September 15, 2025 • 27 mins
With more than 20 years of experience in higher education, Matt is deeply committed to partnering with the global higher education community to redefine student and institutional success by leveraging Symplicity’s smart, innovative technology. Since becoming President & CEO of Symplicity, he has expanded the company globally with products and acquisitions in Latin America, Canada, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. Matt has a deep understanding of the EdTech market and an appreciation for how important the issue of employability has become domestically and abroad, along with the role technology can have to address the challenge.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You should know Howard by iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Let's meet Matt Small.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
He is the president and CEO for Simplicity, based in Arlington, Virginia,
but working domestically and internationally. Is a company that provides
software solutions to universities and colleges to manage various aspects
of student life.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Now, before we talk more about Matt's.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Company, I first asked him and talk a little bit
about himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
I am from a small town called Cheshire, Connecticut, in
the middle of the state of Connecticut. I went to
undergrad at the University of Denver, and I did my
graduate school at Yukon, came back to Connecticut and got
my JD and my MBA there and then went into
law at first and then eventually moved to in house
and then over to the business side.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You know, I know this is probably not going to
surprise you, but of the hundreds of interviews that I
do for this great series, Matt, and because I've moved
so much in my genre in radio and television, I
usually have a connection somehow to every guest. And I
know the University of Denver because I lived in Washington
Park for two years in Denver when I worked in
radio there.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
So it's a great school.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It's a great hockey program, among other things that I've
had some friends that have gone there, and I bet
you had a really great experience there.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I loved it. I was not on the hockey team,
but I watched them.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Well, listen, now we're here to talk about a lot
of things. So of course we're going to talk a
lot about simplicity that you've been for nine years as
president and CEO. But I'm always curious about, you know,
what people want to do when they're coming out of school.
What did you have in mind for yourself as you
were going out of school, what you wanted to do?
Speaker 4 (01:33):
You know, when I did my JDMBA, as I mentioned,
and as I came out of that, I knew I
kind of wanted to be on the corporate side.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And this was in the late nineties. It was the
dot com bubble.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
People were discovering venture capital and growing these companies and
everything was going online. And I just was lucky enough
to be in a software practice group that was almost
an incubator for in house software.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
General counsels, learned a lot about all of.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
That and doing licensing in M and A and public
securities work along the way. And when I had the
opportunity to go in house in a company where you know,
I thought they were doing really meaningful work, you know,
it was a big pay cut, but it was kind
of exactly what I wanted to do, So I left
the firm. I went in house to a small startup
(02:23):
on the teaching and learning side of higher education and
spent fourteen years there growing that company.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Right, And as we mentioned also, I mean, higher education
has been a big part of your life now. And
once again I would like to give a little context
because you've almost been at Simplicity for a decade now,
and I'm sure time flies like it does for everybody
when you're at a place, especially when you're enjoying yourself
and all the amazing work that you're doing. But previously
before that at Blackboard, you were there as president and CBO.
(02:51):
Can you talk about your experience from going there to
this new company and why you transitioned.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yeah, I was at Blackboard for fourteen years there when
it was an early startup, and you know, we grew
by leaps and bounds as teaching and learning came online
and the company did a lot of acquisitions along the way.
I went public along the way, I became the general
counsel along the way and worked with a lot of
those different management teams that we had kind of acquired
into the company, and I took the company public and
(03:18):
then private again, and you know, throughout all of that,
wound up leaving the law kind of became you know,
an executive there, and then you know, we sold the
company to a private equity fund and one of the thesis
of their investment was international growth. So they asked me
to become president of international and we created this huge
international structure and moved to London for three years with
(03:40):
my family to do that, and it was incredibly successful.
And I was in that role for almost four years,
doing it from headquarters here in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And this opportunity came up.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
To be CEO of Simplicity, and Blackboard was on the
teaching and learning side of higher education, and I was
on the road a lot, meeting with university and thought leaders,
speaking and doing a lot of keynotes, and I found
myself talking about employability almost all the time on the
academic side. Everyone was focused on the future of higher education,
(04:11):
career outcomes, skills, competencies, employability, experiential learning.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's that's where the focus was.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
And people were very focused on the skills gap, you know,
with the where universities thought students what they thought they
should know and what industry thought they should know, and
there was a real disconnect, and Simplicity kind of sat
at that juncture.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
They were very focused on employability and higher ed. It
was a startup.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I was right here in Arlington, Virginia, and it was
really a great opportunity. So I came over here, you know,
about nine years ago, and you know, the rest is history.
We've been growing by leaps and bounds. We've built incredible
products and done some pretty wonderful things in the industry.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, we're going to talk a lot about that when
it comes to Simplicity, But I did want to ask
you if you could indulge me in the listeners just
for a moment. Man talking about as a present and
a CBO moving to a president and CEO right now,
I'm sure you go the buck stops with you, even
though you've got a great team, and I'm sure you
lean on them for all the cool things and maybe
you're not strong at But with that said, what were
(05:14):
the inherent differences that you said, this is going to
be a challenge, it's going to be exciting. But moving
to president's CEO to this current company, it's simplicity. What
was that whole exchange like for you? That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
You know, at the last four years as a Blackbird
was president of international, but I reported up to the.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
CEO of the company.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
So obviously there's you know, right now I am the
CEO of the company, so you know, you have additional
responsibilities when it comes to you know, what you're doing
at the board level and investor level, and you know
that the corporate side of the house, I think a
lot of the day to day job in terms of
what we build in the product, how we deliver it,
(05:53):
how we support our clients, how we go to market,
hitting our sales numbers and doing you know, doing that
was very similar between the two. I think I was
fortunate enough at Blackboard to really kind of own, if
you will, the international strategy at that time, So the
international questions kind of and you might say the buck
stop there.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
However, you know, you really.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Kind of had to share the resources and the planning,
of course, with the rest of the organization. We had
a K through twelve organization, a North America Higher ED organization,
a corporate organization.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So this is very different.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Here you're able to come and kind of sit at
top not just domestic, but international, the complete product portfolio.
