Jacob Matthews

Chief, Engineering & Construction

Published June 30, 2015
Mr. Jack Matthews serves as the Chief of Engineering and Construction for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District in Wiesbaden, Germany. He assumed these duties in November 2016 and is responsible for the design, engineering and construction of military construction, operation and maintenance, and other projects within the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and Africa Command (AFRICOM) areas of responsibility. The overall district program averages $750 million annually. He also serves as the Career Program-18 Engineer and Scientists Career Program Manager.

A 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mr. Matthews served as an Army Corps of Engineers officer on active duty for twenty years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Mr. Matthews’ troop assignments included stints with the 18th Engineer Brigade in Baumholder, Germany (1980-84) and with the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, NY (1993-95). While serving with the 10th Mountain Division, Mr. Matthews deployed twice: to Somalia from October 1993 to January 1994, and to Haiti from September to December 1994.

Mr. Matthews served in both the Kansas City District (1987-91) and the Mobile District (1991-93) with duty as the area engineer in La Paz, Bolivia. Additional roles in Bolivia included those of the MILGROUP engineer and the U.S. Ambassador’s senior staff engineer. Following graduation from the U.S. Marine Corps Command & Staff College, where he earned recognition as a distinguished graduate, Mr. Matthews served as both the engineer organization integrator and as a systems integrator while assigned to the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations at the Pentagon.

His last assignment in uniform was as the commander, U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion, Sacramento, California.

Mr. Matthews then served nine years in private industry, first as a technical marketing engineering manager for Intel Corporation for five years and then for one year as a strategic program manager responsible for the management and leadership development of Intel’s expatriate workforce. He served one year as the production program manager for solid rocket motor boosters for the Atlas V rocket at Aerojet, followed by two years as a program manager and senior engineer at Carlton Engineering.

Prior to assuming his current duties, Mr. Matthews served as the chief of Europe District’s Project Management Branch, overseeing the bulk of the district’s project management work across multiple programs in Europe, Africa and Israel. Earlier assignments include a variety of positions in the Fort Worth District: as a national program coordinator in the Center of Standardization (focusing on Unaccompanied Enlisted Personnel Housing and Energy Management); as the Tactical Infrastructure Branch chief in the Engineering and Construction Support Office (Border Fence support to the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection office); as the Army Section chief (to include Fort Bliss Account Manager) within the Military Branch of Programs and Project Management Division (PPMD); and as the Programs and Professional Support Branch chief, also in PPMD.

His education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Sciences and Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Master of Engineering (Civil – Geotechnical) degree from the University of Florida. Mr. Matthews is a licensed Professional Engineer in the states of California and Virginia and is certified as a Project Management Professional.