Building, Structuring, and Managing an Actuary Staff

This paper is based on the experience of being a unit manager in a large insurance company actuarial department, and subsequently building and managing a strong casualty actuarial staff within a brokerage firm. Through observation, trial and sometimes error, the author has defined Five Steps to guide building, structuring and managing an actuarial staff. 1. Defining the Role of the Actuaries 2. Objective Evaluation of the Staff 3. The Addition of Role Players 4. A Spirit of Teamwork 5. Maintaining Flexibility Following these five steps and continuing to refine them will lead to a strong actuarial department. If good personnel decisions are made, and teamwork and professionalism are established as cornerstones anchoring a dynamic structure, the actuarial department will be successful.