Matthew Murray is an internationally recognized subject-matter expert on national security, international law, geo-economics, rule of law, anti-corruption, and digital governance. Mr. Murray has worked in Ukraine and Eurasia since 1988 as an attorney, business executive in extractive industries, the head of an NGO and as a senior U.S. Government official in both the Department of Commerce and US Agency for International Development.
Mr. Murray was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for the Obama Administration. Following Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity, in 2014, he led the Department to form a Commerce Ukraine Task Force to help the new Ukrainian Government’s objective to create a model of economic development driven by the private sector and based on a rule of law. He led four trade delegations to Ukraine focused on energy, health, agribusiness, and the knowledge economy. He helped form the NIST Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity; and co-lead America’s first Cyber Security Business Development Mission to Ukraine and other Eurasian nations.
Since 2017, Mr. Murray has been participating in U.S. government-funded efforts for provision of technical assistance to the National Security and Defense Council on development of the Ukraine Cybersecurity Strategy: 2021-2025; and report on Lessons Learned by Government of Ukraine principals who participated in a December 2021 Table-Top Exercise for a cyberattack scenario.
In October 2023, Mr. Murray was nominated by the U.S. Government and appointed by the Ukraine Cabinet of Ministers to serve on the Selection Commission for the new chair of National Agency for Corruption Prevention.
From 2022-2024, Mr. Murray led his project company Sovereign Ventures to develop the Strategy for Sustainable Technology Acquisition for the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT. The Strategy is designed as a set of activities to help MDT develop and standardize business processes that can accelerate and improve the preparation and agreement of projects to support the Ministry’s ambitious goals. The Strategy was built with hey International Financial Institutions (IFIs), including the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Currently, Mr. Murray is the Chair of the Board of Advisors Velta Holdings US, Inc., the leading private sector producer of titanium in Ukraine. He leads the Board of Velta and helps execute Velta’s business mission to build a Critical Raw Materials Cluster that produces titanium, zirconium, hafnium and processes these minerals to supply the Ukraine, U.S. and European defense, aerospace, nuclear, medical and consumer electronics industries. Mr. Murray provides support for Velta managers to institute and maintain system of corporate governance, social responsibility and environmental compliance based on global best practice in minerals industry. He actively supports U.S.-Ukraine economic partnership to develop the critical raw materials industry at scale for mutual security and prosperity.
Mr. Murray is an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.