Matt Hurlbutt serves as President and Chief Executive Officer at Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE) with responsibility for supporting business attraction and expansion in the Greater Rochester, New York region. Matt guides regional marketing, business growth strategies, and outreach efforts to position Rochester as a destination of choice for business investment. Matt works directly with business executives and national site selectors as they consider locations for investment and job creation. Before assuming this leadership role in 2017, Matt served as GRE’s executive vice president and chief operating officer for nine years.
Matt was directly involved in bringing Amazon, The Coca-Cola Company/fairlife, Edwards, FedEx Freight, Foundation Financial Group, GreenLight BioSciences, Li-Cycle (now Glencore), Love Beets USA, OFD Foods, Panasonic, Reju, Security Risk Advisors and Toyota Material Handling to the region. He also worked with Aerosafe Global, American Packaging Corporation, Bausch + Lomb, Brand Networks, Cantel, Creation Technologies, Envative, FIFCO USA, Intergrow, LiDestri Food & Drink, Maximus, Optimax, Plug Power, ProAmpac, Rochester Precision Optics, and Zweigles as the companies expanded in the region.
In addition, Matt directs GRE’s award winning Economic Gardening effort, and collaborates with state and local partners to leverage the region’s assets in order to support innovation and economic growth of local companies.
Matt was named to the “40 under 40” list by the Rochester Business Journal, an award given to recognize individuals with outstanding leadership and accomplishments for service in their profession and the community at large. In addition, Matt was included in City & State’s Inaugural Trailblazers in Economic Development list in 2025 and the RBJ’s Power 100 List in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Matt was also named the Economic Developer of the Year in 2025 by the New York State Economic Development Council. Matt serves on the Board of the New York State Economic Development Council and is a member of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council.