Actuarial People

Andrea is a Partner at K3 Advisory, where she leads K3’s solutions for schemes moving through the buy-in phase of the transaction to ultimate buy-out.  She also manages key relationships with insurers, reinsurers, K3’s business partners and trustees. We explore how Andrea discovered the actuarial profession, and follow her career path which includes working for two consultancies, the PPF, the...

The Actuarial People podcast returns this week, and I'm delighted to be joined by Grace Holtom! Grace is an Associate and Senior Consulting Actuary at Barnett Waddingham. As well as supporting Scheme Actuaries and leading various projects, she also leads the development of BW’s Lloyds 3 offering, she is a people manager & mentor, and part of a group which oversees the South West actuarial team...

Mark is the London Practice Leader & Head of GMP Equalisation at Buck, a Gallagher Company. He is an experienced People Leader, Scheme Actuary and a Council member at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. We discuss everything from how Mark initially entered the actuarial profession, beginning his first role with WTW in Reigate, gaining line management experience at an early stage, moving to...

Felicia is an ex-Life, Pensions & GI Actuary who is now a Wealth Coach in the field of Pensions, Property and Stock Market Investments. We discuss everything from Felicia’s entry into the actuarial profession, working in Life, Pensions and General Insurance, how she balanced this with running her own property business, through to life after being an Actuary. Today, Felicia has set herself a go...

Dhyan is an Actuarial Apprentice, working in the Pensions Team at WTW. We discuss his entry into the actuarial profession, the application process for the apprenticeship and the different interview stages, joining the actuarial pensions team having initially applied for a role in insurance, and achieving his goal of joining the profession without studying at University. Dhyan gives a great account...

Daryl is Head of Market & Liquidity Risk at Legal & General for the Retirement Institutional business. He looks after all elements of market risk which includes interest rates, inflation, FX and property risk. We explore how Daryl entered the actuarial profession, how he transitioned from his first role in pensions to investment consulting, specialising in investment strategy and LDI, movi...

Lisa is an Associate Partner in the Risk Settlement Group at Aon in Leeds, where she advises scheme Trustees and Sponsors on buy-ins and buyouts. We discuss everything from how Lisa entered the actuarial profession after completing a Masters and PhD in Chemistry, beginning her career in pensions consulting with PwC, transitioning from consulting to Insurance with Aviva as a Deal Manager, and then...

Emily has recently celebrated her 25 year anniversary at WTW, where she is a Scheme Actuary, a Relationship Manager for Independent Trustees, a People Manager and company nominated Trustee for one the company pension schemes.   Emily shares her journey in the actuarial profession, from discovering the profession to qualifying, and the importance of being open to new opportunities and taking o...

Cian is currently a Reinsurance Pricing Actuary at MS Amlin. He is responsible reinsurance pricing across all business lines, with a main focus on Property Catastrophe and Casualty Treaty. We discuss everything including how he entered the actuarial profession, why he chose a career in General Insurance, Cian’s experience of working for consultancies, insurance companies and brokers, and his view...

Kiran is a Pensions Actuary and Team Leader at WTW in London. We discuss everything from how Kiran entered the actuarial profession, his fond memories of his first role with Hewitt (now Aon), taking breaks from the exams and qualifying recently, working for consultancies from the very small to the very large, working in both trustee and corporate focussed teams, working for companies through signi...

Matt is Head of Origination Structuring at PIC. Matt is responsible for sourcing, assessing and bringing on new pensions risk transactions, including finding innovative solutions for the more unusual trades – such as those involving deferred premiums or illiquid assets. We explore how he entered the actuarial profession, beginning his career with Buck, moving to insurance with PIC (despite acciden...

Peter is a Life Actuary, with extensive experience in ALM and Investments. He relocated from the UK last year to join the BMA in Bermuda. We explore everything from how he secured his first actuarial role, beginning his career in insurance consulting, balancing technical skills with clear communication, transitioning from consulting to a life insurance company, developing his specialism in ALM &am...

