Candidate Questionnaire
Mercy Yan, FSA 1991
Retired
Toronto Canada
Brief description of current work:
I currently volunteer in different Committees of the SOA, CIA and AAA. I am also on the Board of a charitable organization in the Toronto area.
Primary Area of Practice:
Before my retirement, I was working in the tax planning area of a major life insurance company in Canada.
Other Areas of Practice
Taxation
Why do you want to be on the Board?
I have over 30 years of actuarial experiences working for various life insurance companies. I have some Board experiences and have various Board Governance trainings provided by Global Risk Institute, Capacity Canada (a not-for-profit organization) and the City of Toronto. I am also actively engaged in a variety of volunteer activities for various professional associations (SOA, CIA and AAA) and charitable/not-for-profit organizations in the Toronto areas for many years. These experiences enable me to make friends with a diverse group of people and build my leadership skills and self-confidence. My current goal is to continue to be active in volunteer activities and stay healthy.
Professional Background
Provide a brief description of your professional background and the type of work you have performed and explain how these experiences have prepared you as an Elected Board Member and qualify you in carrying out the strategic direction of the SOA.
Throughout my career, I worked in various areas of life insurance companies, including product development, financial reporting, reinsurance, pension, accounting, tax and capital planning areas. I worked in Management role since 1991 until my retirement in late 2017. My last role was an Assistant Vice President in the US tax planning area. In this role, I was a project leader and collaborated with different colleagues outside of the tax area in order to optimize tax position for the company through cross tax jurisdictional transactions. These experiences help me understand the importance of persuasion and influencing skills in order to reach cooperation and consensus from different parties with different backgrounds and opinions.
In addition, my diverse experiences help me understand how to incorporate the mission, vision and objectives of an organization into successful implementation of a business strategy. A proper approach and tactic requires proper research and planning first. Engagement and empowerment of all levels of staff and volunteers throughout the organization are also important factors to carry out any strategic direction. I have been able to successfully utilize these approaches in developing my leadership and management skills and endeavors during my career. These approaches have also enabled me to be more adaptable, flexible and inquisitive in different situations. These are important virtues to have for a Board member.
Volunteer, Governance and Personal Experience
Describe how your volunteer, governance and personal experiences would strengthen your contributions to the SOA Board, the organization, and strategic plan execution. Please list your relevant volunteer experience. Please include the name of the organization, your role, and approximate dates.
I started volunteering when I was young as a girl guide. Volunteering helped me developing my interpersonal and communication skills. As I started working, I continued to volunteer in the community, schools, actuarial clubs, and actuarial associations such as SOA, CIA, and AAA. I was an elected Board member of the CIA from 2013-2016 and President of the Pacific Rim Actuaries’ Club of Toronto from 2001-2003. I chaired or participated in different CIA, SOA and AAA Committees such as CIA Risk Committee, CIA Election Committee, CIA Practice Council, CIA Education and Examinations Committee, SOA/CIA Project Oversight Group on LTC ERM framework in Canada, SOA CFE SDM Examination Committee, and AAA Tax Working Group. Currently, I chair the SOA CFE Curriculum Committee and participate as a member of the CIA Professional and Credential Monitoring Board. I also serve as Chair of the Board of Directors for a charitable organization (CICS) whose mission is to integrate newcomers into the Canadian community. My Board roles help me understand the importance of governance and policy oversight and set the appropriate strategic direction for an organization. I obtained extensive Board training provided by the City of Toronto and Capacity Canada over the last few years.
Agility/Change
What did you learn in the COVID19 pandemic that will help you, post-pandemic?
COVID19 pandemic expose the weaknesses and strengths of our global economy and our reliance on good leadership. It is a test of our ability to adjust and adapt to the changing environment imposed by the pandemic under which the vulnerable groups will suffer. Proper leadership, consistent communication and logistic planning are essential approaches to deal with the disastrous situations associated with the pandemic.
