Meet the Team Matt Williams, Head of Starr Consulting Services

My route into insurance wasn’t planned. I left school intending to go into engineering, but after a short period of work experience taking apart aircraft engines, I realised fairly quickly it wasn’t for me.

At that point, I headed into London to look for alternatives. It was still a time where you could walk into agencies with a CV and explore different paths, so I spent a few days doing exactly that.

Insurance was described to me as the more interesting route with more variety, relationship building, and a better long‑term career compared to say Banking, so I took the insurance path.

I joined Starr in 2017 as an underwriter, right as the team was building a lead position in aviation. We were trying to grow without simply undercutting prices, and that pushed us to think differently about what value looks like for clients.

That challenge is what led to the creation of Starr Consulting Services (SCS). The aim was simple, help clients mitigate risk and improve outcomes before anything happens so we can offer something more than an insurance policy.

Today, I lead SCS full-time and have been doing that since 2022. SCS has a practical focus on risk management initiatives and solutions that help reduce the incidents driving losses and premiums. No two days are the same. One day I’m working on a client seminar, the next I’m managing consultant delivery, and I also oversee the operational side.

The culture. At Starr there is a real team spirit and a supportive environment. I enjoy coming into the office because it’s a good group of people and there’s a strong sense of shared purpose.

On top of that, I’ve been able to build something I really care about. SCS has been a big part of my journey at Starr, and seeing it grow into a service clients actively use has been hugely rewarding.

SCS exists because we wanted to differentiate ourselves in a meaningful way. The market is brilliant at investigating incidents after the fact, learning lessons and changing regulation or technology so it doesn’t happen again. But as insurers, you don’t want to be closing the gate after the horse has bolted. Our idea from day one was pre-loss consulting by helping clients reduce the likelihood of an incident in the first place.

We started SCS in the aviation book looking at loss and claims history, identifying trends and pinch points, and then finding practical solutions clients will actually use.

A big part of what we do now is creating space for the industry to learn and connect. Seminars give our consultants a platform to share expertise directly with clients, but they also bring a community together. People can be very siloed, these seminars give them room to discuss the same challenges which has been one of the most valuable outcomes.

I have a team of five consultants who report to me and are Starr employees, and I also work with a number of third-party companies whose consultants are contracted to Starr. My role is to manage the workflow across that group and act as the conduit between underwriters and the consulting team delivering the work.

I also enjoy the development side. We’ve brought in people with deep operational expertise from the aviation industry and supported them in applying that experience in a different context — working with clients and underwriters to deliver practical, real‑world insights. .

The environmental and sustainability conversation may not always dominate headlines, but in aviation it remains an important long-term theme. It continues to influence how organisations think about risk, operations, and investment.

A more immediate trend I think will become bigger is turbulence. We’re seeing more turbulence occurrences, and there isn’t an easy, traditional solution to manage it. That can lead to injuries and aircraft damage, and it creates behavioural challenges too.

Be a sponge. Spend time with people who have experience and learn as much as you can. It’s easy to become siloed in a role where you do one small part of a much bigger puzzle. Do your job well, but also push yourself to understand the other parts of the business such as underwriting, broking, claims and the client perspective. That’s how you build real market understanding.

Importantly, don’t be intimidated by titles. Clients and senior people can seem daunting on paper, but most are approachable. The amount you learn from sitting in on meetings, asking questions and building relationships early is invaluable.

I’m excited about continuing to grow the team and helping new consultants develop into the role, taking deep subject matter expertise and building confidence to share it effectively with clients.

I’m also excited about expanding where SCS can add value across Starr. Aviation is heavily regulated, and that rigour translates well into other lines. We’re exploring opportunities to support other parts of the business and connect more closely with different teams, because clients buy multiple coverages from Starr across aviation, property, and casualty because of our strong balance sheet and global footprint.