Meet a Member: Matt Carter ’83 (’22 P)

Spring 2023 NULC Newsletter

Published May 30, 2023

When School of Communication (SoC) Professor Irving Rein summoned then-student Matt Carter for an in-class conversation at Northwestern University, the radio/television/film major grew anxious.

“I read your paper about the blues,” Rein began.

Carter hung onto his professor’s next words, bracing himself for a potentially harsh critique. Feeling pressure to fit in, he worried his unique subject choice may have missed the mark alongside his classmates’ commentaries on current events.

“I loved it,” Rein beamed before the two launched into a deeper discussion about Chicago’s blues scene.

For Carter, a temporary moment of fear turned into a lifetime of inspiration. In writing about an unexpected topic, Carter challenged his youthful insecurities and stepped outside of traditional norms. He dared to be different—and Rein rewarded it.

“It was validation that I was different, that I was bringing diverse thought into the class and had something to contribute,” Carter says.

Throughout his professional life, Carter, a marketer turned tech executive, has used Rein’s motivation to advance boundary-breaking efforts in business. As the president of Boost Mobile, for instance, Carter rejected minutes-based cell phone plans and advanced the now-ubiquitous idea of an all-in cellular package.

“That simple concept—a fixed price point for unlimited data, talk, and text—changed the entire paradigm of the industry,” Carter says.

Today, Carter leads Aryaka Networks, a 475-employee, Silicon Valley–based software-as-a-service provider that connects an enterprise’s key business applications onto one secure, private network with 24/7 global access.

“If something is already working, well-oiled, status quo, that’s not me,” Carter says. “I’m the guy who comes in tasked with bringing new ideas.”

Carter grew his entrepreneurial mindset at Northwestern, where he encountered classmates and professors who interrogate what’s possible instead of what’s always been. During one class, Carter recalls the late African American studies professor Jan Carew reading a letter that began, “As you know.”

After those three words, Carew stopped, crumpled the paper, and pitched it aside. “Since I already know, there’s no need for me to continue reading,” Carew told the class. The professor’s performance, like Rein’s unexpected evaluation, reinforced Carter’s instinct to question and learn.

A Boston native who applied to Northwestern on the suggestion of a high school guidance counselor, Carter calls his first steps on campus “love at first sight.” He became involved with student entertainment group A&O Productions, the Black student alliance, and intramural sports. He cheered on the Wildcats at football and basketball games. He embraced Chicago’s cultural scene, its cuisine, and even its winters.

“I was fully involved in all aspects of the student experience. And it was four wonderful years of my life,” he says.

Nearly four decades later, his youngest daughter, Ava Roslyn Carter ’22, followed her father’s path to Evanston and created her own Northwestern direction.

“It further deepened my affection for the University,” Carter says of being a Northwestern parent.

Carter’s affection, of course, was already evident. In addition to making gifts regularly to the School of Communication, he has served on the SoC dean’s board of advisers for a decade and chairs its strategic planning committee.

“The University gave me confidence and prepared me to critically think, interact, and solve challenges,” Carter says. “I love Northwestern.”