The 2021 Top 25 Consultants: Matt Taylor

Matt is a Managing Director in Protiviti's Risk and Compliance team in London. He joined Protiviti in 2005 prior to which he worked for Arthur Andersen and Deloitte. Matt specializes in helping organizations design and implement sustainable risk management arrangements.

Matt's areas of expertise include Enterprise Risk Management, Anti-Money Laundering / Financial Crime, Conduct Risk, Operational Risk and Project and Program Management.

Matt has been responsible for implementing and managing numerous  risk-related services including:

Working as the interim Group Head of Conduct Risk for a UK insurance broker establishing a conduct risk framework that has been rolled out across the Group and the development of a suite of conduct policies and integrating into the Group's Risk and Compliance Monitoring activities and the development of an integrated assurance model.

As a seconded Group Head of Risk at a global Health Insurance organization, Matt designed, implemented and embedded a Global Risk Management framework across 13 countries, enhancing the organization's governance arrangements and helping establish the firm's college of supervisors and providing regular briefings to the Main Board on key risk matters.

Matt has helped re-design the governance and operational risk management procedures for a global department of a major international retail and commercial bank. He led a team tasked with re-engineering the governance and operational risk management processes in line with the Group standards and ensuring their complete adaptation across 10 different countries via a standard Target Operating Model.

What does winning this award mean to you?

"Winning this award is a sign of the commitment, drive, and passion that I and those around me have put into my career. I genuinely challenge myself every day to think of ways I can make myself, my team and Protiviti a better place and ensure that the people on my team have plenty of career opportunities. Winning this award is proof that the principles I stand for – strong teamwork, striving for quality and believing in my own judgment – are values that are externally recognized as key to success. This award also recognizes many other people who have worked incredibly hard to help me succeed in my career. Family, colleagues, team members and partners have all contributed to the business successes I've helped drive over the last 5 years and so I hope they see that this is award is a joint one. I joined Protiviti to challenge myself to do something different, be entrepreneurial in nature and move out of my comfort zone. Over the last 16 years, I feel I've come out of my shell, in part thanks to Protiviti's supportive culture. This award is recognition that challenging yourself to be something different, pushing yourself forwards and having a genuine passion for your career is something of great value."

What's been the biggest factor in your success?

"I am a massive believer in the value of 'Team.' I've spent several years building a team of people that I am proud of, and many of my career successes have been gained with their support. We've had some great highs and successes together and also shared some disappointments. Through this team – the spirit we've developed, the trust in each other and the freedom that everyone has to voice their opinion – I've been able to succeed in my career."

"Watching graduates whom I interviewed 10 years ago progress through the firm to become consultants whose talents are in great demand gives me huge satisfaction as well as seeing consultants who've struggled at some points come through those challenges to rediscover their drive or energy. I spend as much of my time as possible connecting with my team to ensure we remain aligned, issues are resolved and ideas shared. This has been of paramount importance over the last 18 months, given the changing working patterns imposed by the pandemic which has required me to challenge myself to think differently about how to motivate and lead a virtual team. Recently I've delivered projects with team members based in multiple global locations. Fortunately, I've been able to successfully translate the beliefs, techniques and leadership style that I've typically used with my UK team to manage these global teams, resulting in great successes in terms of projects completed, client satisfaction assessments and growth in our businesses."

What has motivated you to excel over the course of your career?

"There are two main motivators for me in my career – one, building a business that people want to be part of and two, never being satisfied with what I've done. In terms of building the business, I've always wanted to be part of an organization that I and others can be proud of. I take great pride in seeing people given opportunities to develop, grow and have great careers, and have dedicated a large part of my career to making sure that the organization I work for gives people that chance. This goes from new graduates we take in each year through to our more experienced people who are looking for new challenges or opportunities. Also, I can look back at my time with Protiviti and remember our first million-pound account, our first multi-million-pound project, our first win at a major new account and our first truly global project using innovative delivery technologies and techniques. Each of these milestone achievements has motivated me to keep pushing forward, looking for the next, bigger target in my career."