Mat was born and raised in Mobile and is the fifth consecutive generation in his family to assist Mobile businesses and individuals with their insurance needs as an insurance broker. He attended Auburn University, but ultimately transferred to the University of South Alabama and graduated Summa Cum Laude (4.0 GPA) with a BS in Interdisciplinary Studies, with concentrations in Business Management and Political Science. While attending college he worked summers in Washington DC as a Junior Staff Advisor for then U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, as well as in Montgomery as an Individual and Corporate Income Tax Advisor for the Alabama Department of Revenue.
After college, Mat went directly into working in the insurance industry in 2004. However, before becoming an insurance broker, he started his journey in the insurance world as an insurance claims adjuster, then ultimately claims manager. Over the course of eight years, Mat handled thousands of every conceivable type of Property and Casualty loss claim, and specialized in resolving litigated high dollar “total loss” claims involving questions of causation of loss. After this experience, he was hired as Vice President of a large USL&H Worker’s Compensation Carrier. Mat was assigned to work with his employer’s largest insurance clients. He was responsible for completing loss trend forecasting on these clients for his employer’s Board of Directors and assisting with the Underwriting process on renewals; as well as keeping the CEO’s and CFO’s of his clients happy with the insurance company servicing. Over the course of several years, he maintained a retention rate of 100% on a list of clients that in total exceeded $90,000,000 in annual insurance premium revenue for his employer. He did this by being responsive, pro-active and always available for his clients.
At this time, after working for 11 years for insurance companies, Mat made the move to work as an insurance broker for a large national insurance brokerage. Over the course of several years, he used his insurance company experience to assist his clients in navigating the world of insurance. By taking a collaborative and consultative approach, he takes as much time as required to make sure that each one of his clients feels that all of their needs are addressed in a thorough manner. Finally, he decided to start his own independent insurance agency here in Mobile, so that he could make sure that his clients were taken care of in the manner that he felt they deserved. The values that he founded his agency on involve treating his clients as true partners in the management of risk in their personal lives and/or business. This “quality over quantity” approach is not very common in the insurance world, but Mat feels that this is the right way to do business. The primary focus of Mat and his agency is to treat people the right way and to work to earn their business as a lifelong customer.
In his spare time, Mat is passionate about giving back to the Mobile community in any way he can. He is a Graduate of Neighborworks of America’s Community Leadership Program (He was sent to Cincinnati as part of a delegation to represent the city of Mobile in 2014). In addition, he is the past Chairman of the Board for Habitat for Humanity – Young Professionals, as well as the current Vice-Chairman of Habitat for Humanity of Southwest Alabama. He is also a volunteer mentor, working with local youth, for the past six years with the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program. In addition, he was voted by the 300 homeowners in his neighborhood to serve as Vice President on his neighborhood associations board of directors. On a personal level, Mat and his wife Kathryn have been married for six years and they have two young sons. They are members of Christ United Methodist Church. He also enjoys spending his free time with his family, particularly outdoors and at the beach.