And I would say that, you know, we learned quite
a lot about Blackboard over fourteen years, and as I mentioned,
we did a lot of acquisitions and learned a lot
(06:51):
of lessons, both from things you did right and things
you didn't do right. I think we were able to
bring all those lessons here and kind of do simplicity
the way in many ways I wish, you know, Blackboard
had done things along the way. So we kind of
built this incredible global ed tech company focused on on employability.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Well, Matt, let's do this. Let's talk about simplicity Now.
I buried the lead for long enough, and before we
get into what you do, I would love to talk
about mission and vision because I know when it comes
to exactly this genre, that's very important.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So can you talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, our vision is to create a future where every
student is real world ready and what that means is,
you know, we're trying to empower higher education to supercharge
their student engagement and boost employability outcomes. So we don't
(07:48):
just view ourselves as software that students use to find
a job. We actually view ourselves as transformative software platform
from the beginning of high right to the end, helping
students with all things related to employability.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's helping them.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Learn what's out there in the world that they might
be interested in, and what do they need to do
in order to get there, and how to prepare, whether
it's in their curriculum or whether it's in co curricular activities,
and how do they pull together a total experience in
a way that can be matched with jobs and internships
and in a way that will differentiate them from other students.
(08:25):
And then ultimately you know, land that job and uh,
you know the career. You know of their dreams, so
you know, it's it's a it's a very aspirational place
to work here. Everyone here, I like to say, in
the company, you won't find a single person throughout simplicity
who's not a generally good person really cares and shares
that mission with the university and with their students.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
It's a very mission.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Driven place, and you know, people feel really good about
working here, and we love what we do.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
And higher end may not.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Be the place you go to make the most revenue
in the world, and it's certainly not a place to
shoot up in a bubble, but it's always very visible
and predictable, and.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's it's very unique. It's a niche.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Market where you know universities they they may be very
pre sensitive, but at the same time, you know they
will move mountains for you. They want to help build
your product, they want to share with all the other universities.
They want to, uh, take a day off and come
(09:29):
speak at your event or help you with a white paper.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They call you on your birthday, you know.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
And and if if you understand higher ED and the
values of higher ED and you do that well and
you make the students love your software, you know they
will reward you with very, very long term relationships.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
And we've been very fortunate.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Enough to be in that category of what I believe,
you know, incredibly well regarded higher education companies.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Now standing, I appreciate you sharing all that. Well, let's
do this because you're starting to allude to it. But
for all the new people that are listening right now
to the podcast and saying, well, I'm just learning about
simplicity right now. If you were to give kind of
a thirty thousand foot viewmat about what you exactly do,
what would you tell somebody?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I would say that we are the platform for employability
higher education. So every university, everything that the career center
used to do offline, they now do online, and they
do it better because it's online. So they get to
students right away. And it's where students go to find
out all about careers and jobs and internships. It's where
(10:30):
they have tools and resources to help improve themselves, whether
it's working on their profile or their resume, or they're
doing a mockt interview, or whether they're doing a skills assessment,
or they're getting matched with an internship or jobs. It
is the interface of the university for the employer community.
It's where employers go to post jobs and match with students.
(10:50):
It's how they interview students. It's also how they engage
with the university, whether they do career fairs, infusession work groups,
and it's how the university runs everything related to employees ability.
It's how they do their counseling sessions. It's how they
advertise things to the universities, to the students.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's how they.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Find out where did the students go and how long
did it take them and how much are they making
and they pull all that information into institutional research. So
it's a critical aspect of higher education and the importance
of employability. And I think everyone knows that if they're
reading the newspaper in any day. You know, it's completely
changed in the last ten years. It's become really the
(11:28):
number one strategic priority of many heads of universities.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
The one thing that I'm thinking of is we're talking
about this subject and the genre that you're in mad
is that so much has changed, especially in the last
twenty years with you two different companies, you know, internet
and phones and higher education. And I think everybody can
read because I just had a graduate from Elon University
last year and my daughter's now film gradulation.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Then thank you and listen.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
A lot of private schools, a lot of schools in general,
are expensive, but there are the opportunities to get us
step ahead, and your company brings that to light. With
that said, you know, higher educations in the news right now.
I don't know how that affects you and your team
or as you work with different higher education clients out there,
but what's the landscape like for you right now in
your team.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
So just looking at Simplicity's business fortunately, career outcomes and
improving skills and competencies and helping students find internships and
experiential opportunities is a real bipartisan thing. Everyone is for this,
All parents are for this, all students are for this,
all politicians are for this. So you know, if anything,
(12:35):
I believe that those critical of higher education want to
see more of what we're doing in higher education, and
the universities want to do more. They want to elevate
the career center and break down silos and use technology
for better student outcomes. And they want the data so
they can measure this and see if what they're doing
is helping THESU. So we're in the center of all
of that. So that's a really good thing overall in
(12:57):
higher ed. You know, I've been doing higher ed tech
for twenty five years now and I've never met at
university who doesn't tell me.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You know, budgets are real concerned.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
It's always this kind of ever present thing at universities,
although right now there's a lot of moving pieces. There's
questions around tax and federal funding, there's questions around.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
International student tuition. Just so it's creating.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Tentativeness within higher education on initiatives. So it hasn't impacted
our business at all, but we're hearing a lot about
it from universities because there's some degree of uncertainty. Right.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
You know, the one thing that I'm thinking about about
your business model again, Matt, is that it's an old idea.
