2007 General Meeting

Assemblée générale 2007

Montréal, Québec

2007 General Meeting

Assemblée générale 2007

Montréal, Québec

Canadian Institute

of Actuaries

Canadian Institute

of Actuaries

L’Institut canadien desactuaires

L’Institut canadien desactuaires

Non-Traditional Actuaries: Does it Open or Close Doors?Lisa DeVos, FSA, FCIA

Manulife Financial

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Agenda

• Introduction• What is a non-traditional actuary?• Does it open or close doors?

• Risks, benefits, issues, opportunities

• Lisa’s role – AVP Operations, Manulife Financial

• Scott’s role – Manager, Actuarial Services, Pal Insurance

What is a “non-traditional”

actuary?

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Traditional Actuaries

• Number crunchers

• Responsible for financial aspects of a company

• E.g. insurance companies – pricing and valuation; pension consultants

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Non-Traditional Actuaries

1. A non-traditional role in an insurance company or consulting firm

• Senior management (Marketing, Operations)

• Corporate Compliance• Investments (Portfolio Manager or

Analyst)• Actuarial Consultant

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Non-Traditional Actuaries (cont’d)

2. A traditional role in a company other than a life insurance company or a consulting firm

• Pension specialist in a fertilizer company

• Member of an environmental board

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Non-Traditional Actuaries (cont’d)

3. A non-traditional role in a company other than life or consulting

• Independent financial advisor

• Illustration software consultant

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What are the Risks of moving to a non-traditional role?

• Risk of failure• May not be easy going back to a

traditional role after you’ve been out of it for a while (i.e. don’t you wear SOX on your feet?)

• Some may feel your new role is less valuable than a traditional actuary’s

• You may not WANT to go back to a traditional role!

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What are the Benefits of moving to a non-traditional role?

• New and exciting challenge!• Fairly easy to transfer your skills

(assuming you have strong communication skills) & build new ones

• Can add a lot of value in other areas of the company since you understand the financial impact

• Will broaden your background • Nothing to lose – can go back• Opportunities for careers are endless!

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What are the Issues that non-traditional actuaries need to face?

• Salary scale being supported• Staying connected to peers e.g.

attending actuarial conferences• Meeting on-going CPD

requirements• How do we profile skillsets of

actuaries to non-traditional departments or companies

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Opportunities What are the Opportunities for non-Traditional

Actuaries

• Pretty much endless!

• See the jobs listed previously in the 3 categories

• Your financial skills could be applied to almost any business, so you just need to sell them on it!

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Lisa’s Role – AVP Operations, Individual Insurance (Inforce)

• How did I get here?• 1989 graduation from UWO &

started at Manulife• 5 years actuarial student (life

valuation; group pensions pricing)• 4 years individual life pricing (FSA

in 1995)• 1998 – new “opportunity” which has

kept evolving

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Scope/Responsibilities

• 70 people in KW and Halifax• 4 direct reports• 1 full actuary; handful of career ASA’s

• Budget of $6 Million• Functions:

– Illustration Project Team– Customer Service Team

• Inforce Illustrations• Conservation• Special Case and Exceptions• Client Relations• Special Investigation Unit

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2007Skills Needed

• Strong people leadership

• Excellent communication

• Business acumen

• Excellent customer service

• Adaptable to change

• Strategic thinker

• Strong organization/prioritization

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Skills Needed (cont’d)

• Technical/actuarial an asset!• Illustration systems

• Calcs; reasonability; CLHIA guidelines

• Exceptions/Client Relations cases• Understanding financial impact• Consider pricing, tax, reinsurance, etc.

• Managing my budget• Planning, tracking, reconciling, etc.

• Metrics• Regular reporting; unit costs

• Cost/Benefit Analysis• New FTE’s; project approval

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Challenges

• People leadership• Managing a remote team• Managing a large inforce block after

merging with many companies!• Having a systems team within the

business• Inforce is second to New Business• Constant pressure to reduce expenses

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How do I maintain my CPD?

• Important to me to maintain my FCIA and FSA designations

• Fortunately, it’s important to Manulife too

• If you work for a non-traditional company, negotiate up front

• Perhaps harder to meet as non-traditional actuary but not impossible (business management category adds flexibility)

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Examples of how I earn CPD Credits

• In-house training e.g. leadership• Company meetings e.g. Senior

Management; Financial Forums• Company Conferences• On-the-job e.g. CLHIA illustration

guidelines • CIA/SOA meetings and webcasts

• Doing a presentation!

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Paul Lorentz – Senior Vice President, Group Savings &

Retirement Services

• Successfully held non-traditional roles

• How does he add value?

• Important skills needed?

• Meeting CPD

• Going back to the “dark side”?

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AgendaAgenda• Emerging Practice Areas (EPA’s)

(aka Non-Traditional Actuarial roles)

• What I do and how I got here

• What is needed to succeed?