Amanda is a Consulting Actuary, people manager and recruitment specialist at WTW. We explore how Amanda discovered the actuarial profession, deciding between offers in insurance and pensions consulting, her approach to the exams, the challenges of finding opportunities to shine after qualifying, helping people to find their ideal mix of work, the value of trying something different, and developing...

Kevin is an Actuary with 25 years of consulting experience, and the Founder of Guiide. Guiide is a free online platform which aims to bridge the pensions advice gap. It allows anyone who plans to enjoy the pension freedoms to build a tax efficient plan simply, to get what they want in retirement, using everything they have. We discuss everything from how Kevin entered the actuarial profession, his...

Cath is a Client Partner at 4most, one of the leading specialist credit risk analytics and actuarial consultancies, globally. Cath has over 25 years of actuarial experience and specialises in understanding and solving the challenges faced by Life Insurance companies. We explore Cath's path to becoming an actuary, the value of trying different roles and functions within Life Insurance, becoming a p...

Julie is a Partner within the Public Sector Team at Hymans Robertson. We discuss entering the actuarial profession after completing her PhD, her experience with the exams, moving into people leadership and specialising in public sector consulting. Julie is also responsible for the internal Working Parents Network, so we explore her experience of balancing work with family life, working flexibly, a...

Victoria is a Partner at LCP and led the actuarial team of 80 people in Winchester for 5 years. We discuss Victoria’s journey to date including joining LCP as a Graduate, her experience with the exams, becoming a people manager, asking for help and advice, saying yes to new opportunities, and her career progression through each level to becoming a Partner. We also discuss her experience of hosting...

Joe is a Capital Actuary at Beazley. He is responsible for helping the Capital Team with updating and maintaining the internal model, specifically testing the model to ensure its operating effectively and compliant with regulations such as Solvency II.   We discuss Joe’s entry into the actuarial profession, his experience with the exams and helping others with their study, his reasons for mov...

Helena is an Actuary, People Development Specialist and Executive Coach at WTW. She moved from the traditional actuarial path into people development a number of years ago, and now works to understand the learning & development needs of a range of colleagues from junior actuarial trainees through to very experienced client facing consultants, designing and delivering L&D solutions. We disc...

Matt is an Investment Consultant working for Isio, and specialises in LDI. We explore Matt’s route into the actuarial profession after studying Maths and Cyber Security, gaining experience via a fully remote internship, choosing a career in consulting, balancing work with study and his other interests, presenting at his first client meeting, transferring from pensions to investment consulting and...

Paul is the UK Head of Pensions Consulting & Partner at EY. Paul leads a team of Actuaries, Investment professionals, data scientists and scheme excellence & governance experts. We explore Paul’s career journey to date, including how he entered the profession, his experience with the actuarial exams, Paul’s approach to career progression, working for different consultancies, becoming an MD...

Mayowa is a Pricing Actuary at Just Group, specialising in Bulk Annuities. We explore his career journey to date, from when he first discovered the actuarial profession existed, becoming a pensions actuary after completing a chemical engineering degree, and working for two pensions consultancies before moving into insurance. We discuss finding a balance between technical and client facing work, Ma...

Richard is an experienced Actuary & Director of Enterprise Risk Management for Europe at Canada Life. After getting a feel for his career journey to date, we explore his experience of working in different countries, his passion for helping people to think differently, striving to help the global development of the actuarial profession via volunteering for the IFoA and the International Actuari...

Jyotsna is a ALM Actuary - currently working across investments and matching adjustment projects for a large Life Insurance company. We learn how Jyotsna decided to become an actuary, beginning her journey in Bulk Annuity Pricing, her experience of relocating from India to the UK, transitioning to working on the asset side, working in insurance consulting, and developing her investment specialism...

Catherine is a Scheme Actuary at First Actuarial and has 17 years' experience in the industry. We discuss Catherine's journey as an actuary to date, from how she first entered the profession after achieving a PhD, her experience with the exams, attending her first client meetings, her career motivations, the process of becoming a Scheme Actuary and moving from a 'big 4' type company into her curre...