MATTHEW C'DE BACA MANAGING DIRECTOR

What’s your background?

My entire professional career has been in client services for human capital management & executive search

What made you join the consulting industry?

It was an opportunity to combine my two passions, people and technology.

As a young boy I was passionate about my friends and gaming, even better when I could combine the two As an early adopter of computers/the internet, I realized what a tremendous tool technology is for solving problems or making work easier

When I graduated college, the tech market was beginning to rebuild post dot com bust and client services specifically focused on digital commerce was about to explode into a trillion dollar industry

I was enthusiastic about helping support the growth and proliferation of the tech industry by finding and recruiting top talent to high growth companies

When did you join?

I joined SH in December 2022

Who in your career has been a role model to you?

My grandmother, Margaret Rodriguez She did not have a traditional career, by today’s standards, however, she was a strong and outspoken leader in her family, career and community Wife to a loving, but high maintenance husband Mother to four loving, but high maintenance children She was both homemaker and entrepreneur (well before it was the cool thing to do). Her care and attention for people – family, friend or stranger – are unmatched Her care and attention for her grandson, me, are unmatched Through the years she has provided me with so much wisdom Her radical honesty wasn’t always easy to receive or what I wanted to hear, but it was always what I needed She was a person I could always count on, a lesson I still take forward as husband, father and leader Be someone people can count on and you will always be able to count on others.

Tell us something people might not know about you/do you have any hidden talents?

I am a descendent and grandson of the Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca (Baca), ca 1490 – ca 1559 One of the earliest Europeans to set foot in the new world, he was the first historian of Texas and the American desert Southwest.

What projects are you looking forward to working in Sheffield Haworth?

Building the Global Tech practice into one of the highest performing practice areas in the firm