Matt Long’s connection to NTID is through his daughter, Maggie, who is pursuing her master’s degree at RIT.

He is a certified public accountant, having gained his certification at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He works with New Normal Life LLC, an experiential marketing company that partners with retailers to support university students.

He volunteered with Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, where he initially served on the advisory council for the Clarke Boston campus before moving on to the school’s board of trustees. As chair of the finance and audit committees, he oversaw the management of the endowment and collaborated with the president during the school’s transition to an itinerant model, providing services to students in their own schools while winding down the residential model established in 1867.

Matt earned his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and his graduate degree from Northeastern University.

“We don’t always get to pick the things we become passionate about—sometimes they just sort of fall in our lap. That’s the case with me and deaf education. It was not really on my radar before Maggie. But since then, I’ve become a strong advocate. I enjoyed the time I served on the Clarke Board of Trustees, and I learned a lot. The things I learned helped me be a better advocate for my daughter as well as help other families with deaf children. Our Clarke itinerant teacher of the deaf was actually how I learned about RIT/NTID.

“When Maggie was going through elementary, middle, and high school, I could not imagine, for the life of me, ever getting to the point where I’d be comfortable sending her off to college at 18 years old. My other three kids? Sure. Maggie? No way. Then it all changed when we learned about RIT/NTID, did a school visit, and then the summer before her senior year sent her to the NTID EYF program on campus. She still gives me sleepless nights, but much more in line with the lack of sleep I get because of her three siblings, so kind of the normal level of concern you have because of your kids.

“During my time with Clarke I learned about a lot of the challenges a school for the deaf can face. Since I’ve joined the NTID Foundation Board, I’ve realized that there are a lot of similar challenges at NTID that I observed at Clarke. There’s also a lot of new and different challenges. I enjoy learning about these issues. Being part of the RIT/NTID community by serving on the Foundation Board helps me better understand these issues, and in turn help others understand them.”