Matt Neylon

Matt Neylon is Chief Talent & Experience Officer at The Mount Vernon School, an independent K-12 school in Atlanta, where he leads staff wellness, retention, and recruitment for faculty and staff. He is a SHRM-certified HR professional with more than a decade of experience in education, arts, and leadership.

Bringing an Arts Leadership Lens to Talent Strategy

Matt joined Mount Vernon in 2015 as Director of Visual and Performing Arts and grew the school's arts department for nearly a decade before moving into talent leadership in 2024, a transition built specifically to address staff wellness and retention at a moment when over half of teachers nationally say they have considered leaving the profession. He also serves on an advisory board for the HR Research Institute, contributing to industry research and best practices. His background in creative and interdisciplinary program design shapes how he now approaches building culture and connection for adults inside a school community, not just students.

Topics Matt speaks on

• Staff wellness and retention in education
• Manager capacity and support in performance management
• Building talent strategy from a non-traditional HR background
• Culture and belonging for faculty and staff
• Creativity and collaboration as retention tools

Sessions with Achieve

Matt joined Hope Knowles of Priority and Kamaria Scott of Enetic, moderated by Nicole Long, for achieveCPR: Performance, Live in Atlanta - Performance Management Fails Without Manager Support.

Connect

• Matt Neylon on LinkedIn
• The Mount Vernon School

Want more on what it takes to support managers so performance management actually works? Learn more about the Achieve Leadership Network.