The U.S. Small Business Administration will celebrate the accomplishments of veteran, service member and military spouse small business owners nationwide during National Veterans Small Business Week, Nov. 5-9. We wanted to join in on the conversation. Today we’ll be telling you a little bit more about Matthew A. Buel. Want to learn more about Matt?
Matthew A. Buel is a Kansas State University Alumnus with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship and is currently a K-State Masters of Business Administration candidate where he is emphasizing his studies in Marketing. As a graduate student, he was awarded the Kelly and Gail Frakes Military Support Scholarship based on his academic achievements. Matt’s father is both a K-State alum and a Veteran as well. In fact, his parents met right here in Manhattan! When speaking with Matt, it is obvious how much he cares about this town and how passionate he is about Kansas State University.
He has more than 22 years of experience as a Project Supervisor and Real Estate Developer. While pursuing his graduate degree, he began building and maintaining websites and creating web solutions for a variety of businesses. This experience has helped him work independently to plan, design and execute a multitude of value-adding projects. It has also allowed him to assist in marketing decisions, design characteristics, construction of residential properties up to 6,400 square feet and complete renovations of both residential and commercial properties. Current real estate development projects in the area range from $160k to an estimated 25 million dollars and encompass a wide variety of research factors including the political, social, and economic variables associated with urban sprawl and its impact on not only the projects but the community as a whole.
While serving in the United States Army as an Airborne Infantryman, Matt received and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal from the Department of Defense for Meritorious Service in Iraq while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07. He was also awarded the Army Achievement Medal for his service as the Brigade level liaison between the soldiers and the Brigade CSM while working as his personal aide and bodyguard. Additionally, he was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, and the Parachutist Badge.
Matt is currently completing an internship at the Advanced Manufacturing Institute. His responsibilities include heading and designing internal and external marketing campaigns for products/ideas, corresponding with clients and businesses from around the country and the world, and diagnosing problems within projects and engineering and implementing realistic solutions. He is also conducting market research and compiling reports based on information from a variety of sources to facilitate decision making and project direction, and consulting with experts in various fields to improve, refine, redesign, update and transform resources into marketable, efficient and effective final products.
A huge thank you to Matt for letting us feature him and for his service to our country.