And I'll explain myself. I'm a seventies kid. I'm a
latch key kid, so I did everything for myself, right.
I come from that genre that you just took care
of yourself. But I will tell you this, I was
very grateful, not knowing it at the time, that in
high school in Northern Virginia, that they taught me how
to write a check, taught me how to typewrite on
(14:01):
a manual, and all the real world skills that I
still used as an adult. And you've taken that and
modernized it. And I think that once people and parents
and kids see what you offer about giving those extra
opportunities to learn real world, skills that have a help,
you know, into the job force. It's so paramount now
because I know with my kid, you know, twenty two
(14:22):
twenty three how hard it is to get a job
no matter what you do in today's climate as opposed
to when I was growing up and how I got
a job. So I'm sure you and I could agree
that things have completely changed. And you offer that to
parents and families when they find out about you, it's
got to be a godsend because you just need the
extra advantages out there now.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, it's a completely different landscape.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
I'm sure when you graduated college you weren't competing against
bots for jobs.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
No, No, why it wasn't.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
It's a totally different world, and the pace of change
has increased. You know a lot of the students who
are freshmen right now are going to go into jobs
in four years that don't exist today. Yeah, and you know,
having the skills, not necessarily the specific.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Job function, but the skills that they need to be
able to do that.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Job function when they get there, and kind of how
they're going to approach teams, how they're going to present themselves,
how they're going to have the work ethic, and approach
and professional skills. Those are the things employers want to see.
Of course, they want to see you know that you
study hard and got good grades and that you matriculated.
But in addition to that that they really want to
(15:31):
focus on certain skills and competencies that they know will
help people succeed in the long run that universities traditionally
haven't built into the curriculum.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Now they are more and more.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, well let's talk about that. I think this is
a great segue. Let's get into the weeds a little
bit about what you offer. And you know, you can
still be general, but you know when a school works
with some parents and the student and it comes to
what you offer from Simplicity, could you kind of get
into the weeds about the offerings that you do give
because I'm curious about that part of it.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
So I've been talking a lot about employability and that
is our flagship product. It's called Simplicity CSM for Career
Service Manager, and he is the platform of employability at
the university. The other two major things we do are
we are the platform for disability services at the university.
Is the way in which the universities track manage and
provision reasonable accommodations.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
For students who need them.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
It could be a physical accommodation, It could be more
time on a test. It could be a socio emotional
it could be anxiety, depression, anything all the way down
to a food allergy or a physical accommodation. And then
the third thing we do is around conduct and student wellness,
and that's everything from some student violation of any kind
(16:45):
you can imagine. It could be dorm violation, it could
be annoys violation, it could be academic integrity.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
It could be sexual assault or violence or substance.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Issue, it could be AI really to cheating incident, and
also student wellness cases on that. So our disability platforms
called Simplicity Accommodate, and our conduct platforms called Simplicity Advocate.
And again I mentioned employability was really this bipartisan thing.
So is disability services, and so is conduct and student
(17:18):
well being. I mean, these are they If you go
on a tour right now as a parent with your
kids freshman year of college, they're going to in that
original presentation that you have on your tour date, they're
going to talk about the career center. They're going to
talk about what they do for disability services, and they're
also going to talk about you know, conduct and wellness,
and frankly, there's been a lot of it in the
news I think the right now, but thirty percent of
(17:40):
students in higher education have an accommodation of some sort,
so it's mainstream universities are very focused on this. And
on the conduct side, you know, we've seen a lot
around you know, Title nine sexual assault and harassment, the
me Too movement. Certainly we're seeing a lot around campus
protests and Title six and discrimination and how do we
handle those things. And we'll also, as I mentioned, you know,
(18:01):
seeing a lot around when people talk about student success.
You know, they used to talk about grades and retention
and now what they really mean is you know.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Career outcomes.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
So we're kind of in the middle of these three
hot areas on the student services side of higher education.
It's all of them are major focuses of leadership at
the universities and parents and students coming into the university.
So you know, I think we've done a really good
job building great software and caring for you know, universities
in the right way, but we've also really benefited from
(18:32):
this wave.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Well, no doubt, and you've also well thought out about
what the landscape is for kids that are going to
school today, because it's completely different from me and even
twenty years ago, especially when it comes to mental wellness
and health. So I think it's so cool as a
parent that you guys have made sure that you hit
that head on, and I think that's really important. I
bet parents in schools are just stoked to hear about that.
I did want to talk about any kind of challenges
(18:54):
in the industry. I'm sure things are going well, but
with that said, there's always a challenge here and there,
and you're intry and your landscape, what kind of challenges
present you and your staff today.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
You know, we talked a little bit about budget earlier,
so the tentativeness, you know, it has an impacted us
so far. But I think in higher education overall, we
have yet to see the full consequence of some of
the funding changes, and I think there's a lot of
unknown about it. We don't really know where it's going
to fall or the extent to which it'll be difficult.
But universities are you know, they tend to be nervous
(19:25):
organisms where you know, they hear about stuff that could
be coming, and there's kind of this you know, fear
uncertainty in doubt aspect.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Where they.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
They kind of you freeze and they wait and see.
So you know that that is a challenge in the industry.
We've been talking a lot about what we do here
in the US, but we're also the leading global provider,
so we're the largest provider of what we do throughout Spanish,
Latin America, Brazil, Europe, you know, the UK, Ireland, Australia,
New Zealand, Middle East. All those places have different impacts.
(19:56):
I think there's some common trends globally.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
There's this.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Movement, if you will, around tightening international student visas. We
see it in Canada, We're seeing it in Australia, We're
seeing it in the UK, We're seeing it here in
the US. You know that that's a big deal because
that's a big funding stream for higher education and it's
also a large part of the current student population. And
you know a lot of the students that are at
(20:24):
those universities has mentioned you know, some of them want
to go home to their home country and find a job.
