Friday, February 2, 2024
“If you’re early, you’re on time. If you’re on time, you’re late!” beams Jeff Matchett, recent arrival to the position of Assistant Manager in Transport, Receiving and Shipping (TR&S)
at Yale’s West Campus. Jeff’s sense of organization and team play have been a common thread throughout his life and career.
at Yale’s West Campus. Jeff’s sense of organization and team play have been a common thread throughout his life and career. From Milford, Connecticut, “family is everything” to Jeff and his wife, who build a home in the coastal town where they still live today. A runner in high school, Jeff’s sporting passion is baseball. His father was a coach and as a kid Matchett Junior had a thing for Cincinnati’s ‘Big Red Machine’ of the mid-1970s, eventually following his mother’s example and becoming a devout New York Yankee’s fan.
No surprise that his two teenage sons are keen athletes and sports fans, but the interest doesn’t stop there. “We’ve travelled the country visiting baseball parks as a focal point to family vacations,” enthuses Jeff. Last count they’ve visited 17 out of 32 ballparks, taking in all five of California’s Major League fields in the space of a recent 12-day vacation.
Dedication to the collective team ethic served Matchett well through a twenty-year career as a detective sergeant in Milford PD, where among other units he oversaw the police marine unit patrolling Long Island Sound (“I was out there on the water every weekend!”)
Following police duty, Jeff directed a state labor council – “a great experience” - sitting on arbitration panels to broker solutions between management and union members. Then, after a stint managing parking and transportation at Yale New Haven Hospital at Saint Raphael Campus, he “landed on his feet” as a TR&S manager at West Campus’ gigantic 150,000 square foot warehouse.
“Team sports have taught me many life lessons that are helping me support the many different Yale departments we interact with” – not to mention the numerous “excellent” staff that handle the network of shipping and receiving, campus mail, and storage services at the warehouse.
Working towards a common goal at Yale helps too. “A shared direction and our fantastic people really make the difference. It’s family first at home, but that’s the same emphasis I’ve found at West Campus, which makes this place such a great place to work.”
“Being new to the campus, I’ve loved going around to meet everyone, but I want to extend a warm welcome to anyone who would like to visit the warehouse to see how we can help out!”
Colleagues can get in touch with Jeff at Jeffrey.matchett@yale.edu
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If you have a colleague who the rest of campus should get to know, please write jon.atherton@yale.edu.