Friday Feature: Matt Gregg

Passion meets purpose
Matt's story

Your name: Matt Gregg

Your role at Volunteers of America Michigan: Data and Compliance Manger

What brought you to this position? I have a passion for helping people and have always wanted to use my knowledge and abilities to create positive change in the community. When looking for a career transition, I put together a list of companies with a mission and reputation which mirrored my personal values. Since most of those companies, including VOAMI, fell under the non-profit/social services sector, and since I have a background business rather than social work, the challenge was finding an opening where everything fit together. Fortunately, my current role was posted, and it offered a great combination of opportunities for growth while benefiting from my previous experience.

What is your biggest takeaway from working with Volunteers of America Michigan? Teamwork makes the dream work. It rhymes so you know it’s true. Everyone has a different skill set, knowledge base, and thought process. Collaborating with others is mutually beneficial. The teacher gains experience in training and development, the learner grows in his/her abilities, and the organization gains more well-rounded employees. It’s a win-win-win.

What is your biggest challenge in this position? Change is hard. Issues can occur in communication, accountability, budgeting, training, and plenty of other areas. Successfully implementing change can sometimes feel impossible, but change happens all the time! It’s important for organizations to step outside the comfort zone of “this is how we’ve always done it” and ask, “how can this be improved?” Thankfully, I have a great team who helps navigate these challenges and make improvements which in turn, improves our ability to serve the community.

Where is your dream vacation spot? A-a-aye, I’m on vacation...Every single day ‘cause I love my occupation...

That being said, give me a dog friendly beach on a warm sunny day and I’m happy.

What is your favorite book? Here are a few books that I recently enjoyed and would recommend: “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness” by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are” by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, and “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions” by Randall Munroe.

How do you spend your time outside of the office? I usually go through phases. Productive me spends time cleaning, doing laundry, running errands, or reading. Fun me spends time with friends, plays sports, watches movies, or plays video games. Lazy me usually takes naps or orders take-out. Everything in moderation.