Matt Petit is a nonresident senior fellow focusing on artificial intelligence and geopolitics at the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center. He also manages the economic security vertical at Vannevar, a US national security technology company.
Prior to joining Vannevar, Petit was a foreign service officer with the US Department of State, where he focused primarily on Africa, countering asymmetric global threats, and strategic competition. Petit held overseas assignments in Chennai, India; Lusaka, Zambia; and Yerevan, Armenia, where he was an Iran watcher. His domestic tours included covering country desks for Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Sudan. Petit was detailed to the National Security Council, where he served as director for the Sahel and ended his time at the State Department as a deputy director for regional counterterrorism policy.
Petit graduated from Davidson College in 2008 with degrees in political science and music. He lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife and daughter.