Some of them, you know, maybe citizens of the where
their university is. But they still want to go abroad
to work. So you know, there's a lot of uncertainty
in that regard and in the software space in general.
I think there's a really large shift happening around AI,
(20:47):
and in universities there's an expectation that you will use
AI to drive your company and have better functionality and
uh meet student expectations, and that's smart and you need to.
I mean, it's like the companies that say there were
Web one point zero who didn't go to Web two
point oh, or they're not here anymore, right, And I
(21:09):
think the same thing is going to happen with AI.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
But with universities it's different.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
You and I can get online do CHET, GPT or
Copilot or whatever, and whatever data we put in might
go to the large language model and we don't care, right,
so you can make a resume or go. But for us,
because we are integrated with the student information system of
the university and we're pulling in all that student data,
you know their names and their phone numbers and their
dress and their major and their grades, and all of
(21:37):
that's protected information. So we have to do AI in
a way that is completely protected and within the privacy
constraints of higher education. So we're doing it, and I
think we're doing it really well, but it's much harder
to do, let's say, for us, than it would be
(21:58):
just for an individual student online. And so sometimes matching
the expectations between why can't you just do something and
the reality of how it has to be done.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Can be a challenge to to explain.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
No, I know business plans I get from from entrepreneurs
who are just starting and you know, they're raising some money,
they have a PowerPoint and you know, actually doing it
in ier it is I think a much bigger challenge
than some people realize.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Well, I appreciate you sharing and expounding that if you
can indulge me just for a second. Map because in
this series, with so many leaders and also future entrepreneurs
and leaders and listen to the series, leadership always comes up.
We talk about team and culture and all the things
that go with that. In the short time I've gotten
to know you, I can see you've got passion for
what you do and what you offer. With that said,
(22:45):
when I talk about leadership to you, what does it
mean to you?
Speaker 4 (22:48):
I'm a I'm a big believer in leading from the front,
but also in team building and collaboration, and some of
these things made sound tripe, but they happen to be true. Really,
making sure everyone understands your vision and where you want
to go and why you're making the decisions you make
(23:09):
is essential, and I think we're very fortunate at Simplicity
to have frankly, the best corporate culture I've ever seen anywhere. Right,
everyone here is incredibly driven. The feedback we get from
clients again and again and again is you know, that
was the best experience I've ever had with a vendor.
That was the best support I've ever received. We love
(23:30):
your company, Thank you for jen You know, it's that
kind of relationship, and I think it exudes the company
from top down here and people really feel it and
it's a different kind of place to work, so I
love it. I think leadership has to really tend to
(23:51):
that kind of culture. It just doesn't happen naturally, and
you have to do it from the top down. And
I also think it helps everyone understand, you know, why.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
You're doing what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Doesn't mean everyone's going to agree with everyone moving you know,
the obvious things everyone will agree to, but the things
that aren't obvious there will be really smart considerations on
both sides.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
At the end of the day, you just have to
decide where you're going.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
And when everyone has that context, you know they they're
on board and it goes well and they get behind it,
even if it wasn't maybe the thing they were voting for.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, and I think that's so well said and something
if I could expound on that a little bit and
throw it back at you. Is what I'm hearing. And
I've learned in my business a long time ago to
as a manager transparency and also making sure that you're
appropriately candid with people because in the end, they just
want to hear the truth correct one hundred.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Percent, Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah. All right, Well, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I want to get some final thoughts from you, and
we're going to give a website. And I know people
listen to the series. If you're hiring the best to
the best, you'd love to hear that too about Simplicity.
So let's do this just well, we've talked about Matt,
some final thoughts recapping everything.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Thanks sir. The floor is yours, we.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Are hiring and our website it's the name Simplicity, A
s y M P L I C I T y
ww dot Simplicity dot com. We have a careers page
there and we are looking to hire top people that
love higher ed and share the passion that I just
talked about.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
And we're doing it all around the.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
World, so you know, I do put it out there
and encourage people to take a look. And I can't
thank you enough for having us on and getting the
message of what we're doing out there to more people.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
The more people that realize.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Kind of our mission and what we're doing, the better
it is for employers you know who want to engage
with us to help find students. More students you know
who realize the resource with their will seek us out
to help find crew opportunities, and more.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Universities will employ it in new and interesting ways.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Outstanding, and one last thing, Matt, without embarrassing you, I
know that some leaders love awards. Some donuts not a
big deal. We see that in Hollywood and the music
inde and even in my industry and sports when it
comes to being acknowledged. But you are a finalist for
the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award, and I imagine
you know that for you and your team being up
for an award is a cool thing. But when it
(26:12):
comes to that, I know everybody treats awards differently, but
you know, what's that like to be a finalist?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Well, it was very nice to be a finalist.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
I was not selected beyond the finalist stage, but I
was honored to be part of the process. And look,
the awards come up from, you know, from time to time,
from different organizations, and I think it's not so much
about winning the award, is creating the venue to bring
all those people together and yeah, other stories and to
meet one another. And I've made some great relationships through
those sorts of things, and we've sponsored awards ourselves across
(26:41):
various higher education institutions, so they certainly play an important role.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Well I'm glad you said it that way because one
of the things I've also learned, and I'm sure that
you would agree to mass sometimes people just want simple acknowledgment.
