Background and experience

Matthew is the Principal of Curtis Incorporated, a multi-disciplinary strategic advisory consultancy. Following 20 years in the Australian Foreign Service during which he served in a range of offshore and onshore operational and management roles Matthew left the public sector, and for the past 20 years has consulted in strategic and national security, governance and risk, emergency management and business continuity management. In this capacity he has had a range of consulting roles, from partner/director of a SME, senior management in a global consulting firm and Principal of his own company.

Matthew has worked and led in diplomacy, national security, relevant policy development and implementation, legal and litigation matters, industry regulation and negotiation. His consulting draws on high-level relationship management skills founded on an extensive body of lived experience. He has directed and undertaken a great many complex consulting engagements in the public and private sectors, including:

• National security review – national counter-terrorism arrangements, security and risk of various national programs, critical infrastructure security and transport security
• Security and emergency management governance and risk management at national, jurisdictional and enterprise levels
• Protective security policy framework formulation and implementation
• Intelligence capability development.

 
Appointments and qualifications

• Boards and appointments
  • Standards Australia Committee MB-025: Security and Resilience, which coordinates Australia’s participation and represents Australian interests in the work of ISO Technical Committee TC 292, Security and Resilience in formulating international security standards
  • Convener, MB-025-06 Protective Security and member, ISO/TC 292 Working Group 6, Protective Security
  • In the ISO domain, Project leader and lead author, ISO 22340 Security and resilience — Protective security — Guidelines for an enterprise protective security architecture and framework, which will be the first such international standard
  • Board, Security Professionals Australasia and former Chair of the Australasian Council of Security Professionals, the professional peak body
  • Australian Outward Bound Foundation
  • Chair, Executive Committee, Owner’s Corporation UP 3844 ‘Bridge Point’, ACT
• Bachelor’s and Honours degrees in Chinese history, politics and language.