Matt

Hi y’all! I’m Matt Petrak, the US Lead for Pride@Capco. I currently live in Chicago with my boyfriend and our two Boston terriers, Prudence and Remington. I’m excited about Pride@Capco’s 2025 Pride Month programming and theme Pride in Motion, Progress Through Stories. Storytelling is essential to understanding the challenges and victories that led to the present. Queer people do not always hear their community’s stories from their family. Instead, queer people often learn queer history and hear relatable queer narratives via friends and media. With that in mind, I’m happy to share my story and journey with Pride@Capco for any queer and ally readers. 

As a University of Chicago undergrad, I became comfortable identifying as queer and developed a passion for connecting with and supporting other LGBTQ+ people. With this perspective, I sought to join a consulting firm that actively supported its LGBTQ+ employees. While attending the 2019 Out for Undergrad Business career fair, I was thrilled to learn about Capco’s Be Yourself At Work mantra and queer founder. I kept in contact with the Capco representative I met during the summer, applied to Capco that autumn, and gratefully accepted Capco’s job offer that winter for their 2020 ATP program.

Once at Capco, I immediately sought involvement in Capco’s LGBTQ+ affinity group, Pride@Capco. I’m a changemaker and healer at heart, so being able to create meaningful and impactful programming and opportunities for LGBTQ+ people at work meant a lot to me. Upon hearing a request for World AIDS Day 2020 virtual programming, I offered to invite filmmaker David Weissman, a mentor of mine, to discuss his Emmy-nominated HIV/AIDS documentary We Were Here with Capco. The event sparked deep discussion about HIV/AIDS and underscored my desire to create meaningful programming to Pride@Capco leads.

As I developed expertise in data governance on the client side, I deepened my Capco community involvement by stepping up as Pride@Capco US Community Lead and Chicago Regional Lead. I directed events at a national and regional scale that provided space for LGBTQ+ and ally Capcoites to connect, develop themselves as business professionals, discuss significant queer topics, and explore intersectional queer identities. I became well-known within the Pride@Capco space, granting me the opportunity to represent Pride@Capco at multiple conferences including Out for Undergrad and Out & Equal. I even won $5,000 for a charity of Pride@Capco’s choosing after making a rainbow cake and accompanying video for the 2021 inter-affinity group competition, The Great Capco Cook Off. 

In 2022, I gratefully accepted an offer to step up as US Lead for Pride@Capco when our former US Lead left Capco. Around the same time, my friend and peer stepped up as Global Lead for Pride@Capco. Since then, she and I have worked together with our workstream leads, regional leads, and partner sponsor, Rich, to create dynamic LGBTQ+ programming, work with HR and DEI to ensure Capco’s policies best benefit its LGBTQ+ employees, and engage with outside conferences and partnerships that enable us to find queer talent and strive to meet and exceed industry standards for LGBTQ+ corporate equality. My colleague and and I are proud to be part of Capco’s legacy in solidifying Capco’s ninth consecutive year getting 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index  for LGBTQ+ employees.

Stories, regardless of community, enable storytellers to drive empathy and bonding amongst the story’s immediate and rippled listeners. I hope that through sharing my story, others are encouraged to share their own and help propagate effects of empowerment and connection for generations to come.