Sue Blanck, FSA 1998, MAAA
Retired
Fort Mill, SC
Brief Description of the type of work you currently do:
While I am currently retired, I spent more than twenty years as an Actuary with Aflac, Inc. I joined Aflac in 1993 as an Actuarial student and left the company in 2015 having achieved the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary. My career focused on life and health
insurance sold in the United States and Japan. In addition, I spent significant time working on regulations on the state, national and international level. For the majority of my career, I worked closely with the Japan branch of Aflac.
Primary Area of Practice:
Life Insurance, Health Insurance
Other Areas of Practice/Interests:
Capital Management, Financial Reporting, Long Term Care, Insurance Product Pricing/Development, Regulatory, Reinsurance
Why do you want to be on the Board?
I believe actuaries provide value to any industry through our ability to identify and analyze risk and our skill in identifying practical solutions to problems. I would like to serve on the SOA board to help strengthen our profession and further the reach of actuaries into new industries and locales. In addition, I would like to increase awareness of the actuarial career for high school and college students positioning them to take classwork allowing them entry into an actuarial career. I believe my ability to listen to diverse opinions and find solutions will be valuable to the SOA board.
Ethics and Transparency
Ethics and transparency are essential to professional practice and service on the board. How have you demonstrated ethics and transparency in the past? How will your own ethics and views on transparency influence your decisions and actions as a member of the SOA board?
As Chief Actuary of Aflac, Inc., I led a team of actuaries responsible for actuarial aspects of financial reporting, product pricing and design and actuarial regulatory filings. Our team took this responsibility very seriously through open communication within our company, with regulators and with our investors. I established processes to promote an environment developing estimates that were reasonable and defensible with a strong emphasis on utilization of peer review of all major calculations. I have a strong track record working with auditors and regulators on programs to strengthen the quality and understanding of our actuarial analysis.
As a member of the SOA board, I would work to uphold the integrity of our profession through a focus on maintaining strong standards for actuarial education and professionalism. I would seek to continue the strong focus on ethical behavior within our profession. In addition, I would support programs that strengthen development and communication of tools that allow for greater understanding of actuarial calculations among our constituents.
Team Player
Collaborative working relationships are essential to the governance function of the SOA Board of Directors, especially as board members work with each other, volunteers, and staff to achieve the strategic goals and mission of SOA. Describe a situation from either your professional or volunteer experiences that demonstrated you are a team player.
While my actuarial career included many opportunities to collaborate with regulators in developing regulation and with colleagues in Japan in developing products for the Japanese insurance market, I believe my most significant accomplishment in collaboration is my work in establishing Kids Cambodia Solutions, a non-profit organization supporting children and families in Cambodia. I founded this organization in April, 2014 following a trip to Cambodia with Habitat for Humanity. I worked with people on the ground in Cambodia to develop programs to support education and health support for children and self-sufficiency development for families. I worked collaboratively with our team on the ground to start a pre-school. We worked to implement evaluation and monitoring tools for the children and their families. Our organization now employs more than 10 people on the ground in Cambodia supporting programs that directly impact more than 70 children as well as reaching hundreds of adults and children through our community projects.
This success demonstrates my ability to work with a diverse group of people to understand common objectives and implement programs successfully. I believe this experience translates directly to the SOA board where we must represent our diverse constituents by understanding issues important in each industry and locale where our members live and work. Through constructive discussion and listening to fellow board members, I believe we can serve our members well to provide effective leadership and solutions to the challenges we face. I believe my success in working with highly diverse groups would allow me to play a valuable role in building consensus around practical solutions.
Intellectual Engagement
Board members need to exhibit curiosity and a desire to learn about areas that may potentially impact the SOA and the profession. How do you stay informed about what is going on nationally and internationally, and how do you apply that knowledge into your work with SOA and the profession.