You don't have to win something. I think people just
want to be recognized.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Right absolutely, And frankly, I much rather be the one
granting the award than receiving award.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, me too, I find that it would be much
more awarded.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Me too, Me too, hey Man, thank you so much
for everything.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I appreciate your valuable time continued success at the company
at Simplicity. We really appreciate this and give my best
to your team and thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I'm glad we could feature you on CEOs You Should.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Know, Dennis, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs You
Should Know as part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
M and T Bank presents CEOs.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You should know Howard by iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Let's meet Matt Small.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
He is the president and CEO for Simplicity, based in Arlington, Virginia,
but working domestically and internationally. Is a company that provides
software solutions to universities and colleges to manage various aspects
of student life.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Now, before we talk more about Matt's.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Company, I first asked him and talk a little bit
about himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
I am from a small town called Cheshire, Connecticut, in
the middle of the state of Connecticut. I went to
undergrad at the University of Denver, and I did my
graduate school at Yukon, came back to Connecticut and got
my JD and my MBA there and then went into
law at first and then eventually moved to in house
and then over to the business side.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You know, I know this is probably not going to
surprise you, but of the hundreds of interviews that I
do for this great series, Matt, and because I've moved
so much in my genre in radio and television, I
usually have a connection somehow to every guest. And I
know the University of Denver because I lived in Washington
Park for two years in Denver when I worked in
radio there.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
So it's a great school.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It's a great hockey program, among other things that I've
had some friends that have gone there, and I bet
you had a really great experience there.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I loved it. I was not on the hockey team,
but I watched them.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Well, listen, now we're here to talk about a lot
of things. So of course we're going to talk a
lot about simplicity that you've been for nine years as
president and CEO. But I'm always curious about, you know,
what people want to do when they're coming out of school.
What did you have in mind for yourself as you
were going out of school, what you wanted to do?
Speaker 4 (01:33):
You know, when I did my JDMBA, as I mentioned,
and as I came out of that, I knew I
kind of wanted to be on the corporate side.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And this was in the late nineties. It was the
dot com bubble.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
People were discovering venture capital and growing these companies and
everything was going online. And I just was lucky enough
to be in a software practice group that was almost
an incubator for in house software.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
General counsels, learned a lot about all of.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
That and doing licensing in M and A and public
securities work along the way. And when I had the
opportunity to go in house in a company where you know,
I thought they were doing really meaningful work, you know,
it was a big pay cut, but it was kind
of exactly what I wanted to do, So I left
the firm. I went in house to a small startup
(02:23):
on the teaching and learning side of higher education and
spent fourteen years there growing that company.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Right, And as we mentioned also, I mean, higher education
has been a big part of your life now. And
once again I would like to give a little context
because you've almost been at Simplicity for a decade now,
and I'm sure time flies like it does for everybody
when you're at a place, especially when you're enjoying yourself
and all the amazing work that you're doing. But previously
before that at Blackboard, you were there as president and CBO.
(02:51):
Can you talk about your experience from going there to
this new company and why you transitioned.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yeah, I was at Blackboard for fourteen years there when
it was an early startup, and you know, we grew
by leaps and bounds as teaching and learning came online
and the company did a lot of acquisitions along the way.
I went public along the way, I became the general
counsel along the way and worked with a lot of
those different management teams that we had kind of acquired
into the company, and I took the company public and
(03:18):
then private again, and you know, throughout all of that,
wound up leaving the law kind of became you know,
an executive there, and then you know, we sold the
company to a private equity fund and one of the thesis
of their investment was international growth. So they asked me
to become president of international and we created this huge
international structure and moved to London for three years with
(03:40):
my family to do that, and it was incredibly successful.
And I was in that role for almost four years,
doing it from headquarters here in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And this opportunity came up.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
To be CEO of Simplicity, and Blackboard was on the
teaching and learning side of higher education, and I was
on the road a lot, meeting with university and thought leaders,
speaking and doing a lot of keynotes, and I found
myself talking about employability almost all the time on the
academic side. Everyone was focused on the future of higher education,
(04:11):
career outcomes, skills, competencies, employability, experiential learning.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's that's where the focus was.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
And people were very focused on the skills gap, you know,
with the where universities thought students what they thought they
should know and what industry thought they should know, and
there was a real disconnect, and Simplicity kind of sat
at that juncture.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
They were very focused on employability and higher ed. It
was a startup.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I was right here in Arlington, Virginia, and it was
really a great opportunity. So I came over here, you know,
about nine years ago, and you know, the rest is history.
We've been growing by leaps and bounds. We've built incredible
products and done some pretty wonderful things in the industry.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, we're going to talk a lot about that when
it comes to Simplicity, But I did want to ask
you if you could indulge me in the listeners just
for a moment. Man talking about as a present and
a CBO moving to a president and CEO right now,
I'm sure you go the buck stops with you, even
though you've got a great team, and I'm sure you
lean on them for all the cool things and maybe
you're not strong at But with that said, what were
(05:14):
the inherent differences that you said, this is going to
be a challenge, it's going to be exciting. But moving
to president's CEO to this current company, it's simplicity. What
was that whole exchange like for you? That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
You know, at the last four years as a Blackbird
was president of international, but I reported up to the.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
CEO of the company.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
So obviously there's you know, right now I am the
CEO of the company, so you know, you have additional
responsibilities when it comes to you know, what you're doing
at the board level and investor level, and you know
that the corporate side of the house, I think a
lot of the day to day job in terms of
what we build in the product, how we deliver it,
(05:53):
how we support our clients, how we go to market,
hitting our sales numbers and doing you know, doing that
was very similar between the two. I think I was
fortunate enough at Blackboard to really kind of own, if
you will, the international strategy at that time, So the
international questions kind of and you might say the buck
stop there.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
However, you know, you really.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Kind of had to share the resources and the planning,
of course, with the rest of the organization. We had
a K through twelve organization, a North America Higher ED organization,
a corporate organization.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So this is very different.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Here you're able to come and kind of sit at
top not just domestic, but international, the complete product portfolio.
