ABOUT John Matthew Knowles

John Matthew Knowles is a business executive and corporate advancement tactician. In early 2021, he was named Executive Director of the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference. DFMC is a 56- year-old integrated auxiliary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). He leads the international membership organization for Diocesan Financial Officers and other executives holding high-level financial management responsibility serving dioceses of the Catholic Church throughout North America and beyond.

For most of his career prior, Mr. Knowles worked as a divisional director and managing strategist within the Ave Maria Foundation family of non-profit institutions, all founded by the renowned Catholic philanthropist and former Domino’s Pizza Chairman, Tom Monaghan. Mr. Knowles served as the first Director of Development and External Affairs at Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida and later Legatus Director for the Northeast and International, based in metropolitan New York City. In each of these roles, he drove record-setting business development outcomes, and served on the four-person global strategic leadership committees for each organization. For six years, Mr. Knowles held the Chairmanship of the Legatus Gala in New York City, an annual tradition of great interest for the metropolitan Catholic community tracing its roots to the mid-1990s. Mr. Knowles managed the stage program and production team for the Legatus Summit, that organization’s global conference.

Alongside his leadership of DFMC, Mr. Knowles is a sought-after board member, strategic advisor, and consultant. He is President of the New York City-based Catholic Finance Association, or CFA, which is the membership organization for Catholic financial services professionals, broadly defined. He is the co-founder and current board Treasurer of Catholics At The Shore, an annual upscale conference retreat held each Spring in New Jersey; and is Chairman of the Board for Array of Hope, a New Jersey-based multimedia firm with operations across America and beyond. He is a board member and Fundraising Committee Chairman for the Regina Academy, an independent Catholic school in Pennsylvania. A Trustor of the California-based RETA Trust health care organization, he serves on the Ethics and Appeals Committee and counsels the governing board. He is a board member and Supervisory Committee member of the Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, the largest Catholic-affinity credit union in the United States with over $2 Billion in assets. Mr. Knowles advises the Catholic Leadership Institute (CLI), Aquinas Wealth Advisors, The Genesis Group, and provides informal personal counsel to many prominent Catholic lay leaders across America. In recent years he has served as a consultant to the USCCB. He is the executive producer and host of the “Faith and Finance Forum” program, which is available monthly on YouTube and podcast platforms. Mr. Knowles is active in real estate/property management and independent investing, which round out his diverse professional pursuits.

Mr. Knowles holds a B.A. in International Relations and Comparative Religion from Western Michigan University; a Juris Doctorate from Michigan State University; and a Fellowship Certificate in Leadership from Michigan State University. His professional and philanthropic achievements in Florida earned him recognition from Gulfshore Business Magazine as a 2011 “40 Under 40” Award honoree. His memberships include Legatus (Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Chapter), the Union League of Philadelphia, The Steel Club of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the Knights of Columbus. In 2009, he married Jennifer Knowles, the couple are blessed with two children, and are parishioners at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Bethlehem.