With aging populations in most of the world, our retirement and healthcare systems are strained worldwide. In addition, we have a constantly evolving business and regulatory landscape. In this challenging environment, it is important for actuaries to stay focused on our primary mission of providing information, analysis and recommendations to our constituents based on sound application of actuarial principles utilizing the most appropriate data. In order to effectively meet the needs of our employers and clients, we must stay up-to-date on changes in the environment. Through monitoring of financial and economic news and staying plugged into the network of actuaries, I am able to stay informed regarding risks and opportunities in our industry. With my recent retirement, I have positioned myself to provide me the flexibility to use my knowledge and time effectively to further the goals and objectives of the Society of Actuaries. I hope to represent actuaries in the U.S. and abroad to further the interests of the SOA worldwide as we seek to further the reach of actuaries. Actuaries are well positioned to provide the analysis and solutions needed to implement real solutions to these problems. The SOA must play a strong leadership role as actuaries worldwide work to provide understanding of and solutions for modern problems.
Stewardship
Respectful and prudent use of resources is an important function of all board members. Explain how you have demonstrated this characteristic in either your work or volunteer experiences and how it will carry over to your role on the SOA Board.
By firmly focusing on the primary mission to provide training and education to ensure actuaries are qualified and meet a high level of professional standards and to lead the way in gathering and analyzing experience, the SOA can function effectively and efficiently. Through my work leading a division of Aflac for more than ten years, and my work starting a non-profit organization, I understand the value of clearly outlining objectives and focusing on achieving those objectives while managing within a financial and human resource budget. In determining the key risk drivers of any project, we were able to effectively manage the profitability and viability of a vast portfolio of products. This experience translates directly to a role on the board of the Society of Actuaries as we must manage our projects to achieve the strategic objectives of the SOA. I believe I can add value to the board in working to determine the key drivers of success for projects and look forward to working with diverse board members and SOA volunteers to further the SOA mission. It is important that we represent all actuaries as we work to continue attracting quality candidates as future actuaries. This combination of leveraging the financial and volunteer resources of the SOA and continued development of new members, will position the SOA to remain the premier actuarial professional association worldwide.
Professional Background
Provide a brief description of your professional background and the type of work you currently do and explain how these experiences have prepared you for the Elected Board Member role.
While I am currently retired, I spent more than twenty years as an Actuary with Aflac, Inc. I joined Aflac in 1993 as an Actuarial student and left the company in 2015 having achieved the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary. My career focused on
life and health insurance sold in the United States and Japan. In addition, I spent significant time working on regulations on the state, national and international level. For the majority of my career, I worked closely with the Japan branch of Aflac.
Working with the Japan team, required close collaboration to be certain that I understand the details and nuance of the Japan market and regulatory requirements. I learned that writing and speaking directly and distinctly allowed me to communicate the objectives of our company effectively and to understand the challenges faced by our company in both the U.S. and Japan. Through this
collaboration, I was able to understand various regulatory and marketing environments and assess what solutions would allow Aflac to maximize our success under various reporting regimes.
My time working in the U.S. and Japan, coupled with my past experience as an SOA board member, position me strongly to understand the role and requirements of an SOA board member. In addition, my recent retirement provides me with the time needed to fully engage in board activities and
responsibilities. I believe my ability to listen to others and see solutions to problems that address the needs of varied constituents will be valuable in furthering the mission of the SOA.
Volunteer and Governance Experience
Describe how your previous volunteer, personal and governance experiences would strengthen your contributions to the SOA Board and organization.
My previous volunteer experience includes a term on the SOA board, working with government regulators on insurance regulation and meeting with high school and college students to promote the actuarial profession. In addition, I started a non-profit organization working to improve life prospects of children and families in Cambodia. My diverse experience positions me well to represent all actuaries as I work to understand their perspective on various issues. I believe it is important to understand multiple aspects of issues in order to implement effective solutions. Through my volunteer work, I have gained important skills to allow me to more fully understand the implications of proposals on all constituents. With members in more than 75 countries and multiple practice areas, the SOA faces many challenges in addressing the needs of all members. I believe my experience working in a multinational company positions me well to understand the needs of our profession and work with our SOA leadership to develop and implement effective solutions.
