Matt Sherman

Since September 2012, Matt Sherman has served with the United States Department of Defense as the political advisor to the ISAF Joint Command, the military corps which handles day to day operations throughout Afghanistan.

Matt is a foreign policy analyst and lawyer who has served as a senior advisor to the Department of State, the U.S. military and international and domestic corporations. He specializes in the political economy and commercial markets of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, providing cogent analysis of the regional political environment and identifying risks and opportunities for foreign investors. The insights he brings allow for a unique understanding of the interplay between politics and economics in these parts of the world and are grounded in his extensive operational experience.

He completed a 27 month tour in Afghanistan with the Department of State. From January 2010 until April 2011, he was a member of General Stanley McChrystal's and subsequently General David Petraeus's Strategic Advisory Group. Throughout all of 2009, Sherman was the Senior Civilian Representative in Logar and Wardak provinces. Sherman was presented the Department of State Award for Heroism by Secretary Hillary Clinton in November 2009 for assisting in the rescue of wounded American soldiers following an ambush in Afghanistan's Tangi Valley.

Sherman also served two extended tours in Iraq. From December 2003 to January 2006, under the Coalition Provisional Authority and later the Department of State, he was the personal advisor to four Iraqi Ministers of Interior and advised senior Iraqi and Coalition personnel on non-military security matters. From November 2006 until December 2007, Sherman worked as the political advisor to the 1st Cavalry Division, the military unit in charge of operations in Baghdad during the planning and implementation of the "surge".

While not assigned overseas, he works as a Senior Advisor to the Scowcroft Group, and an adjunct with the RAND Corporation. Earlier, in a private capacity, Sherman worked as Director of Research for General Colin Powell (Ret.) and his non-profit organization, America's Promise. Trained as an attorney, Sherman practiced corporate law for the firm Drinker Biddle & Reath.

A native of New Jersey, Sherman received his B.A and J.D. from the University of North Carolina, and an M.Phil. in International Relations from Cambridge University. As a Fulbright Scholar, he worked with the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs on US - Australian trade regulations. Sherman is a contributor to the Opinion page of The New York Times and The Washington Post; and has provided foreign affairs' analysis to the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, and NBC Nightly News, among others. Previous international assignments include appointments with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro, Ukraine and Moldova as an election security planner and international monitor.

A keen amateur photographer, Sherman's work has been displayed in the Guggenheim and Guns n' Ammo magazine. He has also performed improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City, and has appeared in such films as English Vinglish (alongside Bollywood megastar, Sridevi) and the Academy Award nominated documentary, No End in Sight.