Growing up in the 80′s, 3thought co-founder Matt Ulvila has ridden the personal computing and computer graphics wave all his life. As a child, he spent hours on a Mac 5112k doodling with MacPaint on the beautiful 9-inch, 512 x 342 pixel, monochrome display. His father worked (and still does work) in the printing business, and this gave Matt a behind the scenes look at the workings of a printing press and the evolution of the print industry.
Watching his father work his way up from the press room floor to customer service and eventually sales instilled Matt with a strong work ethic, networking skills, a passion for technology and a general disdain for sloppy production files. He loved hearing about all the latest and greatest technologies as his father would tell stories about the many projects he worked on.
Although his father certainly had a strong influence on his career path, Matt credits his mother for giving him a love of all things creative. As an only child, his mother took special care to occupy his time with various arts and crafts projects. She encouraged him to expressive his creativity though drawing and painting and building with Legos. Matt’s mother is a talented artist herself and was voted class artist in high school. She currently works as a floral designer. Matt draws a lot of parallels between his work and hers: arranging shapes and colors to create a design. She also taught him the importance of listening to the client and working within a budget.
Matt’s professional career began before he even received his drivers license when he was hired to work as an intern at a local design studio. He worked there throughout college on breaks and even freelanced during the school year. Upon graduation from Keene State College, Matt immediately began working full-time at that same firm. During his 14 years with Shields Design Studio, his role was constantly evolving and allowing him the opportunity to acquire a wide range of skills.
In his career, Matt has performed just about every job function along the way, and that gives him a great understanding of how projects really work. He knows his strengths and how to utilize the strengths of the people around him. He has developed a talent for listening and asking the “right” questions and knows how to find creative solutions for his clients. Matt is constantly seeking to better himself and his love of learning is evident in all that he does.
Along with business partner Shea Baker, Matt founded 3thought in 2009. Even during a down economy Matt and Shea have grown 3thought from a concept, into a successful small business. A task that required passion, dedication and keen understanding of marketing strategy and branding. Today Matt designs, sells, implements content, tweets, networks, manages projects and is involved with all aspects of short-term and long-term business growth.
In his limited free time, Matt enjoys reading, video games, tweeting, blogging and keeping up on all the latest tech news and gadgets. Matt currently serves as the an elected member the Keene State College Alumni Board of Directors where he sits as the 2nd Vice President and Communications Committee Chair. He also finds the time mentor current students at his alma mater and volunteers with local organizations such as the South Shore Young Professionals and Tech Day Camp. Matt also helps his close friends and local businesses with their design needs at Inotivity, Nute Photography and Brewster Productions.
Matt currently lives in Plymouth, MA with his cats and enjoys spending time with his friends and family.
