Meet our President's Award Winner Matt McDonald

Overseeing the day-to-day details, making sure the team is delivering on time and on schedule, helping out with payrolls, processing invoices and whatever other projects they need help with – it’s all in a day’s work for expense management team lead, Matt McDonald. 

Matt wasn’t actually looking for a job in relocation, but just like a lot of people in the industry, luck led him to where he is now.

“I was fresh out of college, looking for jobs on a job website and saw that a company was looking for a temporary living coordinator,” he says. “It sounded “logistic-y” and I thought, OK, that could be fun.”

When he showed up for the interview, things got more interesting. “(The interviewer told me) there was an expense role that they thought I would be a good fit for since I went to school for finance, so I changed my mind during the interview and went with the expense role. Relocation was a completely new thing for me. I didn’t really know there was a relocation industry - I just figured employers just did all that internally.”

Q & A: 

What components make up a good team?

Collaboration, and being reliable and detail-oriented. Plus, just being able to trust that things will get done without reminding. With my team, I know that if I send them something, it will get done that day.

What are three critical traits a client should look for in a prospective relocation management company?

Customer service, timeliness, and again, attention to detail. With so many moving parts, you need a coordinated team to be able handle it all.

If you could go anywhere, where would you relocate to?

I’m not sure if I would want to stay in country or move out of it. If it is in the US, it would be Wyoming or Montana – that would be a good time. Outside the US, I would say western Europe, most likely Spain.

What’s either the best advice you’ve ever received or worst advice you’ve ever received?

Best Advice: Don’t get complacent, especially when your dealing with people’s money. Complacency is a killer. It’s definitely the best advice I’ve gotten while at CRI.

Tell us something you’re excited about.The new Hogwarts Legacy video game that’s coming out in February 2023. I can’t wait to play that. I’ve got it preordered and everything.