About Matthew

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Pre-American Legion

Just after high school, Matthew Shuman joined the Arizona Army National Guard as a 31B, or Military Police Officer. It was not long until he was bound for Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, home of the Military Police Corps. It was here that Mr. Shuman obtained his training over nearly six months, departing as a qualified Military Police Officer. After Basic Combat Training, Matthew was assigned to the 850th Military Police Battalion, and the newly formed 856th Military Police Company, 3rd Platoon, located in Prescott, Arizona. Mr. Shuman quickly became a prominent member of his unit and began volunteering for other activities and duties. He studied and became a Range Safety Officer, allowing him the authority to operate shooting ranges under the Army's control. Additionally, he obtained a bus driver qualification, as the need for this skill was essential to the 856th MP Company moving unit personnel quickly.

While participating in the All Weapons Weekend in 2009, an annual cross-branch shooting competition with international attendance, Shuman was recruited by the distinguished Arizona Army National Guard Honor Guard, based at both Papago Military Park and Fort Huachuca. Along with a high-functioning team, Shuman provided military funeral honors to fallen brothers and sisters in arms, along with Veterans who already completed their military service. His role in the Honor Guard awarded him the ability to display the distinguished blue and white Honor Guard tab on his military uniform with the utmost respect.

While serving in the Honor Guard, Mr. Shuman began taking online college courses at Grand Canyon University (GCU), which eventually led to on-campus, full-time student status. Following his military police background, he enrolled in the Justice Studies major at GCU, a program dedicated to the study of the criminal justice system in the United States. From childhood, Matthew always desired to be a police officer, which is what led him to the Army and eventually to studying Criminal Justice. While attending GCU, Mr. Shuman also enrolled in the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps at Arizona State University (ASU), intending to continue his military service post-college.

During his early time at both GCU and ASU, Matthew began interning for then-Arizona Congressman Trent Franks in his district office. This internship led Matthew to realize his deep love for politics and public policy. With the support of his family and friends, along with his newly discovered passion for American politics, Matthew relocated to Washington, D.C. to complete college and work on Capitol Hill.

For the following year, Matthew would continue working for Congressman Franks and focus on his committee assignment to the House Armed Services Committee. Matthew was also accepted into the Criminal Justice program at Marymount University, a small, Catholic, liberal arts university located in Arlington, Virginia, just eight miles from the U.S. Capitol Building.

At the end of his first year at Marymount and on Capitol Hill, Mr. Shuman returned to Arizona where he began assisting the former Mayor of Paradise Valley, Vernon Parker, in his run for Congress. Mr. Shuman quickly became a force to be reckoned with and was assisting with managing the entire campaign. In just a few short weeks, Mr. Shuman led the Parker campaign to victory in a nine-way Republican primary race. After the primary win, Mr. Shuman departed the Parker campaign and began working with the Republican National Committee, supporting both the Richard Tisei and Mitt Romney campaigns in Massachusetts.

After 2012, Mr. Shuman returned to Marymount to complete his degree. During his senior year, he began interning for Arizona Congressman David Schweikert, his hometown Member of Congress. Matthew focused on Representative Schweikert's Veterans work, along with his committee assignment to the House Judiciary Committee.

In 2013, the summer before Matthew graduated from Marymount University, he worked for the University's Summer Housing Program, through which the University rented out its vacant classroom and dormitory space. One organization that rents a majority of the University in early August of each year is Boys Nation, a program of The American Legion. Because he was a Veteran, Marymount assigned Matthew as the student liaison to Boys Nation, ensuring they had all they needed to operate a successful program. An alumnus of Boys Nation, Past National Commander Bob Turner discovered Matthew was a Veteran and not yet a member of The American Legion; he signed young Mr. Shuman up for a membership at his own Post 112 in Dalton, Georgia. PNC Turner paid Matthew's first year membership as a means to get him into the organization.

Weeks prior to graduating, Matthew was extended an offer of employment to work in the Government Relations office of U.S. English, a small non-profit dedicated to promoting English literacy in America and establishing English as the official operating language of state and federal governments. U.S. English's efforts were based on fiscal responsibility — U.S. and state governments spend billions of dollars annually operating in multiple languages — as well as helping immigrant families assimilate to American life. Prior to departing U.S. English in November 2015, Matthew was successful in passing his first bill: HB 3019 in West Virginia made the Coal Miners' state the 32nd state to pass an official English law.

The American Legion National Headquarters

In November 2015, Matthew was extended yet another offer of employment, this time from The American Legion National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Matthew was hired in the National Legislative Division to manage and work the Veterans Employment and Education portfolio. It was here where Matthew was able to work on issues including the G.I. Bill; barriers to employment for Service Members, Veterans and their families; Veteran homelessness; federal procurement as it relates to the Veteran population; and other issues, such as service-disabled small businesses and the economic wellbeing of the Veteran community.