And I would say that, you know, we learned quite
a lot about Blackboard over fourteen years, and as I mentioned,
we did a lot of acquisitions and learned a lot
(06:51):
of lessons, both from things you did right and things
you didn't do right. I think we were able to
bring all those lessons here and kind of do simplicity
the way in many ways I wish, you know, Blackboard
had done things along the way. So we kind of
built this incredible global ed tech company focused on on employability.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Well, Matt, let's do this. Let's talk about simplicity Now.
I buried the lead for long enough, and before we
get into what you do, I would love to talk
about mission and vision because I know when it comes
to exactly this genre, that's very important.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So can you talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, our vision is to create a future where every
student is real world ready and what that means is,
you know, we're trying to empower higher education to supercharge
their student engagement and boost employability outcomes. So we don't
(07:48):
just view ourselves as software that students use to find
a job. We actually view ourselves as transformative software platform
from the beginning of high right to the end, helping
students with all things related to employability.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's helping them.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Learn what's out there in the world that they might
be interested in, and what do they need to do
in order to get there, and how to prepare, whether
it's in their curriculum or whether it's in co curricular activities,
and how do they pull together a total experience in
a way that can be matched with jobs and internships
and in a way that will differentiate them from other students.
(08:25):
And then ultimately you know, land that job and uh,
you know the career. You know of their dreams, so
you know, it's it's a it's a very aspirational place
to work here. Everyone here, I like to say, in
the company, you won't find a single person throughout simplicity
who's not a generally good person really cares and shares
that mission with the university and with their students.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
It's a very mission.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Driven place, and you know, people feel really good about
working here, and we love what we do.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
And higher end may not.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Be the place you go to make the most revenue
in the world, and it's certainly not a place to
shoot up in a bubble, but it's always very visible
and predictable, and.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's it's very unique. It's a niche.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Market where you know universities they they may be very
pre sensitive, but at the same time, you know they
will move mountains for you. They want to help build
your product, they want to share with all the other universities.
They want to, uh, take a day off and come
(09:29):
speak at your event or help you with a white paper.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They call you on your birthday, you know.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
And and if if you understand higher ED and the
values of higher ED and you do that well and
you make the students love your software, you know they
will reward you with very, very long term relationships.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
And we've been very fortunate.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Enough to be in that category of what I believe,
you know, incredibly well regarded higher education companies.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Now standing, I appreciate you sharing all that. Well, let's
do this because you're starting to allude to it. But
for all the new people that are listening right now
to the podcast and saying, well, I'm just learning about
simplicity right now. If you were to give kind of
a thirty thousand foot viewmat about what you exactly do,
what would you tell somebody?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I would say that we are the platform for employability
higher education. So every university, everything that the career center
used to do offline, they now do online, and they
do it better because it's online. So they get to
students right away. And it's where students go to find
out all about careers and jobs and internships. It's where
(10:30):
they have tools and resources to help improve themselves, whether
it's working on their profile or their resume, or they're
doing a mockt interview, or whether they're doing a skills assessment,
or they're getting matched with an internship or jobs. It
is the interface of the university for the employer community.
It's where employers go to post jobs and match with students.
(10:50):
It's how they interview students. It's also how they engage
with the university, whether they do career fairs, infusession work groups,
and it's how the university runs everything related to employees ability.
It's how they do their counseling sessions. It's how they
advertise things to the universities, to the students.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's how they.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Find out where did the students go and how long
did it take them and how much are they making
and they pull all that information into institutional research. So
it's a critical aspect of higher education and the importance
of employability. And I think everyone knows that if they're
reading the newspaper in any day. You know, it's completely
changed in the last ten years. It's become really the
(11:28):
number one strategic priority of many heads of universities.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
The one thing that I'm thinking of is we're talking
about this subject and the genre that you're in mad
is that so much has changed, especially in the last
twenty years with you two different companies, you know, internet
and phones and higher education. And I think everybody can
read because I just had a graduate from Elon University
last year and my daughter's now film gradulation.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Then thank you and listen.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
A lot of private schools, a lot of schools in general,
are expensive, but there are the opportunities to get us
step ahead, and your company brings that to light. With
that said, you know, higher educations in the news right now.
I don't know how that affects you and your team
or as you work with different higher education clients out there,
but what's the landscape like for you right now in
your team.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
So just looking at Simplicity's business fortunately, career outcomes and
improving skills and competencies and helping students find internships and
experiential opportunities is a real bipartisan thing. Everyone is for this,
All parents are for this, all students are for this,
all politicians are for this. So you know, if anything,
(12:35):
I believe that those critical of higher education want to
see more of what we're doing in higher education, and
the universities want to do more. They want to elevate
the career center and break down silos and use technology
for better student outcomes. And they want the data so
they can measure this and see if what they're doing
is helping THESU. So we're in the center of all
of that. So that's a really good thing overall in
(12:57):
higher ed. You know, I've been doing higher ed tech
for twenty five years now and I've never met at
university who doesn't tell me.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You know, budgets are real concerned.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
It's always this kind of ever present thing at universities,
although right now there's a lot of moving pieces. There's
questions around tax and federal funding, there's questions around.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
International student tuition. Just so it's creating.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Tentativeness within higher education on initiatives. So it hasn't impacted
our business at all, but we're hearing a lot about
it from universities because there's some degree of uncertainty. Right.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
You know, the one thing that I'm thinking about about
your business model again, Matt, is that it's an old idea.
And I'll explain myself. I'm a seventies kid. I'm a
latch key kid, so I did everything for myself, right.
