A. in International Relations and a Master of Public Diplomacy from the University of Southern California. He also studied European security and the Middle East at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
He chaired the Special Committee on the Voice of America in the 21st Century and was a member of the Board’s Advisory Committee. He also served as the chair of the Special Committee on the Future of Shortwave Broadcasting, which on August 1, 2014, issued its report, To Be Where the Audience Is: The Future of Shortwave.
He was confirmed as member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors on August 1, 2013, and served on the board until January 24, 2017.