MATTHEW BARZUN

Former US Ambassador – United Kingdom & Sweden

Before he became the publisher of Louisville Magazine in 2018, Matthew Barzun made a career as a leader in both civic and media spaces.

Joining CNET Networks as the company’s fourth employee in 1993, he would eventually rise to the rank of Chief Strategy Officer during his 11 year tenure. He would then apply his media prowess to become a political trailblazer on the back-end. As one of the masterminds behind innovative small-dollar fundraising efforts, he helped propel Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008. Outside of serving as President Obama’s National Finance Chair during his 2012 re-election campaign, Barzun also became the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden. 

In 2019, Kentucky to the World featured a conversation he held with Vicki Phillips, National Geographic’s Chief Education Officer, at the Kentucky Center for the Arts’ Bomhard Theater.