• What keeps me awake at night?

• Do EPA’s open or close doors?

• Could / Would I go back?

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“Traditional” actuarial roles“Traditional” actuarial roles

• Insurance Company Head Office – Pricing– Valuation– Appointed Actuary

• Consulting– Pension– Group L&H

• Reinsurance Company• Academia

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“Traditional” actuarial skills“Traditional” actuarial skills

• “good with numbers”

• Able to build spreadsheets / computer models

• Computer training for mainframe applications / valuation systems was helpful

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The Actuary of the Past?The Actuary of the Past?

• 2.3.3 The U.S. Task Force surveyed those actuaries who worked closely with, or employed other actuaries in the U.S.A.. The U.S. poll highlighted the view that actuaries:

• - are bright problem solvers- are narrow, unwilling to look at the broader picture- are trained as individualists, and have poor management skills- make things complicated- are poor communicators with non-actuaries- are ethical beyond reproach- are defensive, arrogant and rigid- are best prepared to put money and risk together- need to increase public awareness of the profession

• The Actuary of the FutureJIA 119 (1992) 13 - 44

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A profession under pressureA profession under pressure

• 1988 Jobs Almanac ranks Actuary #1

• Industry consolidation

• Professional services vs Actuarial Opinion

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Emerging Practice AreasEmerging Practice Areas

• Expert Witness• Software development• Asset / Liability management• ERM• Rating agencies• Investment banking• Sales & Marketing• Private industry• Political life• Etc…

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2007What do I do?What do I do?

• Pal Insurance Services• Working with affluent Canadians• Protecting wealth for future generations

• Clients are worried about• Dying too soon• Living too long• Losing their good health

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2007What do I do?What do I do?

Agent Actuary

Identify the risk √

Define Product √ √

Personal experience √

Financial impact √

Client agreement √

Funding √ √

Build policy √

Close the sale √ √

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2007What do I do?What do I do?

• Insurance Product Education (Life, CI, DI)

• ClientsAccountants, lawyers, bankers, etc

• Liaison with direct writer• Product development

Illustration and Large Case MarketingUnderwriting & ReinsuranceNew Business Legal departmentCompliance Customer Service

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How did I get here?How did I get here?• Individual Life

• Product developmentDividend ActuaryValuationReinsuranceMarketing

• Group Insurance• Product development

UnderwritingValuationMarketing

• Pension Consulting

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How did I get here?How did I get here?

• Professional activities• SoA exam committees

Actuarial Resource co-ordinatorLecturer UWO Stats & Actuarial Science

• Volunteer activities • Church finance committees

Church TrusteesParkwood Hospital Planned Giving committeeBoard of Directors – Original Kids theatre

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The Actuary of the FutureThe Actuary of the Future

• 2.2.4 In 1989, a task force of the Society of Actuaries produced a valuable report on “The Actuary of the Future”.

• “exposure to economics, accounting and law makes actuaries conversant with, but not experts in these subjects … the combination of subjects studied (is) a combination few other professions are likely to have encountered”

• The Actuary of the FutureJIA 119 (1992) 13 - 44

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What actuarial skills do I use?What actuarial skills do I use?• Product knowledge

– Pricing– Reinsurance

• Actuarial knowledge– Economics– Demographics– Investments

• Communication• Common Sense• Business savvy

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What excites me about the job?What excites me about the job?

• Role as educator

• The “A HA” moment

• Working without a net

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What is required to succeed?What is required to succeed?

• - problem solver / Can Do attitude- see the broader picture- co-operative outlook- effective management and negotiation skills- explain complicated concepts clearly, simply- excellent communicator with non-actuaries- ethical beyond reproach- open minded, flexible, willing to listen- seek solutions that are good for everyone

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What keeps me awake at night?What keeps me awake at night?

• Advisor misconduct– Acts of omission and / or commission

• CPD & “Actuaries of the Past”

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What keeps me awake at night?What keeps me awake at night?

• The Society should develop career planning prototypes for individual actuaries to develop paths leading from where there are today to new opportunities” (Actuary of the Future Task Force (1991)- Society of Actuaries)

• A professional culture that encourages actuaries to trail blaze in new areas(Vision 2020 TaskForce-Institute of Actuaries of Australia)

• Develop opportunities for actuaries in new areas(Strategic Plan 4(d) - Canadian Institute of Actuaries)

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Do EPA’s open doors?Do EPA’s open doors?

• The “public” doesn’t know what an actuary is

• “FCIA” opens doors

• The rest is up to you

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Do EPA’s close doors?Do EPA’s close doors?• A recent job posting from a recruiter

– Develop and manage inforce conservation programs

– Manage credited rates and margins on inforce business

– Analyze and report results to senior management

– Analyze and develop strategies for non-performing blocks of business

– Problem solving, strategic thinking and analytical skills

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Could / would I go back?Could / would I go back?

• Of course I could

• But Why?