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Matias Perttula

Fellow, Center for American Values

You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.

- William Wilberforce

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Matias Perttula is a Fellow for the Center for American Values at AFPI. Previously, Perttula served as the Director of Advocacy for International Christian Concern (ICC), where he led the government relations efforts to inform the key legislators on global religious freedom challenges facing Christians and other religious minorities. During his time at ICC, he traveled to Nigeria and Pakistan, where he worked with government and civil society leaders to promote religious freedom. He chaired the Program Committee for the International Religious Freedom Summit in 2021 and 2022. Before serving at ICC, Perttula was an assistant at the Brookings Institution for the Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy. Perttula also worked as the Executive Director for the Office of the President at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, where he oversaw the university’s government relations platform, administration for the president’s office, as well as communications and public relations. He also served as an adjunct faculty member in the university’s College of Business. Perttula completed his master’s in business administration in 2013 at Southeastern University and was named the most outstanding graduate of his class. Perttula previously completed his bachelor’s degree in political science and history at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also studied at the Harvard Extension School in International Security Studies. Perttula was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1986 and spent his childhood in Finland. He moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1998. He is fluent in Finnish and English. Perttula is married to Barbarah Perttula, and they have one son, Lincoln, and another boy on the way. Perttula and Barbarah love being involved in the local church as well as cheering on their favorite NFL teams.

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Framing Religious Freedom Globally

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