Mat Thexton Joins The Atlas Society

[Ed Hudgins]

Mat Thexton Joins The Atlas Society

We're pleased to announce that Matthew A. Thexton has joined the staff of The Atlas Society as director of development.

Mat, who worked for several decades for the U.S. Patent Office helping to establish property rights for inventors, brings to us the organizational skills and rigor necessary to ramp up our fundraising efforts and bring in more of the resources necessary for our future plans to promote more effectively the philosophy or Objectivism.

Gene Holloway, who has been directing our development efforts, will be going part time starting in a few months, working with us on special projects.

We asked Mat how he got involved in Objectivism and he told us the following:

"My introduction to Ayn Rand was, like so many others, during my late teens. After aimlessly attending freshman year at the University of Washington, I dropped out. Fortunately, a friend from high school recommended The Fountainhead to me, which I read with great pleasure. I immediately moved on to Atlas Shrugged.

"The discovery of the articulation of ideas with which I so identified had immediate, profound, life changing effects. I resolved to become a creator. More specifically, I chose to learn engineering. Inspired with new purpose and confidence, I successfully pursued a degree in chemical engineering at Cornell University, where the faculty consciously taught how to solve problems, not just the solutions to problems."

As to his involvement with The Atlas Society, he tells us that, "In 2001 I attended my first Summer Seminar, in Johnstown Pennsylvania, and haven't missed one since!"

Mat will also help to strengthen the open and benevolent Objectivist community that our organization has fostered for nearly two decades. Many of you already know Mat. Those of you who don't will have the pleasure of making his acquaintance at this year's Summer Seminar in Portland, Oregon from June 28 to July 5 (get a discount by registering by May 16!), at other events that we sponsor in Washington and elsewhere, or even if you just call in to our offices to chat with us or, better still, make a contribution!

Welcome aboard Mat!

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Ed,

I don't know if I met Mat, but I have no doubt that if you guys chose him, he was a wise choice.

Good luck to you and may only good things happen between TAS and your new team member, Mat Thexton.

Michael

[Chris Grieb]

Michael; Matt has been at many Summer Seminars and is a very solid Objectivist. He is pal's with Kathy Wilson.

[Judith]

This is fantastic news. The USPTO's examiner corps' loss is TAS's gain.

Judith

[jordanz]

Congratulations Matt.