Biography

Shortest

Matt Fowler is a Senior Management Consultant at Phantom Power, helping MLSs and proptech companies build a bridge to their future. For nearly five years he led Doorify MLS in Raleigh-Durham, first as Executive Director and then as CEO. He was an Inman MLS Reinvented honoree in 2024 and 2025, and was named CMLS’s 10th Shuttleworth MLS Executive of the Year at CMLS2024. He was also one of the T360 200 People to Watch for 2025. Earlier, he co-developed one of the first automated valuation models and built Solid Earth, a two-time Inc. 500 company. Matt is a former commercial appraiser, a cancer survivor, and an advocate for land stewardship and fair housing.

Shorter

Matt Fowler is a Senior Management Consultant at Phantom Power. He advises MLSs on strategy and helps proptech companies bring products to market. Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, he lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Matt started in real estate in 1993 as a commercial appraiser, the same year he and a business partner built one of the first automated valuation models (AVMs). The same team went on to create Solid Earth, one of the first internet-based MLS platforms. It became the third-largest MLS vendor in the country and made the Inc. 500 in 2004 and 2005. Matt sold Solid Earth to FBS in 2018 and joined TRIBUS as a Director in 2020.

In 2021 Matt became the first independent Executive Director of Triangle MLS, now Doorify MLS, and was named CEO in 2025. He led a merger with a neighboring MLS and launched MLS Choice, an open model that lets subscribers choose from curated software instead of being locked into one product. He was named an MLS Reinvented Award Winner by Inman News in 2024 and made the MLS Reinvented list for 2025. He was also CMLS’s 10th Shuttleworth MLS Executive of the Year at CMLS2024 and one of the T360 200 People to Watch for 2025. In September 2026 he left Doorify to take those strategies to other MLSs.

Matt and his wife, Julie, have been married since 1987. They have two adult daughters, Hannah Arky and Dr. Sarah Fowler, and one grandchild.

Long

Matt Fowler is a Senior Management Consultant at Phantom Power, where he advises MLSs and helps proptech companies take products to market. Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, he lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Matt began his career as a General Certified Appraiser specializing in commercial real estate. His clients included the Tennessee Valley Authority, the USPS, the State of Alabama, and dozens of banks and developers.

In 1993 he and a business partner developed ValueWizard, one of the first automated valuation models (AVMs) in banking. It launched statewide in Florida and Tennessee and grew into a national product. The company, Banton Research, was acquired by TransUnion in 2006.

Before that sale, the team built one of the country’s first internet-based MLS systems. Matt led that division as President and spun it off as Solid Earth. Over 19 years Solid Earth became the third-largest MLS vendor in the U.S. and made the Inc. 500 twice. Matt sold it to FBS in 2018 and served as Vice President. In 2020 he negotiated the sale of an FBS product to TRIBUS and joined TRIBUS as a Director along with the product team.

In 2021 Matt became the first independent Executive Director of Triangle MLS, now Doorify MLS. His 36-month plan started with a lot in the first year:

• He moved the company to Agile project management.
• He added full-motion video as a listing media type.
• He took the two-dozen-person staff fully remote.
• He led a merger with a neighboring MLS, which ended duplicate dues for hundreds of brokers.

In 2023 the company launched MLS Choice, an open business model that lets subscribers choose from curated software services instead of being locked into one product for years. In 2025 Matt was named CEO, part of separating Doorify’s operations from its non-profit roots.

His recognitions:

• Inman News named him an MLS Reinvented Award Winner in 2024 and put him on the MLS Reinvented list for 2025.
• CMLS named him its 10th Shuttleworth MLS Executive of the Year at CMLS2024 in Seattle.
• He was one of the T360 200 People to Watch for 2025.

In September 2026, after nearly five years at Doorify, Matt joined Phantom Power to bring what worked there to MLSs and proptech companies across the country.

Married since 1987, Matt and his wife, Julie, have two adult daughters, Hannah Arky and Dr. Sarah Fowler. Matt believes deeply in community engagement and has held many leadership roles, including:

• Village of Promise: A data-driven, secular effort to break the cycle of generational poverty, starting with the education of 4-year-olds and their mothers. It is modeled on Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone. Matt was Co-Founder and served several years as Board Chair.
• Lincoln Village Preservation Corporation: A faith-based real estate effort in a historic mill village. Starting in 1995, LVPC bought rundown tenement houses around a failing public elementary school. It now owns almost 100 homes, each with a family in some form of recovery. It also owns the school, now Lincoln Academy, an accredited Pre-K–8 private school. Matt served several years as Board Chair.
• Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama: A private 501(c)(3) that adds to public park land and open space. With more than 5,000 acres, it is one of the most successful land trusts in the South. Matt was a longtime board member and was Board Chair in 2000.
• The Nature Conservancy: An international conservation organization protecting wild lands and habitats around the world. Matt served one term on the Alabama State Board of Directors.
• Village Marketplace: A 501(c)(3) thrift store that served the Lincoln Village neighborhood from 2016 to 2020. It employed neighborhood residents who needed work and gave all proceeds to the neighborhood school. Matt and Julie owned and managed the store.
• Randolph School: An independent K–12 school in Huntsville, Alabama, and Matt’s alma mater. He served six years on the Board of Directors, two of them as Board Chair. During that time the school raised $26 million in an education bond issue and built a new campus.