Matt Winkler serves as Professors and Program Director for the fully online Masters of Science in Sports Analytics & Management (MS SAM) at American University. He brings over 20 years of sports related experience from the NCAA, NHL, WNBA, MLS, the Olympics, and the World Cup. Winkler has taken this passion and success to developed sports industry education initiatives including his current work. He also is co-founder and executive director of The SEME, the sports events marketing experience, the annual national career industry and networking conference.
Winkler frequently serves as an on-site game-day media operations consultant for U.S. Soccer and D.C. United as well as the NCAA and their championships for Men’s Basketball and Men’s Soccer. His external experiences have been extensive. He has served as a media operations coordinator for several national and international events such as: the 2003 World Cup, 2002 Winter Olympics Salt Lake City; the 1999 Women’s World Cup in D.C, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournaments in 2002, 2001, 1998, 1996, and 1994; the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 1994 World Cup in Washington, D.C. and the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Prior to joining American University, Winkler served as Associate Dean at Georgetown University. And worked as a Regional Sales Manager for the Lincoln Holdings franchises of the Washington Capitals (NHL) and Washington Mystics (WNBA). Winkler’s early career includes leadership roles in the NCAA Athletics and Media Information business. Winkler served as the Assistant Athletics Director for Public Relations at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA and as Assistant Athletics Director for Communications, and Director of Athletic Communications and Sports Information at American University at Lehigh University
Winkler, a native of West Bethesda, MD, who earned his M.A. in Public Communication at American University, was an N.C.A.A. student-athlete (soccer and basketball) in college (Curry College, Milton, MA). He is an active member of Public Relations Society of American (PRSA) and earned his strategic public relations accreditation, the APR, from that organization.