Matthieu Chalfant
The very picture of "preppy," Matthieu is a man in his mid-thirties but still looks like he's in his early twenties and, even in a suit, has a rougish look to him. In fact, he fits the college fraternity profile perfectly; he's half well-dressed public servant and half drunken bar-hopper. Matt never lets his work go un-done, but he's still well willing to slide out of work for a three-hour lunch or leave the office early for a drink. Since so much of his work is about socializing to begin with, he almost always working while he's out on the town, anyway.
Matthieu grew up in Southern California, in the San Diego suburb of Carlsbad. His father manages a local travel agency while his mother was a doctor (she is now retired). Matt was a classic high-school genius slacker, the smart kid who did well without effort, and that carried him to UC Berkely where he majored in Integrative Biology as preperation for a career as a doctor, like his mother. But while Matt's bedside manner was perfect, his ability to deal with the gorier aspects of medicine left a bit to be desired and he soon picked up a Political Science minor in preperation for law school.
At Harvard Law, Matt met Brian Jaffe. The two became fast friends and really pulled each other through the rigors of school; Matt almost didn't survive Brian's year in Oman. Matt kept his medical ambitions throughout law school, but turned them in a different direction. Upon graduation he joined the law department of the biotech research company Chiron and two years later left them for a similiar position at a similar company, Genzyme.
Three years later, he moved again, this time to become one of the Directors of Federal Government Relations at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, campaigning with Congress for more funding for genetic research. His work with BIO brought him into professional contact with his old friend, Brian, as the two would often discuss various Senators' stances on issues together. Their friendship was occasionally strained, though, due to the stresses of their non-complimentary professional lives; they'd found themselves unable to do favors for each other far too often and that created a lot of guilt.
In the four years since September 11th, Matt's small ambitions hadn't carried his career any further; he still had his same job at BIO and hadn't been promoted. That's when Brian came back into his life, with an offer of a new job as Director of Biotechnology Research for The Hopewell Foundation. Matt was skeptical of his friend's seemingly crazy scheme, but after six years at the same job, what did he have to lose?
- Matt seems to have come into his own while working for Brian, acting as the sharp stab of conscience and helping his friend get his head back down to earth in discussions over what to do with the mindless, power-animated body of Carrie Sellers and taking on administrative responsibilities well beyond his job description during Brian's four-month disappearance over the summer of 2005.
Job Description[edit]
Director of Biotechnology Research
The Director of Biotechnology Research is responsible for building and maintaining research partnerships in his specialty areas with independent facilities throughout the world. Through the files maintained by the Director of Programs' office, he matches consultants with partners most fitting to their particular skills and coordinates their schedules and work efforts for maximum efficiency. He is responsible for supervising those efforts through contact and, where possible, on-site visitations and ensuring that the research is in line with the Foundation's mission. As research gives way to patents, he is responsible for coordinating patent filing, manufacturing and payment information with the offices of the Senior Counsel and Director of Finance. He must report on research and patent progress to the Director of Programs.
