The Leadership Mind Rewriting His Story with MS by Running 100 Miles and Choosing to Live and Lead with Empowerment with Matthew Porter
In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by Matthew E. Porter, a father to three amazing kids, a husband to a phenomenal woman, a geek, a trail runner, an ultramarathoner, a sponsored athlete, an MS warrior, and an entrepreneur. He currently serves as Founder and Vice Chairman of Contegix. He is also a board member for a select group of companies - from startup to the established.
Porter founded Contegix, the award-winning managed hosting, cloud computing, and colocation service provider based in Saint Louis, Missouri, in 2004. He served as CEO from its founding until 2016. During his time as founder and CEO, Porter organically grew revenues to nearly $20MM. In late 2016, Porter merged two companies into Contegix bursting the company to more than 250 employees and $60MM in revenue. He subsequently sold a majority to Strattam Capital, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, CA and Austin, TX. He realized this was the time to hire his replacement to lead the company and assumed the role of Vice Chairman. He retains a minority share and a board seat.
During his tenure at Contegix, The Saint Louis Business Journal named Porter both “30 Under 30” (2007) and “40 Under 40” (2012). Porter was featured in the New York Times (2011) and the Wall Street Journal (2014). In 2015, Forbes featured Porter for his work as an “angel vendor” supporting startups, many in Saint Louis.
His family lives by their mission statement, and it drives Porter's desire to serve others. “We have a debt to those before us and an obligation to those after us. We maximize life and potential through heart, intelligence, and grit. We focus on our bond. We do all of this together because we are always stronger together. Mostest.”
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society are the charities that matter most. He is on a selfish mission to ensure his friend with cystic fibrosis remains healthy and in his family’s life for a long time to come. He wants to change the face of multiple sclerosis - one that acknowledges the challenges while still pursuing dreams.
Porter is most likely to be found on a trail. He began trail running in 2010 after his then 6-year-old daughter questioned whether he would make it to her far off in the future wedding. He has completed numerous ultramarathons – from 50k to 100 miles. He finished the 100 mile Leadville race in 2018. He turned this race into a fundraiser for the disease impacting him - multiple sclerosis. People wanting to see him finish pledged an amount per mile. As Porter wrote, “If you love me, please pledge an amount per mile to encourage me to finish. If you don’t like me and just want to see me suffer, pledge even more per mile.” In total, more than $50,000 was raised for Race to Erase MS. He has continued to raise money with every race since then.
Highlights from today's podcast include:
- His Multiple Sclerosis story and how him and his family handled the news
- How he rewrote the story of what MS is and looks like
- What scares him the most about his diagnosis
- How his perception of time and his relationship with saying ‘no’ changed after he was diagnosed
- The way in which he shows up as a leader now vs. before his diagnosis
- The challenge he is about to embark on to support those with MS and how you can support him
Connect with Matthew:
Twitter: @meporter.com
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