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Founder. Operator. Investor. Educator. No matter the role, Matt Higgins has always believed in trusting his instincts and never outsourcing his judgment. Higgins grew up in Queens, hawking flowers on street corners and scraping gum under tables at McDonald’s to help feed his family. On a mission to escape poverty as fast as possible and provide for his home-bound mother, he dropped out of high school, took his GED and enrolled in college at 16 – eventually earning his juris doctorate from Fordham Law at night while working full-time.
A decade after dropping out of high school, Higgins was appointed the youngest Mayor’s press secretary in NYC history at 26, managing the global media response during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He then became one of the first employees – and ultimately Chief Operating Officer – of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the federally funded government agency created to rebuild the World Trade Center site. Higgins helped organize the largest international design competition in history culminating in Reflecting Absence, the September 11th National Memorial, and the development of the 1,776-feet-tall One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the northern hemisphere.
Higgins has deep experience in sports, having spent 15 years in senior leadership positions with National Football League teams. He made his mark with two NFL franchises, overseeing the revenue functions of the New York Jets as Executive Vice President of Business Operations, and after leaving the Jets, serving as Vice Chairman of the Miami Dolphins from 2012 - 2021. Higgins cofounded New York City-based RSE Ventures in 2012 alongside developer Stephen M. Ross, amassing a multi-billion-dollar investment portfolio of leading brands across sports and entertainment, media and marketing, food and lifestyle, and technology industries. NYC’s iconic Magnolia Bakery is one of the latest additions to a portfolio that includes David Chang’s renowned culinary brand, Momofuku, and Australian-inspired hospitality/lifestyle brand, Bluestone Lane.
RSE has successfully backed many challenger brands from inception, including RESY, an Open Table competitor that American Express acquired in 2019; the Drone Racing League, which was named among Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Sports Companies; and Relevent Sports, the leading international soccer agency in the US. Higgins was the first client and ultimately only partner in VaynerMedia, the largest social-media first agency in the world founded by Gary Vaynerchuk. VaynerMedia was recently named Adweek’s 2022 Breakthrough Media Agency of the Year and ranked #5 on Ad Age’s 2022 Agency A-List.
Higgins is a prolific investor in the direct-to-consumer space, having invested in over 100 DTC brands throughout his career. He leveraged this expertise to become a lecturer and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, where he teaches the popular course Moving Beyond DTC alongside HBS Professor Len Schlesinger. Each year, the course features real-world case studies on some of the top consumer brands in the US. Higgins’ first book Burn The Boats will be published by Harper Collins William Morrow in 2023. The book offers a blueprint for a life where ‘Plan B’ is never an option – instead, advocating to always move forward with visionary defiance, bold self-confidence, unwavering commitment, and rigorous honesty.
Higgins’ reputation as a self-made serial entrepreneur earned him a spot as a recurring guest Shark on the Emmy award-winning TV show Shark Tank during seasons 10 and 11. In 2019, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, joining the ranks of seven former US presidents, Nobel Prize winners and other leaders for work to improve society. He is also a longstanding board member of Autism Speaks, advocating for scientific research and greater acceptance of neurodiversity. In 2021, Higgins had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss human rights and solidarity with the world’s poor. During the Global Citizen Live festival before an audience of 60,000 people on the Great Lawn of Central Park, Higgins kicked off the Global Solidarity Fund’s initiative to raise $100 million for migrants and refugees in crisis.
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