With more than 20 years of experience navigating reputation, regulatory and legislative issues in food, agriculture and nutrition, Matt serves as IDFA's Executive Vice President and Chief Impact Officer responsible for coordinating efforts across the association to drive policy, advocacy, communications, and social impact outcomes for IDFA members and the dairy industry. Matt brings a results-based approach to organizational positioning, strategic communications, and public affairs strategy and reporting. He prioritizes mixing traditional and digital engagement and advocacy with audience targeting to deliver impact to members, policymakers, and consumers, including expanding and preserving markets for dairy food companies and achieving federal and state policies that support growth. Herrick most recently served as IDFA's Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications. He also is the Executive Director of the IDFA Foundation, the association's 501(c)3 charity that he helped to found.
Matt has led external affairs, advocacy and marketing for several global organizations in the private and non-profit spaces. He most recently served as Director of Communications for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Biden Administration under Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Previously, Matt served as Managing Director, Communications for The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the world’s most renowned institutions with a legacy in public health, global food security and climate resilience. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President with Story Partners public affairs in Washington, D.C., where he founded and managed the agency’s food, nutrition, and trade practice, working with trade associations, food companies, and foundations. He served in the Obama Administration, first as Press Director and spokesperson for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and then as Director of Communications for USDA under Secretary Vilsack. Matt also led communications and media relations for Oxfam America, served as speechwriter and spokesperson for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, and worked as a newspaper and magazine reporter. He holds a BA from the College of the Holy Cross and an MA from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.
