Matthew Koll

Matthew is thrilled to live in the Washington, DC area, where he and his family are blessed with an abundance of national parks. He can often be found on the C&O canal, running or hiking with his wife Pam and their yellow lab. 

When their children were young, family vacations often revolved around national parks, most frequently Cape Hatteras. Matthew’s appreciation of our national parks took a giant leap forward about 30 years ago when the family took a vacation to Disneyworld. While they had a fine time, they were struck by how the natural beauty of the place was … so unnatural. They decided that they would hit the road the following year and visit some of the finest national parks out west. And they did, taking in Yellowstone, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, and more. In recent years, they’ve continued their explorations with wonderful hikes in parks like Shenandoah, Great Smokey Mountains, and Glacier.

In his professional life, Matthew has been an information scientist and entrepreneur in search technology, social media, and related fields. After receiving a BA in history from Rutgers College and a Ph.D. in Information Transfer from Syracuse University, Matthew was a computer scientist at the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) and a professor at George Mason University.

He co-founded several companies, including Personal Library Software, Wondir, and 410 Labs. He was a Fellow at America Online, held executive positions at Revolution Health, and was an early-stage investor and advisor to technology startups.