Matt Wakefield has lived and traveled around the world en route to his new role as a senior advisor at JayRay.
Prior to joining JayRay, Wakefield served at Travel Tacoma – Mt. Rainier Tourism and Sports for six years, most recently as director of marketing and communications. There he pioneered a geolocation data approach to reaching potential visitors and measuring impact on visitation. In addition, he has five years’ previous experience at Visit Seattle in corporate communication.
“Certainly, Matt’s breadth of background is an asset to JayRay, but it’s his depth in destination marketing that really sets him apart,” said Kathleen Deakins, JayRay president. “His data-focused approached to tourism represents the future, and we’re excited to watch him apply this to benefit our clients.”
In other roles over his 20-year career, Wakefield has handled marketing, corporate communication and issues management for established and leading-edge brands including T-Mobile, Microsoft, Texas Instruments and Redfin.
Wakefield earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with an emphasis in public relations from Washington State University.
Having spent years traveling, living, and working abroad, Wakefield always returns to the Pacific Northwest as his home base and has a natural fondness for the things that set this region apart: long hikes, challenging snowshoe treks, big books and bold coffee.