2019 Board Member Candidate
Xu (Vincent) Xuan, FSA 2012, MAAA, CFA
Lead Director, Head of Statutory Valuation
AXA Equitable
Jersey City, NJ
Election Message:
I am honored to be an endorsed candidate for the 2019 SOA Board elections. I appreciate you giving your time to thoroughly consider my election. It exemplifies the dedication with which the SOA Board takes in developing not only the Society, but also in fulfilling its mission to serve the future generations of our profession. This only strengthens my desire to be part of the Board in driving its mission forward. If I earn the privilege to serve, I aim to work with my fellow Board members to drive future progress focusing on three themes.
- Increase Competitiveness of the Actuarial Profession in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: As technology rapidly disrupts the financial services industry across the board, it also brings fresh opportunities. For actuarial professionals, we are at a critical juncture to revamp the vision, mission and value proposition of our profession, particularly in tackling new competitive forces from other analytical professions such as data scientists and artificial intelligence engineers. As both a millennial and an actuary, I look to infuse the latest technologies into pathways to fellowships, professional development as well as membership engagement. A couple of examples include predictive analytics and development of programming skills in future generations of actuaries. I look to tap into my innovative spirit and leadership experience to further empower the board, reinvigorate the Society and inspire the next generation of actuaries.
- Engage Millennial Actuaries - the Future Leaders: A recent membership engagement survey shows that millennials have the lowest engagement with the Society. We need to improve on that front through services that focus on education, career development and even easing accessibility to the Society. Specifically, this means facilitating intellectual diversity, providing leadership building opportunities and even revamping the digital experience to be more user-friendly. This will encourage future generations to not only engage with the Society, but also make it easier to do so. Only through this can we prepare the Society for decades to come.
- Expand Diversity Internationally: The latest membership statistics show that 24% of those who sit for the exam for the first time reside outside of the US and Canada with a strong concentration in China and the Asia-Pacific region. However, that same demographic represents only 16% of our members. I aim to further promote the marketing efforts in Asian markets and explore extending our reach to emerging markets such as Africa. My roles as Chair of the SOA International Section, member of the International Committee, and even professional experience in China have afforded me the opportunity to develop an expansive international network. I look to engage with this network in serving the Society’s efforts to expand globally.
I look forward to the opportunity to working with you and the other board members to shape the objectives and goals that ultimately drive the Society towards its strategic vision, both within the areas I’ve highlighted as well as those of the other board members.
Brief description of current work:
I recently joined AXA Equitable as the Head of Statutory Valuation. Leading a team of twenty actuaries, I am accountable for ensuring quality production and analysis of statutory results, timely filing of key year-end actuarial publications, and communications of results to senior management. Prior to this role, I served as the Head of Annuity Modeling, and provided modeling and analytical solutions for valuation, forecasting and capital management purposes in the individual annuity business of Prudential Financial.
Primary Area(s) of Practice:
Life
Bio:
Thanks to gaining exposure across a variety of actuarial practices, business lines and even international markets so far in my 14-year career, I’ve had the opportunity to develop a broad view of the actuarial profession and build a strong network across the globe.
I began my actuarial career at Taikang Life in Beijing. After rotating through a few positions, I decided to further my studies at Columbia University. On top of my school workload, I took on the challenge of working at the same time at CAI Private Equity to broaden my knowledge on performing investment and financial analysis. I followed this with a short consulting stint at Accenture. Alas, I realized that my passion lay in actuarial science. As a result, I decided to dedicate my pursuit to this field. That’s when I began what is the majority of my career at Prudential.
At Prudential, I grew from a small team manager to a Vice President overseeing a team of twenty. My scope of responsibilities expanded from managing Asset Adequacy Testing of a single product to leading the overall modeling practice of an entire business group. Through various roles, I oversaw a broad spectrum of the actuarial practice, including valuation, pricing, risk management and modeling. I also acquired exposure to essentially all the life business lines such as: individual life, retirement, annuities and some international business.
Most recently, I joined AXA Equitable as the Head of Statutory Valuation. Leading a team of twenty actuaries, I am accountable for ensuring quality production and analysis of statutory results, timely filing of key year-end actuarial publications, and communications of results to senior management.
Over the past decade, I took every opportunity I could to give back to the Society as a way to pay it forward for the empowerment and opportunities I was afforded. They include the following.
- Chair, SOA International Section (2017-2018)
- Member, SOA International Committee (2017-2018)
- Member, SOA Ambassador Program Oversight Committee (2017-2018)
- Member, SOA Annual Meeting Committee (2016-2018)
- Member, SOA Life and Annuity Symposium Committee (2017-2017)
- Contributing Editor, The Actuary magazine from the SOA (2016-2017)
- Treasurer, SOA International Section (2015-2016)
- Chief Editor, SOA International News (2014-2016)
- Editor, SOA International News (2012-2014)
- I have also held various leadership roles at other non-profits.
- Founder and Sponsor, Yuehua Scholarship Foundation (2015-Present)
- Board Director and Co-President, USTC Alumni Association of the Greater New York (2012-2016)
- Treasurer and Executive Committee Member, USTC Alumni Association of the Greater New York (2007-2012)
- Senior Member, Emergency Services, Civil Air Patrol (2017-Present)
I held a Master of Arts degree in Statistics from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Economics degree in Finance from University of Science and Technology of China. I am a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Member of American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA).
Additional Info:
Outside of my professional aspirations, I’ve found a love for aviation. Since receiving my pilot license, I’ve flown to the Bahamas, Key West, the Manhattan skyline and numerous other locations. I also joined the Civil Air Patrol’s emergency services for air surveillance and disaster relief. As I continue to work towards fulfilling my lifelong dream of piloting myself around the globe, I look to use this as a platform to expand my horizon and network, quite literally, with my fellow actuaries.