ACAS - November 1995
Candidate Information
Education:
Bachelor of Arts, Economics, John Hopkins University, Dec 1989
Current Employment:
Gallagher Re, Executive Vice President (2021 to current)
Head of North American Customized Solutions Practice
- Lead team of reinsurance brokers, actuaries, and financial analysts in production, analysis, and placement of large structured reinsurance transactions
CAS Activities and Publications:
Activities
Casualty Actuaries in Reinsurance (CARe): Member: 2008 to current
- President Casualty Actuaries in Reinsurance: 2016 - 2017
- Chairperson Seminar Planning Committee: 2014 - 2015
- Vice-Chair Seminar Planning Committee: 2012 - 2013
CAS Committee on Professional Education: 2012 - 2018
CAS Liaison to CFA Institutes: 2007 - current
DRM/DFA Modeling Task Force: 2002 - 2006
CAS Publications and Presentations:
2023: “Structured Reinsurance”, “ERM: Managing Reserve Risk”
2022: “Understanding LPT/ADCs”, “Equity Analyst View the Industry”
2021: ”Equity Analysts View the Industry”, “Ceding Company Considerations”
2019: “Tax Reform One Year Later”, “ERM Criteria for Rating Agencies and Regulators”
2018: “Tax Reform and the Insurance Industry”, “A.M. Best’s New Rating Methodology”
2017: “Rating Agencies & Reinsurance”, “P&C Regulatory Outlook”
2016: “Bayesian Estimation”; “Reinsurance and Credit Risk Models”
2015: “Casualty Reserve Risk”, “Florida Market Update”, “A.M. Best's BCAR Model”
2014: “How Does the Reinsurance Market Affect Reserves?”
2013: “Is this Really a Hard Market?” , “Firm Value and Benefit of Reinsurance”
2010: “Understanding and Projecting the UW Cycle”
2007: “International Accounting Standards”, “Insurance and Reinsurance Run-off”
2006: “Executive Level Decision Making using DFA”
2005: “DFA & Reinsurance Applications”
2004: DRM Working Group Paper: “Dynamic Risk Modeling Handbook”
2002: CAS Forum Paper: “DFA - A Case Study”
Other Actuarial Organizations:
Member of America Academy of Actuaries (MAAA), 2007 to current
Other Professional Designations:
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Jun 2006
Associate in Reinsurance, ARe, Jan 2000
Employment History - Prior Employers:
Willis Re (2006 - 2021, VP, Senior VP, Executive VP):
Head of North America Structured Reinsurance (2020 - 2021)
Head of Financial Advisory Analytics team (2006 - 2021)
Member of North America Analytics Leadership team
Munich Re America (2000 - 2006, Assistant VP, VP):
Marketing, Client Modeling, and Advisory
Actuarial R&D, Capital Modeling, and Reinsurance Pricing Actuary
SECURA Insurance Companies (1996 - 2000, Director, VP):
Chief Actuary - Pricing and Reserving
Ceded Re Buyer
Maryland Casualty / Zurich Insurance Companies (1989 - 1996, Student, Analyst):
Actuarial Analyst: Pricing and Reserving
Membership and Activities in Other Organizations:
AIRROC Run-off Association (2020 to current), member and speaker
Civic Activities:
Lawrenceville Main Street community organization volunteer
Lawrence Hopewell Trail volunteer
Yeshiva College ERM program advisory board volunteer
Princeton Amateur Astronomy Association member
Geeta Ashram Chicago volunteer
Other Publications:
AAIROC: “Run-off solutions for current P&C Insurance Market” (2023)
AGRIP: “Optimizing Governmental Pool Reinsurance” (2010)
Actuaries are great people. Throughout my career, I have worked with actuarial colleagues that are invariably brilliant, curious, collaborative, and witty. I am honored to be considered as a candidate for the CAS Board of Directors.
The actuarial profession has trained me to analyze complex insurance problems. But beyond technical expertise, it has provided me the opportunity to work in a range of traditional and non-traditional roles and provide perspective and insight to broader industry issues. I have learned how actuarial analysis needs to be focused and communicated to impact business strategy. And working in executive leadership positions, I have seen how highly actuaries are valued by their firms and the importance of developing business skills.
My first job in a large actuarial department provided a sense of camaraderie but unfortunately it felt disconnected from the rest of the company. In my next job, I built an actuarial department at a mid-sized regional carrier. I further utilized my training to address larger sets of issues such as distribution incentives, claims management, and financial analysis requiring collaboration across the company. Branching out, I was able to have a greater impact on corporate strategy and decision making. Now working in reinsurance, I see the importance of connecting technical analysis and an interdisciplinary approach to support the business goals of our clients.
Within the CAS, I began by volunteering on technical working groups but have recently been focused on professional development. Our committees, conferences, and events help us connect and share ideas that further the progress of the profession. However, beyond our membership, I believe it is important for the CAS to foster greater collaboration with other industry professionals, employers, investors, regulators, consumer advocates, and academia.
The CAS has supported my career journey, and as a Board member I would be committed to being accessible and responsive to the needs of our society. This would include developing training opportunities, expanding our global footprint, and increasing our public policy impact. Thank you for considering me as a candidate for CAS Board of Directors in the upcoming elections. I am humbled by the nomination and excited about the opportunity to contribute to the Actuarial community.
My professional experiences point to what I hope to accomplish as a member of the CAS Board.
First is maintaining and increasing the relevance of the CAS credentials. This includes continuing to enhance our exam process for advanced pricing and reserving techniques. Through careful accreditation, we should expand avenues for VEE college credit which would allow for more interesting and relevant syllabus material and potentially shorter student travel time. At the same time, we need to build upon that expertise with business and leadership skills that increase our ability to have an impact in our firms, industry, and society. Along with the examination process, adhering to our professional ethics and standards and our continuing education requirements are important components to upholding the integrity of our credentials.
Secondly, we need to continue to globalize our relationships and influence. CAS membership is the gold standard of P&C General Insurance expertise and global insurance utilization is increasing rapidly. We need to continue outreach to international actuarial societies and other insurance organizations to apply our expertise to global issues as well as attract more international candidates to pursue a CAS designation. Increasingly the world is becoming financially interconnected, and it is critical to understand and participate in the global insurance marketplace and regulatory environment.
And third, we need to capitalize on our profession’s role in society to impact positive change. Given our merit-based exam process, we need to deepen our outreach to all potential actuarial students providing them an opportunity to bring their talent to our industry. A more diverse profession and industry leads to better decision making and innovation. Also, given our technical expertise, we can work to advocate for insurance models which avoid encapsulating historical biases and inequities. And we can have a positive impact on public policy by analyzing issues such as rising tort costs affecting casualty losses and rising property losses driven by climate change. The CAS should continue to be sought after by policy makers and regulators in addressing these important issues to support social and economic stability, resilience, and fairness.
These are the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for our profession, and I am committed to promoting excellence, innovation, collaboration, and inclusivity within our profession to meet our potential.
