Byrna Technologies has announced that Matthew McBrady has been appointed to the company board of directors. Byrna, based in Andover, Massachusetts, is a personal defence technology company that develops, manufactures and sells less lethal personal security products, including its carbon dioxide powered launchers. The Nasdaq listed company, which trades under the ticker BYRN, disclosed the appointment on 2 September 2026.
The appointment increases the size of the Byrna board from seven to eight directors and is part of a planned board refreshment strategy that began more than a year ago, the company said.
Axon background
McBrady was a long time board member and advisor at Axon Enterprise, where the company said he helped guide it from its early days to its current position as a large personal defence product company. He served on the Axon board from 2001 to 2014, and again from 2016 to 2026. During his tenure he chaired the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the mergers and acquisitions and capital structure committee, and served as a member of the Enterprise Risk and Compliance Committee.
Career
McBrady currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of GoBrands, the parent company of GoPuff, a quick commerce company, a role he has held since 2025. Before joining GoBrands, he spent five years as Professor of Practice in Finance at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.
Earlier in his career, McBrady spent more than a decade as a private equity and hedge fund investor. He served as Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of the multi strategy hedge funds at BlackRock, Managing Director and Head of Investment Strategy and Risk Management at Silver Creek Capital Management, and Senior Associate and Vice President in the North American private equity group at Bain Capital.
McBrady also has academic and government experience. He was a Professor of Finance at the Darden School from 2003 to 2006 and at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 2002 to 2003. From 1998 to 2000, he served as an international economist for the Council of Economic Advisers and the United States Department of the Treasury.
He currently serves as an advisor to several impact investing funds and as a director and longstanding investment committee member and chair of Global Partnerships, a non profit impact investor active in impact first debt markets in Latin America and Africa.
Company statement
TJ Kennedy, chairman of the Byrna board, said the company was pleased to welcome McBrady to the board, citing his Axon board experience along with what Kennedy described as a combination of operational, financial, investment and brand building expertise. Kennedy also pointed to the McBrady background as a former professional investor and his understanding of capital markets and institutional shareholder perspectives.
McBrady said he had followed Byrna closely for many years and admired its mission, products and commitment to innovation, and that he looked forward to applying lessons from his experience at Axon to the Byrna opportunities.
Education
McBrady, 55, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University, a Master of Science in International Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a doctorate in Business Economics from Harvard University.
