MATTHEW FALCONER BIOGRAPHY • Family Photos

Matthew Falconer has been a resident of Orange County for fifteen years, but he has lifetime ties to the State of Florida.  Thirty years ago, he moved to Florida for the first time to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona. In 1983 he was graduated from Embry-Riddle with degrees in Aeronautical Science and Business Management. His years at Embry-Riddle also began his lifelong love affair with flying airplanes – something he continues to this day. “I didn’t know it at the time, but the discipline I acquired by becoming a commercial pilot was really the foundation of my career and the success I was able to achieve later in life,” says Matthew.

After leaving Embry Riddle, Matthew started his own business in the Northeast near his family – as a real estate broker and then as a property developer. It was there that he met his wife of 19 years – Cheri. Matthew’s second experience living in Florida was in 1989, when he moved to Lee County to help his parents build their retirement home. “I have always been grateful that I was able to help my parents live their own part of the American dream – by putting some of the skills I had learned to work in helping build their retirement home. I saw how important it is for people to realize the promise of a lifetime of hard work. But I also learned how difficult it can be to navigate the waters of local government. It was my first experience with local government in Florida,” he said. Matt’s parents lived in their ‘dream house’ for the next 17 years.

Like many people in Florida, Matthew moved his young family to the Orlando area in the 1990s to pursue a dream of building his own business. That business, Falcon Development, built and currently manages 17 commercial properties – most of which are in Central Florida. “Through Falcon Development, I interact on a daily basis with over 130 small businesses – in Central Florida. I have seen firsthand how fast and how far their costs have gone up in recent years because of the fees and taxes that have been created to keep up with government spending. And I have seen their frustration and fear that they just won’t be able to keep their own dreams alive,” he said.

Today, Matthew lives with his wife and two children in unincorporated Orange County in Waterford Pointe. His son Michael, age 18, recently graduated Edgewater High School’s magnet program and will attend the University of Central Florida in the fall of ’09. His daughter Chrystie, age 14, attends the Foundation Academy in Winter Garden.

As a member of his community, Matthew is a former Trustee for St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando, and has been a member of the Rotary and the League of Women Voters. He served on the Orange County Public Schools Transportation Task Force. He is currently on the Board of Directors for National Semi-Trailer Corporation (NST), the third largest trailer leasing company in the nation.

In 2008, Matthew founded the Orange Country Taxpayer Review Board, in response to soaring taxes and fees that he felt were damaging the local economy. In the last year, more than 30 volunteers on the Review Board studied all 14 governments in Orange County and in a report issued in 2009, recommended over $1 billion in annual savings that could be realized through consolidation of government services and other measures.

“I moved to Florida in 1995 to pursue the American Dream. And while I’ve worked hard to get where I am, I feel lucky to be in the position that I am today. I have raised my family here and I do not want to see them leave Florida to find opportunity in other States, like many young people are doing now. We need to correct the policy mistakes made in the past ten years to ensure a bright economic future for Florida,” said Matthew.

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