After more than 20 years in the military — a journey that took Matt Heidt (EMBA ’14) through Navy SEAL training and around the world, and that gained him the Bronze Star Medal for Valor — Heidt ventured into real estate, first in his family’s business and then by starting his own opportunity fund with the intention of adding value to properties in his hometown of San Diego. While his CV is extensive and impressive, Heidt’s ambitions are driven by the positive influence he has on others.
Heidt shared thoughts on his experiences at UCLA Anderson and how the Executive MBA program has enhanced his career goals and personal aspirations.
Tell us about your professional experience before coming to Anderson.
I served as a Navy SEAL for over 23 years, 11 of those on active duty. I’ve traveled all over the world to countries throughout Africa, Asia and South America, often providing health care services as a special operations independent duty corpsman. I had been trained to practice medicine in austere environments without supervision, and so as a part of our Foreign Internal Defense training operations with the host nation, setting up clinics and treating the local populace was a great way to develop better relationships.
After leaving the Navy in 2000, I remained in the reserves for the ensuing 12 years. In my transition from active duty I sampled quite a variety of potential careers. Initially, I began by working with the San Diego Police Department as a clinician on their Homeless Outreach Team, where I focused on performing outreach to transients with mental illness. While that was fulfilling work, it was challenging to support a young family financially. My intent was to complete my bachelor’s degree and become a Special Agent for the U.S. Customs Service, investigating narcotics along the U.S./Mexico border. As it turned out, working for the federal government again, this time as a civilian, was not the career that I was looking for, and after a couple of years it was time to move on.
In 2007 I had the opportunity to deploy to Ar Ramadi, in Al Anbar Province of Iraq, and work alongside several U.S. Special Operations units as an Advanced Special Operations intelligence operator. This was not an environment where clinics were used to assist the people, but as it turned out, we had considerable success in protecting the population and Coalition Forces, and it was not difficult to see how our actions benefited the people.