Several months into his time at The American Legion, the then-Director of the Legislative Division decided to depart the organization, leaving a vacancy in leadership within the Division. Naturally, Mr. Shuman applied for the position, as did many external candidates. During the long search for a new Legislative Director, Matthew stepped up as a de facto leader in the Division. During the 2016 election cycle, he represented The American Legion at the Republican National Convention, successfully adding pro-Veteran and anti-VA-privatization text into the party platform, a document that serves as the basis of policy for the entire Republican Party for the next four years.

In late 2016, The American Legion officially made Matthew Shuman the Legislative Director. Matthew became the youngest person ever to serve as National Legislative Director of The American Legion, and thus, also the youngest person to ever ascend to Director in the organization.

Through Matthew's connections and professional network, he began staffing the Division with qualified professionals with real Capitol Hill, Veteran, administration and legal experience, ultimately creating the leanest and most powerful staff the National Legislative Division and Commission had ever known.

With collaboration from all within The American Legion, the Trump administration, and colleagues on Capitol Hill, Mr. Shuman shepherded his first of many bills through Congress: the VA Appeals Modernization Act, became law. This common-sense legislation was designed to modernize and update the antiquated appeals process at the Department of Veterans Affairs. At that time, it was not uncommon for cases to wait, five, ten or even twenty years for adjudication. There were reports of Veterans waiting for over thirty years for decisions to be rendered on their appeals claims at VA, many of which were literally older than Mr. Shuman himself! The bill was passed by the House, Senate and eventually signed by President Trump on the stage of The American Legion's National Convention in Reno, Nevada. Matthew was instrumental not only in the process of getting this bill through all of the stages of lawmaking, but also in orchestrating President's attendance at The American Legion National Convention.

Through American Legion Resolution, the desire to give the Secretary of the VA more authority to fire problematic employees became a legislative priority. The VA is the second-largest government agency, with over 400,000 employees. The American Legion became aware of employees within the agency that were not serving with a pure and servant's heart to help our nation's Veterans. Thus, The American Legion's Legislative Division, at the direction of Matthew Shuman, led efforts on Capitol Hill to author and pass the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. This bill gave clear authority to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs to rid the agency of employees that were not dedicated to the charge of the Department, while also creating protections for employees who called attention to fraud, waste and abuse.

Shifting focus from the Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation portfolio, updates to the G.I. Bill were next on Mr. Shuman's list. In concert with organizations such as Student Veterans of America (SVA) and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Mr. Shuman realized that larger coalitions on Capitol Hill often add to success in terms of getting Congress to move quickly. Together with a strong alliance of partners, Congress created the Forever G.I. Bill, which would make important updates to the G.I. Bill to support the needs of the post-9/11 Veteran. Ultimately being named after Past National Commander of The American Legion — and author of the original G.I. Bill — Harry W. Colmery, the newly-minted version of the nearly 75-year-old benefit would remove the time limit of usage, while also fixing other issues with the legislation, such as implementing online institutions of higher learning into the benefit, and taking into account the accurate location of the Veteran's home for the housing benefit. The Harry W. Colmery G.I. Bill was signed into law by President Trump in 2017.

Mr. Shuman's next priority was to ensure that the CHOICE program did not run out of funding. The CHOICE program was Senator John McCain's answer to the 2014 Phoenix VA scandal that drew attention to the failing VA medical system. The CHOICE program granted Veterans the choice to venture outside of the VA — into their local community — to receive quality and timely medical care at the expense of the VA. Many Veterans flocked to this new choice, particularly Veterans of the post-9/11 generation.

Unfortunately, the funding associated with the CHOICE program began running short, which would require Congress to either allow the program to die, forcing Veterans to travel long distances to their brick-and-mortar VA hospital, or reauthorize funding for the program to continue. Through the incredible and strong work of The American Legion, along with other allies, Congress did exactly what Mr. Shuman and The American Legion called on them to do, which was pass legislation funding the Veterans CHOICE Program.

The American Legion realized the CHOICE program was a Band-Aid to a much bigger problem: the discombobulated VA health care network. For over two years, many early mornings and late nights were spent creating a solution that would streamline the multiple VA health care networks into one, common-sense Veteran-centric program that also kept the American taxpayers' dollars in mind. Matthew was deeply trusted by Senator McCain's office and was invited to assist in the production of legislation that would make the VA better for the nine million Veterans utilizing the system. What was created would take the existing nine health care systems in the VA and mold them into one program that allowed Veterans to receive care outside of the VA, while also preventing the privatization of the agency by ensuring they were the gatekeeper to outside care. In the end, all care that is funded by the VA is VA health care, regardless of who physically provides the care. The MISSION Act gives Veterans more significant access to health care in VA facilities and the community, expands benefits for caregivers, and improves VA's ability to recruit and retain the best medical providers. In short, the MISSION Act makes VA better, which was the goal of both The American Legion and Matthew Shuman.

