2019 Board Member Candidate
Janet E. Duncan, FSA 2014, FCAS, MAAA
Lecturer
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA
Election Message:
I have two primary areas of interest in being on the Board. One is to continue to promote the SOA’s General Insurance (GI) Track. I have extensive experience as a GI actuary and feel I am well-qualified to continue the work I have done in advancing FSA credentials for the GI Track. Second is to advance actuarial education more generally to ensure that all actuaries are able to meet the needs of employers, clients, and the public. I want to build on recent changes to enhance the education process (addition of predictive analytics to the ASA and Certified Actuarial Analyst).
Brief description of current work:
I retired from CNA in 2014, and since then have been a part-time Lecturer at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In this role I help to educate the next generation of young actuaries, not only in technical subjects but (as we hear from employers) to prepare them for the actuarial workplace. In this role I lead courses that also train students in presentation, communication and teamwork skills. As confirmation of our success in doing this, our students have won best presentation prizes at the Actuarial Research Conference in nearly all years since they started attending. I look forward to the opportunity to expand my contribution to educating future actuaries on the Board.
Primary Area(s) of Practice:
Property/Casualty Reserving; Property/Casualty Financial Reporting
Bio:
I am a credentialed actuary (FSA and FCAS) with over 30 years of property/casualty financial analysis experience, including commercial and personal lines reserving and pricing, actuarial opinions, US and international financial reporting, capital modeling, planning and management reporting. I have worked as a consulting actuary (PricewaterhouseCoopers) as well as an insurance company actuary (CNA, XL Capital and Aetna). My strengths include analytical and project management skills, leveraging information technology to improve processes and efficiencies, organization and staff development, teamwork and communication. At both CNA and XL Capital, I effectively motivated a large staff under tight deadlines and balanced multiple priorities in a complex matrix organization. I have high standards and I am versatile, committed and enthusiastic.
Additional Info:
Within the SOA, I served on the Strategic Planning Task Force (2015-16) and as the SOA’s GI representative to the International Actuarial Association (2016-2019). Also, I recently completed two years on the NAIC Task Force to evaluate job skills needed for a US P&C Appointed Actuary, and I am very pleased to note that the NAIC has approved the GI FSA credentials for signing US Property/Casualty Opinions. I am currently active on the GI Exam Committee, the Curriculum Committees for GI exams (as GO) and the GI ERM Extension, and the GI Research Committee.
At UCSB, I have helped grow the actuarial program and assisted students with oral and written communication, resume writing and job search. The actuarial job market for graduating students is difficult with the number of candidates significantly outstripping available jobs. The SOA continues to look at other opportunities which I heartily support.