CTI Infrastructure Q&A Series: Matt Streeton

What is your official title at CTI? My title is Director of Operations. I realize this is the "Infrastructure Q&A series", which might cause some confusion to our valiant readers. To ease any concerns, we recently merged Infrastructure with Programs, and turned it into Operations. Maybe we should rename this series the "Operations Q&A series"?!

Give some background on what responsibilities you have at CTI within the Infrastructure team: My responsibilities within the Infrastructure team have actually been merged into the Operations team. So, either I have no responsibilities because Infrastructure is gone, or I have more responsibilities since Operations is actually broader than just Infrastructure?

My responsibilities mostly focus on bridging the tactical, day-to-day operations of the team with the strategic direction our COO and leadership team are driving our company. Operations covers a really broad range of responsibilities for the company, covering most of the typical "corporate" operations. This includes finance, program management, contracts, compliance, HR, facilities, security, IT and DevOps. That's a lot of variety, which means we have to have a really stellar team of people to ensure their areas are humming. Everyone covered previously in this Q&A series are the stars, I mostly just help provide direction or run interference so they can get their jobs done.

From your perspective, what is different about CTI that makes it successful? I know many other people in this series says the difference about CTI is the people, so I won't say that. Instead, I'll describe how each individual, from the newest hires to the CEO really focus on how they're contributing to get their jobs done as well as possible. We try to put ego aside and get the job done, which is so much easier when you believe in the mission. We really want to help the warfighter, and everyone has a different role to play in achieving that. Dang, I guess it is the people…

How does your role empower CTI’s mission? As mentioned above, my role is to empower and enable everyone at CTI to be as effective and efficient as possible. Wow, that's a lot of words that start with "e"! Maybe we need to rename my division again. Or maybe not. Anyway, back on topic, I work with our senior leadership on our strategic vision, then take that back and figure out how to get our current team, processes and capabilities to align with that vision. Sometimes it's as simple as helping to guide our team, because I am lucky to work with really stellar people. Sometimes it involves updating or creating a better process, as the way we are currently doing things won't scale. Other times it's completely rethinking how we operationally function. Every day is a new challenge!

CTI encourages its employees to retain a work-life balance. What are some ‘outside of work’ hobbies you enjoy? Outside of work, I am blessed to have two amazing sons and an awesome wife. The pandemic has limited our ability to travel anywhere, so much of my outside work time is spent with family near home. I'm also pursuing my MBA, so there's studying involved. I try to set a good example for my sons, in maintaining the balance between what we need to do and what we want to do. Somewhere squeezed in there is also being outside, enjoying nature. I do love nature!