CCAP Spotlight 

Q&A with Matt Roden

We're pleased to introduce you to CCAP member, Matt Roden.  Matt is the Director of Community Engagement & Corporate Responsibility at Atrium Health. Read on to learn about Matt and his journey to the community affairs profession. 

Tell us about your career path to the community affairs profession.

I am the proud result of a college internship. During my senior year at Appalachian State, my capstone class professor asked if I would join her Public Relations team at Atrium Health (then Carolinas Healthcare System) for an unpaid summer internship. I thought it would be an invaluable experience for me and I was really excited for the opportunity. Plus, I had local family and other connections in Charlotte. Flash forward 12 years and I have done so many different things with Atrium Health. Currently, I am the Director of our Community Engagement and Corporate Responsibility team. 

What does your job entail at Atrium Health?.

I lead our Central and North Markets which entails all of Center City, University City, LKN plus Cabarrus, Rowan, Stanly, and Iredell Counties. In my role, I have responsibility to build the community market strategy, which includes our investments (grants/sponsorships), volunteerism activities and teammate giving. We also support market growth initiatives with new hospitals, practices, and other healthcare services. Community Engagement and Corporate Responsibility is a centralized corporate function, but we have a dotted line relationship with our market executives and healthcare teams across the various markets, which makes the job fun and interesting!

What initiative, program, or outreach effort has been the most fulfilling for you at Atrium Health?

I love being a community funder because it’s fulfilling to contribute to organizations that are having such an amazing impact in our community. The best part is when we get to partner with the community on volunteerism efforts like food pantries, Kids Eat Free, Sort-a-Rama, Medicine Distributions, vaccine events etc. Some other awesome experiences have been serving as a Big Brother in our Beyond School Walls partnership with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. I have also enjoyed joining various leadership development programs like CBI Leaders Under 40, Leadership Cabarrus and Leadership Lake Norman. 

What are you currently passionate about in the community? 

At Atrium Health our organization’s mission is To improve Health, elevate Hope, and advance Healing—For All. The For All part of our mission is what I am most passionate about. Recently I have done a ton of DEI exploration and have enjoyed partnering with historically marginalized populations in my hometown of Charlotte. I try to be aware of my own personal privilege and approach each situation with an open perspective for how I may be able to assist people in need.

Tell us more about you, your spouse and what you like to do in your free time. 

My husband, Amadeo, and I joined the wedding trend of 2020 known as classy, backyard, socially distanced COVID weddings ?.  We were married at our home in Asheville, NC on New Year’s Eve 2020. Amadeo works as a community dentist and leads the dental and oral medicine residency in Asheville, NC. My career, of course, is here in Charlotte so we play “traveling spouse” during the week and usually try to enjoy weekends in the mountains. In our free time we enjoy doing house projects and flipping homes. We also love trying new food and hanging with friends and family. I love working out and try and get some form of physical activity most days whether that be a walk with the dogs or a class at Orange Theory. My guilty pleasure is the 90 Day Fiancé trash TV series!!!

What do you like about CCAP? 

CCAP has helped me make many connections in the CSR world. I have learned so much from all my colleagues and picked up some best practices along the way. It’s fun to explore new topics and hear from different experts in our industry. Serving as co-Chair has been a fun exploration and has not felt like work at all… it’s been a lot of fun!