Jason Matthews

Jason has spent most of his career in legislative work.  On the Hill, he was on Senator Mary Landrieu’s staff for 13 years, leaving as Chief of Staff.  He was intimately involved in the drafting of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and served as the Senator’s first staffer to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, and worked with the International Relations Committee on the implementing legislation for the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption.

Currently, Jason is a Partner at BlueWater Strategies, an energy and natural resources government affairs firm in the Washington D.C. area. Prior to joining BlueWater, Jason was the Director of Public Policy and Government Relations with ECPAT-USA. ECPAT is the leading anti-trafficking policy organization in the United States. Previously, Jason was a federal lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and BP America. At the Chamber, Jason’s primary focus was financial services, leading the Chamber’s lobbying efforts on the Dodd-Frank banking reform bill. Jason also established the Native American Enterprise Institute within the Chamber, constituting that organization’s first structured outreach to the Native American business community.  At BP, Jason was the primary lead on BP’s Gulf of Mexico offshore business and handled government relations for BP’s North American Gas trading arm. He also represented BP’s wind and remediation management efforts on the Hill.

Jason serves on the Board of Directors for ECPAT-USA as Board Chair, the American Council of Young Political Leaders, the Dietz Foundation and the Advisory Committee of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

Jason originally hails from Southern California. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Redlands, obtained his law degree from Southern Illinois University, and began his career with the Illinois General Assembly’s Legislative Research Unit, where he focused on Illinois Constitutional and family law.