Matt and his wife Natasha are both native Texans who have lived in the central Texas area since 1993 and moved into the City of Round Rock in 2012. Matt and Natasha have three sons ages 9, 7 and 5.

Together, Matt and Natasha own Baker Realty, a brokerage that specializes in residential real estate. Prior to Baker Realty, Matt, a graduate of Texas A&M University, worked as a professional engineer for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for over 20 years. While there, he served in several positions including Director of Small Business & Environmental Assistance, Director of Monitoring Operations, and Director of Enforcement, where he oversaw enforcement cases for the entire state. Matt also held special assignments throughout his career including overseeing the TCEQ Emergency Response Team and organizing the management of medical waste during the Ebola crisis in 2014. He also was the TCEQ appointment to the Governor’s Economic Development team, where Matt was instrumental in attracting new businesses to the state.

Matt is the recipient of several honors and awards including TCEQ Employee of the Year. He is a graduate of the Governor’s Executive Development Program through the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and a graduate of Leadership Round Rock.

Matt and Natasha love serving their community.  Matt currently serves as a board member of Senior Access (a ride-sharing program for seniors) and is President of the Rotary Club of Round Rock. Matt and Natasha are also financial sponsors of the highly successful Play For All Park, which utilizes sponsorships from private donations to build a public park that can be used by children of all ages and abilities.

Additionally, Matt has donated his time to his local community as a licensed Peace Officer for 27 years, having achieved the rank of Captain before handing off his duties. He has been instrumental in building and supervising volunteer police units who are able to supplement paid officers in times of shortages or natural or man-made disasters. Matt is also Field Training Instructor and Master Peace Officer.

Matt and his Family are active members of Redemption Hill Church in Round Rock. Matt has served in a variety of roles at Redemption Hill and previous places of worship including Building Committee, Sunday School Teacher, Youth Counselor, Sound Engineer, and rhythm guitarist.

Real Estate Career

• Licensed (2/28/2012)
• Co-Owner of Baker Realty (2017)

Engineering Career

• Texas Agricultural Extension Service (1989 – 1992)
• Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University, majoring in Food Processing and Environmental Quality (May 1992)
• Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
  Permit Engineer, Air Permits Division (March 1993 – 1999)
• Several positions in the Air Permits Division including Team Leader of the Emissions Banking and Trading Team, Special Assistant to the director, and manager of the Technical Program Support Section (1999 – 2004)
• Became Special Assistant to the Director of the Air Permits Division March 21, 2002
• Section Manager of the Technical Program Support Section, Air Permits Division- oversaw the Air Dispersion Modeling Team, IT Team, Rule Writing Team, and Emissions Banking & Trading Team.
• Special Assistant to the Deputy Director of the Office of Permitting, Remediation & Registration (February 2004 – August 2005)
• Division Director of the Small Business & Environmental Assistance Division, where he served as the Small Business Ombudsman (September 2005 – June 2007)
• Division Director of the Enforcement Division (July 2007 – July 2008), where he was head of enforcement statewide.
• Division Director of the Monitoring Operations
• Division (MOPS) (July 2008 – January 2010) Note: In June of 2009, MOPs was moved intact under the Field Operations Support Division. Note: Moved to Building B (week of August 29, 2008)
• MOPs merged into the Field Operations Support Division, where Matt became the Assistant Director, directly managing the air laboratories, mobile and stationary monitoring networks, emergency responders, and information technology group. (January 2010 – September 12, 2011)
• Special Assistant to the Coastal and East Texas Area Director (September 12, 2011 – April 2012)
• Special Assistant to the Waste Permits Division Director (April 2012 – August 2017)

Law Enforcement Career

• Graduated Texas Extension Service Law Enforcement Training Center, Texas A&M University (1990)
• Reserve Officer with the City of Bryan ( 1990 – 1994)
• Reserve Deputy with Travis County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO)(1994 – present)
• Certified Field Training Officer (TCSO)(2000)
• Appointed rank of Captain (October 2004)
• Awarded Master Peace Officer license (June 2006)
• Total LE Training Hours: 4500+
• Member of CLEAT/TMPA

Awards and Accomplishments

• Backlog Reduction King – for completing more projects than any other Coatings Section Engineer during a defined period (April 1994)
• Most Valuable Player Award – for organizing a point system which challenged team peers to increase permit production (December 1994)
• TNRCC Certificate of Appreciation – for involvement with the Texas Lake & River Cleanup Program (October 1995)
• TNRCC Outstanding Employee Award (1996)
• Certificate of Appreciation – from the Travis County Sheriff’s Citizens’ Academy Alumni for outstanding support and dedication to TCSO December 1999)
• Certificate of Appreciation – from Travis County Sheriff’s Department for support in the Reserve Unit (1/26/1999)
• TNRCC Heartbeat Dash 1st Place – for most improved team (July 1999)
• Extra Mile Award – for innovative approach to providing flexibility to a facility in a permit (September 1999)
• Certificate of Appreciation – from the Travis County Sheriff’s Citizens’ Academy Alumni for leadership and dedication to the department (December 1999)
• Certificate of Appreciation – from Travis County Sheriff’s Department for support in the Reserve Unit (March 2000)
• Certificate of Appreciation – for presentation to the Houston Business Roundtable (2/21/2001)
• TNRCC Heartbeat Dash 1st Place – for best overall points (March 2001)
• Certificate of Appreciation – from the University of NM and The Institute of Technology, Nuevo Laredo for presentation and support of International Banking & Trading (July 2001)
• TNRCC Employee of the Year Award (2001)
• Certificate of Appreciation – for presentation to the Houston Business Roundtable (December 2001)
• Obtained Professional Engineering license (August 2005)
• Unit Citation Award (TCSO)(2005)
• Wayne Barton Award (TCSO(2005)
• Safe Driver Award (TCSO)(2010)
• Certificate of Thanks (SEU Noyce STEM Partnership Academy)(2011)
• Commercial Driver’s License (June 2011)
• Five-time finisher of the Texas Water Safari (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
• One-time finisher of the Austin Marathon (2004)
• One-time finisher of the Hotter than Hell 100 bike race (2004)

Offices

• Secretary of American Society of Agricultural Engineers, TAMU Student Branch, (1989 through 1990)
• Secretary of the Travis County Sheriff’s Reserve Officer Association (9/95 to 4/96)
• Acting Vice-President of the Travis County Sheriff’s Reserve Officer Association (4/96 to 6/96)
• President of the Travis County Sheriff’s Reserve Officer Association (6/96 to 9/97)
• Member-at-Large of the Travis County Sheriff’s Reserve Officer Association (9/97 to 9/98)
• President of the Travis County Sheriff’s Reserve Officer Association (1/2010 to 12/2010)
• Board Member of Wood Glen HOA (1/2013-6/17/2014), (VP to 6/17/2014)
• Planning and Zoning Commission, City of Round Rock 5/2014-1/2018 (Vice-Chair 2017-2018)
• Director of the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority
• Executive Committee of the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG)
• Vice-Chair of the CAPCOG Clean Air Coalition