I come from that genre that you just took care
of yourself. But I will tell you this, I was
very grateful, not knowing it at the time, that in
high school in Northern Virginia, that they taught me how
to write a check, taught me how to typewrite on
(14:01):
a manual, and all the real world skills that I
still used as an adult. And you've taken that and
modernized it. And I think that once people and parents
and kids see what you offer about giving those extra
opportunities to learn real world, skills that have a help,
you know, into the job force. It's so paramount now
because I know with my kid, you know, twenty two
(14:22):
twenty three how hard it is to get a job
no matter what you do in today's climate as opposed
to when I was growing up and how I got
a job. So I'm sure you and I could agree
that things have completely changed. And you offer that to
parents and families when they find out about you, it's
got to be a godsend because you just need the
extra advantages out there now.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, it's a completely different landscape.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
I'm sure when you graduated college you weren't competing against
bots for jobs.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
No, No, why it wasn't.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
It's a totally different world, and the pace of change
has increased. You know a lot of the students who
are freshmen right now are going to go into jobs
in four years that don't exist today. Yeah, and you know,
having the skills, not necessarily the specific.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Job function, but the skills that they need to be
able to do that.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Job function when they get there, and kind of how
they're going to approach teams, how they're going to present themselves,
how they're going to have the work ethic, and approach
and professional skills. Those are the things employers want to see.
Of course, they want to see you know that you
study hard and got good grades and that you matriculated.
But in addition to that that they really want to
(15:31):
focus on certain skills and competencies that they know will
help people succeed in the long run that universities traditionally
haven't built into the curriculum.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Now they are more and more.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, well let's talk about that. I think this is
a great segue. Let's get into the weeds a little
bit about what you offer. And you know, you can
still be general, but you know when a school works
with some parents and the student and it comes to
what you offer from Simplicity, could you kind of get
into the weeds about the offerings that you do give
because I'm curious about that part of it.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
So I've been talking a lot about employability and that
is our flagship product. It's called Simplicity CSM for Career
Service Manager, and he is the platform of employability at
the university. The other two major things we do are
we are the platform for disability services at the university.
Is the way in which the universities track manage and
provision reasonable accommodations.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
For students who need them.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
It could be a physical accommodation, It could be more
time on a test. It could be a socio emotional
it could be anxiety, depression, anything all the way down
to a food allergy or a physical accommodation. And then
the third thing we do is around conduct and student wellness,
and that's everything from some student violation of any kind
(16:45):
you can imagine. It could be dorm violation, it could
be annoys violation, it could be academic integrity.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
It could be sexual assault or violence or substance.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Issue, it could be AI really to cheating incident, and
also student wellness cases on that. So our disability platforms
called Simplicity Accommodate, and our conduct platforms called Simplicity Advocate.
And again I mentioned employability was really this bipartisan thing.
So is disability services, and so is conduct and student
(17:18):
well being. I mean, these are they If you go
on a tour right now as a parent with your
kids freshman year of college, they're going to in that
original presentation that you have on your tour date, they're
going to talk about the career center. They're going to
talk about what they do for disability services, and they're
also going to talk about you know, conduct and wellness,
and frankly, there's been a lot of it in the
news I think the right now, but thirty percent of
(17:40):
students in higher education have an accommodation of some sort,
so it's mainstream universities are very focused on this. And
on the conduct side, you know, we've seen a lot
around you know, Title nine sexual assault and harassment, the
me Too movement. Certainly we're seeing a lot around campus
protests and Title six and discrimination and how do we
handle those things. And we'll also, as I mentioned, you know,
(18:01):
seeing a lot around when people talk about student success.
You know, they used to talk about grades and retention
and now what they really mean is you know.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Career outcomes.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
So we're kind of in the middle of these three
hot areas on the student services side of higher education.
It's all of them are major focuses of leadership at
the universities and parents and students coming into the university.
So you know, I think we've done a really good
job building great software and caring for you know, universities
in the right way, but we've also really benefited from
(18:32):
this wave.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Well, no doubt, and you've also well thought out about
what the landscape is for kids that are going to
school today, because it's completely different from me and even
twenty years ago, especially when it comes to mental wellness
and health. So I think it's so cool as a
parent that you guys have made sure that you hit
that head on, and I think that's really important. I
bet parents in schools are just stoked to hear about that.
I did want to talk about any kind of challenges
(18:54):
in the industry. I'm sure things are going well, but
with that said, there's always a challenge here and there,
and you're intry and your landscape, what kind of challenges
present you and your staff today.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
You know, we talked a little bit about budget earlier,
so the tentativeness, you know, it has an impacted us
so far. But I think in higher education overall, we
have yet to see the full consequence of some of
the funding changes, and I think there's a lot of
unknown about it. We don't really know where it's going
to fall or the extent to which it'll be difficult.
But universities are you know, they tend to be nervous
(19:25):
organisms where you know, they hear about stuff that could
be coming, and there's kind of this you know, fear
uncertainty in doubt aspect.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Where they.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
They kind of you freeze and they wait and see.
So you know that that is a challenge in the industry.
We've been talking a lot about what we do here
in the US, but we're also the leading global provider,
so we're the largest provider of what we do throughout Spanish,
Latin America, Brazil, Europe, you know, the UK, Ireland, Australia,
New Zealand, Middle East. All those places have different impacts.
(19:56):
I think there's some common trends globally.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
There's this.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Movement, if you will, around tightening international student visas. We
see it in Canada, We're seeing it in Australia, We're
seeing it in the UK, We're seeing it here in
the US. You know that that's a big deal because
that's a big funding stream for higher education and it's
also a large part of the current student population. And
you know a lot of the students that are at
(20:24):
those universities has mentioned you know, some of them want
to go home to their home country and find a job.