An example of my exposure to the pandemic is demonstrated by my experience in a charitable organization in which I was the Vice-Chair of the Executive Board. The organization was hit hard initially because most programs that were offered on a face-to-face basis in normal times were forced to discontinue. The organization made adjustments and moved most courses to Zoom over a three-week period while the Governance Committee which I chaired, developed and passed a series of policies to address pandemic-related work issues. Policies, which included working from home, operational continuity and protocols during emergencies, policy for visitors during pandemic, etc., provided necessary guidelines for staff and client safety and process changes. In addition, the Board held urgent meetings to review funding sources, strategic plan, program changes and staffing resources. The Board also worked with Management to provide staff and client training courses for remote operation. As an Executive Board member, I suggested to maintain these training courses on an on-going basis post pandemic. With all these special measures implemented, the organization was able to operate on a breakeven basis for 2020 despite reduced funding sources. In fact, some new programs such as emergency food bank and senior meal delivery, etc. received good reviews from the community.
Motivating/Influencing
Describe a constructive conversation you had in a group setting or one-on-one during which opinions varied and you needed to get to a consensus.
In order to have a constructive conversation when opinions varied, one must accept the other’s opinion first. Once acceptance is achieved, there is a chance to transition a tense situation into a constructive opportunity for relationship building. Accepting other’s opinion as reasonable will lead to a more productive discussion. Active listening and acknowledgement of other’s opinion by paraphrasing will help in getting an initial positive reaction rather than a defensive posture. To advocate our opinion effectively, we have to demonstrate understanding and empathy of other’s opinion. Avoid using words like “you” and “they”, but use words like “we” and “us” to narrow our “distances” in opinions. Also, responding with a steady and level low tone voice will help in getting our opinions across. Last of all, asking open-ended questions related to the various opinions may also help in extracting more thoughts in the discussions to enhance attainment of common consensus.
Diversity
Describe how your awareness of diversity, equity and inclusion has evolved throughout your life.
As a young child growing up in a multicultural environment in Hong Kong, I was not exposed to or aware of societal problems related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). However, as a first generation immigrant to Canada and having worked as an actuary in Canada for over 30 years, it has come to my attention that both the governments of Canada and United States have adopted a proactive approach towards DEI. The current goal is to turn DEI dialogue into action with many organizations in North America adopting DEI policies and diversity training programs to attract top-talents in the workforce.
My understanding of DEI is as follows: Diversity leads to the development of a positive nurturing work culture. Equity provides a fair metric to measure everyone’s success and inclusion results in a collaborative and supportive work environment for everyone to excel.
I also realize that adopting DEI has many challenges. Due to differences in culture, it may be difficult for individual to accept diversity and non-acceptance can result in conflicts. Equity is a high bar to achieve, especially in a capitalistic society. The needs between rich and poor are very different. So trying to apply a universal measure for all does not fit well. In my opinion, to encourage diversity acceptance and to close the gap between the rich and the poor or the privileged and the underserved requires strong leadership in different segments of the society to reach out to the vulnerable groups. My personal goal is to bring awareness of DEI to people I work with.
International
How would your experiences strengthen your understanding of international issues?
I worked in the capital planning and tax planning areas of a global company for more than ten years. In order to implement proper capital or tax planning strategies, a general understanding of international accounting, tax, risk management and actuarial standards is required. Many business strategies are driven by differences in risk profiles, policies and regulations between countries. My experiences and understanding of differences in culture and business operations helped me address the needs of various international organizations that I worked with. In addition, I am a foreign-born Canadian. I came to Canada during my high school years and had faced significant cultural and societal changes. I found my experiences in these early years helped me to be more flexible, adaptable and tolerable in dealing with people from different backgrounds. These experiences also help me in understanding some of the complexities involving international issues.
Emerging
How does the SOA need to change to meet emerging challenges and opportunities?
Globalization tends to lead to consolidation of companies and industries. Business requirements need to change as companies and industries consolidate. Technologies also help to change resource requirements. Thus, our traditional actuarial knowledge may not be sufficient to meet the changing business requirements. SOA has to be proactive in updating our education systems to meet the emerging changes in business knowledge in a faster fashion.
SOA brand is a very valuable asset. Developing a stronger branding strategy with member engagement may help to further promote the SOA brand. An effective branding strategy will help in fostering our membership and boost public awareness.
Lastly, employment opportunities are very important to members. With the latest proposal to University Earned Credit, it may provide SOA with a new opportunity to work with universities to provide more co-op programs for our students in new industries such as technology companies to expand employment prospects. This can be an exciting venture for the future of SOA.