Matthews International Corp. - 

On November 20th, the NACD Three Rivers Chapter, with the ACG Pittsburgh Chapter, hosted Joseph Bartolocci, President and CEO of Matthews International Corp., for a keynote speaker session. 

Joe walked attendees through the company's extraordinary transformation from its beginnings in 1850, when John Dixon Matthews opened a small engraving and stamping shop in Pittsburgh, to its growth into a diversified, publicly traded global enterprise. 

Over the years, Matthews International expanded from bronze memorials and funeral-care products into precision technologies, advanced industrial solutions, and brand services. Today, the company operates across two major segments-Industrial Technologies and Memorialization generates more than $1.5B in annual revenue.

This discussion took a particularly compelling turn as Joe addressed the company's navigation of COVID-era challenges in the casket business and the headline-making DBE (dry-battery-electrode) technology dispute with Tesla. After years of collaboration, tension escalated in 2004 when Tesla sought exclusivity, leading to an arbitration and subsequent lawsuit. In February 2025, the arbitrator ruled in Matthews' favor, affirming the company's ownership rights and longstanding DBE expertise.

Learning Objectives:

Participants gained insight into:

• Corporate Evolution: How a small, family-founded business can scale and transform into a global, publicly traded company. 
• Strategic Diversification: The importance of expanding core capability to drive long-term growth. 
• Crisis Leadership: How Matthews navigated industry volatility during COVID and adapted operations through uncertainty. 
• Intellectual Property & Governance: Key considerations for protecting proprietary technology when working with major partners. 
• Board-Level Oversight: Lessons for directors on evaluating risk, managing complex partnerships, and guiding organizations through legal, operational, and market challenges.