Some of them, you know, maybe citizens of the where
their university is. But they still want to go abroad
to work. So you know, there's a lot of uncertainty
in that regard and in the software space in general.
I think there's a really large shift happening around AI,
(20:47):
and in universities there's an expectation that you will use
AI to drive your company and have better functionality and
uh meet student expectations, and that's smart and you need to.
I mean, it's like the companies that say there were
Web one point zero who didn't go to Web two
point oh, or they're not here anymore, right, And I
(21:09):
think the same thing is going to happen with AI.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
But with universities it's different.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
You and I can get online do CHET, GPT or
Copilot or whatever, and whatever data we put in might
go to the large language model and we don't care, right,
so you can make a resume or go. But for us,
because we are integrated with the student information system of
the university and we're pulling in all that student data,
you know their names and their phone numbers and their
dress and their major and their grades, and all of
(21:37):
that's protected information. So we have to do AI in
a way that is completely protected and within the privacy
constraints of higher education. So we're doing it, and I
think we're doing it really well, but it's much harder
to do, let's say, for us, than it would be
(21:58):
just for an individual student online. And so sometimes matching
the expectations between why can't you just do something and
the reality of how it has to be done.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Can be a challenge to to explain.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
No, I know business plans I get from from entrepreneurs
who are just starting and you know, they're raising some money,
they have a PowerPoint and you know, actually doing it
in ier it is I think a much bigger challenge
than some people realize.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Well, I appreciate you sharing and expounding that if you
can indulge me just for a second. Map because in
this series, with so many leaders and also future entrepreneurs
and leaders and listen to the series, leadership always comes up.
We talk about team and culture and all the things
that go with that. In the short time I've gotten
to know you, I can see you've got passion for
what you do and what you offer. With that said,
(22:45):
when I talk about leadership to you, what does it
mean to you?
Speaker 4 (22:48):
I'm a I'm a big believer in leading from the front,
but also in team building and collaboration, and some of
these things made sound tripe, but they happen to be true. Really,
making sure everyone understands your vision and where you want
to go and why you're making the decisions you make
(23:09):
is essential, and I think we're very fortunate at Simplicity
to have frankly, the best corporate culture I've ever seen anywhere. Right,
everyone here is incredibly driven. The feedback we get from
clients again and again and again is you know, that
was the best experience I've ever had with a vendor.
That was the best support I've ever received. We love
(23:30):
your company, Thank you for jen You know, it's that
kind of relationship, and I think it exudes the company
from top down here and people really feel it and
it's a different kind of place to work, so I
love it. I think leadership has to really tend to
(23:51):
that kind of culture. It just doesn't happen naturally, and
you have to do it from the top down. And
I also think it helps everyone understand, you know, why.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
You're doing what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Doesn't mean everyone's going to agree with everyone moving you know,
the obvious things everyone will agree to, but the things
that aren't obvious there will be really smart considerations on
both sides.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
At the end of the day, you just have to
decide where you're going.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
And when everyone has that context, you know they they're
on board and it goes well and they get behind it,
even if it wasn't maybe the thing they were voting for.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, and I think that's so well said and something
if I could expound on that a little bit and
throw it back at you. Is what I'm hearing. And
I've learned in my business a long time ago to
as a manager transparency and also making sure that you're
appropriately candid with people because in the end, they just
want to hear the truth correct one hundred.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Percent, Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah. All right, Well, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I want to get some final thoughts from you, and
we're going to give a website. And I know people
listen to the series. If you're hiring the best to
the best, you'd love to hear that too about Simplicity.
So let's do this just well, we've talked about Matt,
some final thoughts recapping everything.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Thanks sir. The floor is yours, we.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Are hiring and our website it's the name Simplicity, A
s y M P L I C I T y
ww dot Simplicity dot com. We have a careers page
there and we are looking to hire top people that
love higher ed and share the passion that I just
talked about.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
And we're doing it all around the.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
World, so you know, I do put it out there
and encourage people to take a look. And I can't
thank you enough for having us on and getting the
message of what we're doing out there to more people.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
The more people that realize.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Kind of our mission and what we're doing, the better
it is for employers you know who want to engage
with us to help find students. More students you know
who realize the resource with their will seek us out
to help find crew opportunities, and more.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Universities will employ it in new and interesting ways.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Outstanding, and one last thing, Matt, without embarrassing you, I
know that some leaders love awards. Some donuts not a
big deal. We see that in Hollywood and the music
inde and even in my industry and sports when it
comes to being acknowledged. But you are a finalist for
the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award, and I imagine
you know that for you and your team being up
for an award is a cool thing. But when it
(26:12):
comes to that, I know everybody treats awards differently, but
you know, what's that like to be a finalist?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Well, it was very nice to be a finalist.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
I was not selected beyond the finalist stage, but I
was honored to be part of the process. And look,
the awards come up from, you know, from time to time,
from different organizations, and I think it's not so much
about winning the award, is creating the venue to bring
all those people together and yeah, other stories and to
meet one another. And I've made some great relationships through
those sorts of things, and we've sponsored awards ourselves across
(26:41):
various higher education institutions, so they certainly play an important role.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Well I'm glad you said it that way because one
of the things I've also learned, and I'm sure that
you would agree to mass sometimes people just want simple acknowledgment.
You don't have to win something. I think people just
want to be recognized.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Right absolutely, And frankly, I much rather be the one
granting the award than receiving award.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, me too, I find that it would be much
more awarded.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Me too, Me too, hey Man, thank you so much
for everything.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I appreciate your valuable time continued success at the company
at Simplicity. We really appreciate this and give my best
to your team and thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I'm glad we could feature you on CEOs You Should.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Know, Dennis, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs You
Should Know as part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
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