Matt Sumera started skateboarding in the mid-1980s, before public skateparks in the Midwest existed. Obsessed with acid drops, bomb drops, and launch ramps, he had limited access to transitions and ramps while growing up and ultimately began a nearly two-decade long hiatus from his board during the ‘90s skateboarding downturn, when tricks got progressively more technical and further away from his treasured footplants. During this time he started a family, pursued his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology (anthropology of music), and moved from Wisconsin to Minnesota to Wisconsin and back again. He regrets the time off his board and cherishes every moment back on, especially now that he gets to skate bowls with his son and his son’s friends. 
 
Matt is Director of Communications in the Office for Student Affairs at the University of Minnesota, where he also teaches courses in the school of music. Also an adjunct professor of cultural anthropology at Hamline University, he has for years toyed with the idea of writing the definitive anthropological study of the connections between music and skateboarding culture.
 
​When not on his board, Matt loves to spend time with his family, travel, play his drums, listen to music, read, and write.

Matt Sumera, Board Member