Speaker: Andy Williams, Senior Business Risk Adviser
What is your name and role at MAS?
Andy Williams: Hi, I'm Andy Williams and I'm a Senior Business Risk Adviser at MAS.
How long have you been at MAS?
Andy Williams: I joined MAS in August 2000. Started off down in our Christchurch office as a Branch Adviser down there, moved up to Auckland in 2004 and been based in the Auckland, then the North Shore and now back in the Auckland branch, once again.
What roles have you had prior to working at MAS?
Andy Williams: I started off in the ANZ bank in Hamilton many moons ago. From there, went over to England to Bristol where I worked at Sun Life Assurance, which is a life insurance company and investments, doing some life admin and life underwriting as well, which was really, really interesting. Back to New Zealand where I worked for State Insurance in their commercial division. Then on to AA insurance in sunny Rangiora before joining MAS in 2000.
What does the Business Risk team do?
Andy Williams: The Business Risk team as it is now, is really the culmination of a fairly lengthy trial which took place here in the Northern region over quite a few years. What we're all about nowadays is making sure that we're in front of our Members and in touch with them regularly to ensure that they are fully covered for all of their business insurance needs. That can be all sorts of things, Business Risk, obviously, which we provide ourselves, Contents, Business Interruption, Liability, all sorts of stuff like that. And then once they've got it in place, once they know what they've got and they know how it all works, it's a matter then of keeping in touch and making sure that it's all current up to date and everyone's on the same page so that when a claim comes along, there's not going to be any surprises for anyone.
What do you do in your role?
Andy Williams: Well, the best part of my role without a doubt is getting out in front of our Members for those face-to-face meetings. And I look after the greater Auckland as well as Northland areas, so there's a bit of travel, but that's fine too because we can go out and see those Members that may not be getting seen otherwise. And then it's a matter of learning about them, but learning about their roles, what they do, what's happening in the industry out there, there's so much and the more you talk to them, the more information you can get and then that helps us to build a big picture of what we can do to help them meet their needs. But then also potentially refer them on to other areas of MAS for their Kiwisaver preferred provider, Life insurance, Income Protection. HealthyPractice obviously is a great fit for what we do. So there's a lot of variety out there, but really it comes down to having those conversations and building relationships.
Why is Business Insurance important?
Andy Williams: Well, Business Insurance is vitally important, but sometimes our Members don't always realise that. For example, they may have trained for years and years and years to become a doctor or a lawyer or a dentist or some other medical specialist, but they haven't trained for years to learn how to run a business or manage staff. So that's where we can help and we can help them to identify what some of those risks are and we can show them how to mitigate those risks. It's super, super important and at MAS, we know all about protecting loss of income or Life insurance or protecting your car. But when it comes to Business Insurance, that's really about protecting somebody's livelihood and it can be a very large asset that they've built up over years. So it's definitely something worth protecting and we can certainly help.
What hobbies and interests do you have outside of MAS?
Andy Williams: Well, for many years, I was a brass musician and I was very lucky to be able to ply my trade in Britain and Europe doing amazing gigs in incredible halls with stupendous musicians. And it was a fantastic experience. Pretty much retired from that now, but still do help out occasionally when needed it and that's absolutely fine. I also have an interest in New Zealand history from the period of about 1830 to 1870 which is oddly specific, but a lot happened in that time and a lot happened, which was very formative for our country. So I do find it interesting and there's a lot to explore there as well. Also enjoying exploring New Zealand from a travel point of view rather than heading overseas. Really enjoying finding out some of the little hidden places in New Zealand, you know don't leave town till you've seen the country, all that sort of thing.
