2021 Board Member Candidate

Mercy Yan, FSA 1991, FCIA, MAAA
Retired
Toronto Canada
Election Message:
I am very grateful to the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Nomination Committee for endorsing me as a SOA Board election candidate. I also appreciate you giving your valuable time to read my message and your consideration to support my election.
This is a very crucial year for the SOA Board as it is tasked with developing a new strategic plan for the upcoming three to five years. The new strategic plan is expected to set a new vision, which will address the critical challenges that the SOA and our actuarial profession are facing in recent years and safeguard relevance and viability of our actuarial profession. The importance of this task heightens my desire to be part of the Board in developing a plan that will sustain our profession’s long-term growth prospects. I believe that actuaries possess skills to provide solutions to complex financial issues. With effective strategic initiatives under the leadership of SOA, our profession should be able to expand into uncharted areas such as the Financial Technology Industry.
If I get elected, I will work with my fellow Board members in developing the new strategic plan to include the following initiatives:
- Expand the SOA brand to emerging industries to broaden employment opportunities for actuaries domestically and globally
- Continue to broaden our educational efforts to encompass and anticipate emerging changes in technology and skill requirement
- Increase membership engagement by offering more digital experience such as increase the access and use of social medias and online platforms
- Expand outreach to stakeholders, employers and strategic partners globally to enhance the SOA brand and cultivate partnerships and relationship
- Continue our International Expansion and Research Strategy to enhance our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative
Brief description of current work:
Even though I am currently retired, I am actively engaged in the profession through my volunteer work. I serve as the Curriculum Chair of SOA Corporate Finance (CFE) Exam track (developing curriculum for CFE Foundation and Strategic Decision Making examinations), Chair of the Board of Directors of a registered charitable organization in Canada (recently elected), a member of the SOA Canadian Advisory Group (a group that acts as a sounding board and as an advocate for Canadian members), a member of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) Professionalism and Credential Monitoring Board (PCMB) (a group established by the CIA to ensure that the CIA members are qualified to practice in a manner which serves the public interest) and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA) Tax Work Group (a group that supports the Life Practice Council and its committees and work groups on federal income tax issues). My diverse volunteer roles have kept my life more colorful and fulfilled. This is the best phase of my life that I could devote all my time to do things that I enjoy the most!
Primary Area(s) of Practice:
Life Insurance, US Taxation
Bio:
I have over 35 years of life insurance experience working in many areas such as product development, capital management, valuation, reinsurance, taxation and accounting. I have worked in large global insurance companies such as Manulife and Sunlife, mid-size Canadian insurance companies such as Confederation Life and London Life, as well as a small subsidiary of a large global insurance company such as ING Life and Commercial Union.
I also have diverse volunteer experience. For example, I led the Pacific Rim Actuaries’ Club of Toronto as President from 2001 to 2003. As President, I solicited support from other Executive members and volunteers. Together, we increased our membership base and participation. We also successfully increased our number of sponsors for our events significantly. At the end of my term, the Club was able to build up a contingency fund due to increased participation.
In 2013, I was elected as a Board member of the CIA for a three-year term. During this period, I participated in CIA Educational and Eligibility Council (EEC), CIA Practice Council as well as chaired the CIA Risk Committee for a year. As Chair of the Risk Committee, I led the team to complete the development of the Risk Appetite Statements for the CIA. After completion of the CIA Board term, I became a member of the CIA Election Committee for three years (from 2016 to 2018). I also participated in the Joint CIA/SOA Long Term Care Research Proposal Oversight group for two years (2018-2019). The research project was completed on time and a paper was published in 2020. Furthermore, I was a presenter of the CIA Practice Education Course (PEC) on Canadian Taxation from 2012 to 2018. I received good ratings from the participant surveys.
My extensive involvement in SOA volunteer work began in 2013. I joined the SOA Corporate Finance Strategic Decision Examination Committee as an item writer, then Vice-Chair and finally Co-Chair for a total of five years (2013 to 2017). In 2018, I moved to chair the SOA Corporate Finance Curriculum Committee until today. As Chair, I led the Curriculum Committee and we, together, expanded the curriculum to cover new concepts (such as machine learning and business dynamic models) that are relevant to today’s environment. In addition, I am a member of the SOA Canadian Advisory Council since 2018; a member of the AAA Tax Work Group since 2016 and a member of the CIA PCMB since 2020.
Other than volunteering for my professional associations, I also joined the Executive Board of a registered charitable organization in Toronto, Centre for Immigrant and Community Services (CICS), since 2017. The mission of this organization is to fully integrate and settle newcomers and immigrant communities as contributing members of the Canadian society. It is an anchored organization of the United Way of Canada and is heavily funded by all levels of Canadian government: federal, provincial and municipal. I was recently elected as the Chair of the CICS Board after two years of holding the Vice-Chair position.
Additional Info:
This year, in 2021, I received two volunteer awards: one from the CIA (Award of Distinction, after completion of six terms of volunteer service) and another from CICS (Volunteer Award).
In December 2012, I obtained a Master of Science in Taxation degree from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.