Matthew McManus
Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University
Matt McManus is in his fourth year of teaching Energy Diplomacy in the Science, Technology and International Affairs concentration in the Master’s Degree program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. After graduation with a degree in Economics and Spanish from the College of the Holy Cross, Matt began his career at Chase Manhattan Bank’s international division in New York. He then attended MSFS, where he concentrated in International Business Diplomacy and graduated with distinction. He joined the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs as a Presidential Management Fellow and began his government career as a negotiator on the North American Free Trade Agreement. Matt retired from more than three decades of federal service in October 2025, where he served as the Deputy Director for Energy Analysis and Public Diplomacy in State’s Bureau of Energy Resources.
In government, Matt has led teams that issued Presidential Permits for cross-border energy infrastructure, led economic analysis on OPEC and global energy markets, helped negotiate communiques with the G7, G20, International Energy Agency in Paris and the International Energy Forum in Saudi Arabia. He has extensive experience in the Western Hemisphere, participating in Presidential and cabinet-level delegations to Canada, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, and over a dozen United States delegation visits to Venezuela. Matt helped design and lead the State Department’s energy training programs in Texas (oil and gas), Pennsylvania (electric power) and Illinois (critical minerals).
Matt writes on the use of energy sanctions as a foreign policy tool as a Visiting Fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics and is a frequent television guest on energy security on ABC, CNN, News Nation, Brazil's O Globo and on podcasts for Energy Visita, Mexico's Somos Energia, the Petroleum Economist, and the National Association for Business Economics. He consults on global energy issues and has been quoted by CNN news and Politico and published in the Oil and Gas Journal and the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Matt volunteers as a Commissioner for the Alexandria Transportation Commission, which advises the City on long-term transportation policy.