During his time as the National Legislative Director, Matthew also shaped two pieces of legislation that were directed only toward The American Legion. First, Matthew led the creation and passage of The American Legion Centennial Commemorative Coin Act. The Commemorative Coin, which is minted by the U.S. Mint, is expected to yield somewhere between $8 to $12 million for the benefitting organization. It was thought to be easy to get Congress to pass legislation authorizing this, however, Mr. Shuman quickly realized that Congress only authorizes two coin bills per Session of Congress. One had already been authorized for 2020, the year The Legion needed, and another bill was extremely close to being the second. Through his experience, professional network, fantastic staff and massive support of the two million Legionnaires, Matthew created and led a massive campaign that ended with Congress passing legislation naming The American Legion as the second commemorative coin for 2020. In the end, The American Legion Centennial Commemorative Coin Act would hold the record for the most co-sponsored bill in the United States Congress of the decade, with 385 Members of Congress signing on in support of the legislation.

During his last National Convention as Legislative Director, Matthew was directed to have the U.S. Congress pass legislation altering and modernizing the congressional charter of the century-old Veteran's service organization. In concert with Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, American Legion National Judge Advocate Kevin Bartlett and Matthew Shuman, they created The LEGION Act — The Let Everyone Get Involved in Opportunities for National Services Act. The LEGION Act augmented The American Legion's congressional charter, recognizing that the United States of America had indeed been at war since the armistice of WWI, and thus the incredible men and women who were killed or injured during this time should be authorized membership in The American Legion. At that time, Congress only authorized Veterans who served during official war times to join The American Legion. The American Legion's argument was that, since the U.S. had technically been at war since WWI, any member of the Armed Forces who served honorably should be authorized to join the ranks of The American Legion.

Mr. Shuman assisted in the creation of the legislation and provided the Legislative Division with the necessary guidance to complete the mission, before departing The American Legion to pursue a career at Philips North America. The LEGION Act was signed into law on July 30, 2019, while National Commander Brett Reistad and Past National Commanders Comer, Ludwig and Dellinger stood next to President Trump in the Oval Office as he signed the legislation.

Matthew Shuman was instrumental in ensuring The American Legion's success on Capitol Hill during his tenure as National Legislative Director. However, Mr. Shuman has noted the highest honor he received while in his position was returning to his alma mater, Marymount University, and swearing in the fine young men at Boys Nation, and then taking them to meet President Trump at the White House.

Upon departing the national staff at The American Legion, Mr. Shuman was appointed to serve as a Legislative Consultant for the National Legislative Commission, a position Matthew was honored and humbled to accept. In May 2020, Matthew was named to the newly-created Executive Marketing Committee, where he aids The American Legion's Marketing Division to implement 21st century changes from a marketing perspective.

Post-American Legion

After leaving The American Legion, Matthew joined Philips Healthcare, a company dedicated to improving the lives of 3 billion people by 2025. Philips is a leading health care voice across the globe, particularly within the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services. Matthew serves as the Strategic Congressional Initiatives Manager for the century-old organization, where he focuses on the aforementioned federal agencies, bringing his knowledge of government, Capitol Hill and the Veteran landscape.

Since joining Philips, Mr. Shuman has been involved in bringing Project ATLAS to fruition, a remote tele-health pod that is co-located in American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts. Project ATLAS affords Veterans the ability to connect with their VA doctor from their own community, and is a public-private partnership between Philips, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other organizations that put Veterans first. This state-of-the-art tele-health pod provides a private clinical, yet welcoming aesthetic space that is comforting for Veterans and is equipped with medical technology, fostering a quality health care appointment that does not require rural Veterans to travel hundreds of miles to visit their VA doctor.

Additionally, Matthew continues to serve the Veteran community outside of The American Legion. Matthew proudly serves on the boards of two Veteran non-profits: The Independence Fund and Honor Flight Network. In his work with The Independence Fund, Matthew serves on the Board of Advisors, where he advises the organization on public affairs, health care, rehabilitation, legislative and other matters, including fundraising. With Honor Flight Network, Mr. Shuman sits on the Board of Directors of an organization with a pure mission to ensure all Veterans are able to visit the National Monuments erected in their honor in Washington, D.C., in order to reflect upon and honor their military service.