# Matthew Wright

> Matthew Wright is the founder and executive chairman of Specright and founder and CEO of FOREST-PKG. A packaging industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience before Specright, he held leadership roles at International Paper and Temple-Inland and co-founded rightPAQ. He writes and speaks about specification data, works with packaging education programs, and co-hosts Beyond Packaging with Laura Foti.

- **Role:** Founder & Executive Chairman at Specright; Founder & CEO at FOREST-PKG
- **Organizations:** Specright, FOREST-PKG, International Paper, Temple-Inland, rightPAQ, Michigan State University School of Packaging Industry Advisory Board, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Packaging Advisory Board (formerly)
- **Known for:** Founded Specright in 2014 after a career in packaging operations and leadership., Co-founded packaging company rightPAQ., Authored The Evolution of Products & Packaging: How a Spec-First Approach Is Revolutionizing the Way Companies Make Things.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2014** — Spent more than 25 years in packaging, including leadership positions at International Paper and Temple-Inland and co-founding rightPAQ.
- **2014** — Founded Specright to address fragmented product and packaging specification information.
- **2015** — Specright worked with Cal Poly students and graduates to move customer specifications into the cloud; Wright publicly encouraged engineers moving into customer organisations.
- **2019** — Specright announced an $8.8 million Series A led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
- **2020** — Named a finalist for Octane’s Best Small Technology Company CEO award.
- **2025-04** — Transitioned from Specright CEO to executive chairman as Mike Boese became CEO.
- **2026-03** — Publicly discussed Forest, an AI-powered packaging discovery and connection platform, now branded FOREST-PKG.
- **2026-04** — Co-hosted a Beyond Packaging episode with Laura Foti and Clemson packaging science director Greg Batt.

## Achievements

- Founded Specright in 2014 after a career in packaging operations and leadership.
- Co-founded packaging company rightPAQ.
- Authored The Evolution of Products & Packaging: How a Spec-First Approach Is Revolutionizing the Way Companies Make Things.
- Finalist for Octane’s Best Small Technology Company CEO award in 2020.
- Led Specright before its recognition on Fast Company’s 2023 Most Innovative Companies list and the 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 500.
- At the April 2025 CEO transition, Specright reported more than five million products on its platform and four of the ten largest US retailers as customers.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Appeared with Laura Foti and Matt Saunders on Cory Connors’s Sustainable Packaging podcast to discuss Specright’s partnership with New Earth Ventures.
- **2026-04** — Wright and Laura Foti hosted Clemson’s Greg Batt on Beyond Packaging to discuss the next generation of packaging professionals and AI-assisted design.
- **2026-03** — Wright discussed his new Forest platform with Packaging Dive, describing an industry hub for product discovery, supplier connections and communication.
- **2025-04** — Became Specright executive chairman following the appointment of Mike Boese as CEO.

## Links

- Website: https://matthew-wright.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-wright-specright/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/matthew-wright
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14