Profiles from the Field

Matthew Jones, Ph.D.
Director, Learning and Development, KPMG

Educational Background

Matt obtained a Ph.D. in I/O Psychology from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.

Career Progression

When asked to describe the formative experiences in his career, Matt cited the following:

After completing his graduate studies, Matt was a consultant with HR Strategies, which was subsequently acquired by Aon. He credits these consulting experiences with teaching him how to understand client expectations and determine how to meet their needs. Consulting also provided him with a perspective across a broad range of industries and companies that has served him well in subsequent roles.

Matt’s first internal role was in the global learning group at Marsh & McLennan. Through this role he was able to better understand how a leadership development strategy evolves and is implemented. It also provided him an opportunity to develop and implement leadership development strategy and programs at a global level.

Matt also spoke about the benefits of his current adjunct teaching position in NYU’s Applied Psychology Masters program. He values the perspective his students offer on current issues and challenges they see in the field.

Profiling his current role

Matt has been at KPMG for two years. His primary responsibilities are the development of client-facing partners to help them advance to the Lead Partner role, which is a critical position at KPMG. This work centers on the design, development and administration of a high potential development program for Lead Partner candidates. Additionally, Matt’s group serves as internal consultants for senior leaders in the firm, primary on partner development issues.

The current economic climate has magnified the emphasis on revenue generation within the firm. This has impacted his group in several ways:

• Increased emphasis on the importance of career development, especially in the current economic environment
• Focus on the immediate application of the skills participants learn in the program to activities that will generate revenue.
• Develop program objectives that balance short-term impact and long-term development, whereas leadership development programs typically had a longer-term focus.
• Ensuring managers and partners recognize the myriad ways to promote workforce engagement, particularly recognizing people’s contributions to the broader firm.

When asked about the best part of his job, Matt spoke about his interactions with senior leaders in the firm, as well as the ability to work with world-class experts from outside KPMG in the design and delivery of development programs.

When asked about the worst part of his job, Matt described the extensive administrative responsibilities that come with any internal training role. He spoke about how much support, coordination and follow-up goes into making development programs significant events for the participants and the organization.

Advice Matt offered

Internal practitioners should be current on issues that underscore business strategy and how leadership development and training impacts business performance. In addition to reading a range of business periodicals and books, Matt cited resources like Training and CLO magazine, which profiles what top companies are doing to impact performance through learning and development.

Additionally, Matt reinforced the importance of talking with people in the field to find out what their jobs are really like.