Candidate Questionnaire
Nathan Wilbanks, FSA 2012, MAAA 2011
Milliman
Direct, Sales and Marketing
Chicago, IL
Brief description of current work:
I am working to build a new practice at Milliman focused on bringing data and analytics to the entire life and annuity value chain. This includes research on how individual customer data can predict policyholder behavior, mortality, purchasing decisions, etc. and the influences distributors and agents have.
Primary Area of Practice:
Life
Other Areas of Practice
Marketing and distribution of life and annuity products
Professional Background
Provide a brief description of your professional background and the type of work you have performed and explain how these experiences have uniquely prepared you as an Elected Board Member and qualify you in carrying out the strategic direction of the SOA.
Most of my actuarial career has been spent working in life and annuity product development for various insurance companies. In 2012, I joined Nationwide to help them with their strategic entry into the fixed indexed annuity market. I was a new FSA at the time and didn’t have any experience or practice thinking strategically. I used the opportunity to learn as much as I could about why Nationwide decided to enter that market. I started applying strategic thinking skills to my role and how I communicated with my team. The application of these new skills accelerated my career, and I went from Director, leading a team of three, to Vice President, leading a team of fifteen, in just a few years. The scope of my role quickly widened as well from focusing on fixed annuities to leading annuity pricing for all individual annuities.
I loved the strategic aspects of my role but wanted to do something where I could work more on strategy. I was interested in data and analytics and its potential to change what we do as actuaries. After considering several options, including starting my own business, I decided to join Milliman to work in a small startup practice focused on data and analytics. The goal of our group is to integrate data and analytics into the life and annuity value chain similar to how it is integrated into the property and casualty value chain. Strategy is a key part of my role at Milliman, and strategic thinking is a skill I will both apply in my role as an Elected Board Member and continue to develop and grow.
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 had been working as a product development actuary for less than a year when I received a phone call from my National Guard unit that I needed to report for a physical in preparation for an overseas deployment. This was a major disruption to my technical development and examination progress early in my career. However, it was an invaluable experience in learning to deal with adversity, overcome challenges, and lead a team.
I learned that I could get used to anything whether it was the sweltering heat in the Iraqi desert, or the constant danger posed by IEDs while traveling outside of our base. Being used to something doesn’t make it good though. Danger isn’t good even if you are used to it. Treating people in a certain way because they’re different from you isn’t good even if you are used to it. Assuming that the work actuaries do today will be the same in 5-10 years or that the current credentialing system will serve the actuarial profession just as well now as it has in the past may not be good either even if we’re used to them.
Let’s take a closer look at the things we’re used to and ask whether they are serving us well or not. Understanding these things will inform our strategy and generate ideas to keep the actuarial profession strong in order to support our stakeholders.
I have been a speaker at several SOA sponsored events including the 2012, 2013, & 2015 SOA Annual Meetings, 2014 Retirement Industry Conference, and 2019 Valuation Actuary Symposium.
Agility/Change
Describe a significant change that you led in the workplace or in your volunteer activities. Explain what worked well and what could have gone better.
Prior to the pandemic, I was the executive sponsor for the actuarial recruiting committee at a large insurance company. Recruiting experienced actuaries was always a challenge since they would almost always have to relocate to join our organization. I started to make the case to leaders in actuarial that we should consider hiring more remote employees to meet our hiring needs. This was met with a great degree of skepticism. Remote workers weren’t expected to be as productive or effective as being in person. After all, the belief was (and maybe still is) that there are some things that can only work in person.
I made the case that there are several reasons why we should start hiring remote associates. One thing I pointed out was that there are kids and young adults today who become close friends with people online that they have never met in person. It’s not that you can’t develop deep relationships with people in a virtual environment. It’s that we need to practice doing so because we know it can be done. I convinced enough people, and we hired several remote associates. The pandemic started a couple of years later and everyone was working remotely (much sooner than I expected). The small amount of practice helped.
Now, a lot of people are mostly remote, and many companies are seeing high levels of turnover. We haven’t yet solved the problem of connecting with people virtually in the way that we do physically or maybe the physical connection was never as meaningful as we thought it was. It was just a barrier that’s gone now. We’re going to need to figure this out if we’re going to recruit and retain our best people.
Motivating/Influencing
Describe a difficult situation or disagreement that you had in a professional setting during which opinions varied and you worked through the issues that led to a successful result.
I’ve had several situations during my time as a product actuary where there were disagreements with risk committees, sales and business leaders, and even other members of my team about the pricing and design of a product. These situations can become heated and have a lot of potential for blaming and finger pointing when things aren’t working out as planned (do they ever?). I approach these situations from the position of shared ownership. I spend time to ensure that I understand each stakeholder’s goals and objectives and the motivations behind them. I share in the goals of each of the stakeholders even when those goals may be conflicting (when have sales and risk ever agreed on anything?). I work diligently to solve the problems I can and admit when I don’t have a better idea and solicit the help of others when possible or necessary. Sometimes, I haven’t been able to solve the problem. However, my stakeholders know that I care about their concerns and will work with them to solve the problems I can solve.
Diversity
What additional actions do you think the Board should take regarding diversity, equity and inclusion?
A close friend of mine recently reminded me that there is a big difference between mentoring people and sponsoring people. Mentors provide advice. Sponsors provide advocacy. One tells you what you should do, and one tells others what you can do and why that is valuable to them. I am working on becoming a better sponsor and encourage others to join me.
International
What can the SOA Board do to balance the needs of our global membership? How will your experience help the Board accomplish this?
I work with several actuarial students who are located in New Delhi, India. One of the students is pursuing a designation in a competing actuarial organization. She informed me that the cost of her upcoming exam was equivalent to one month’s salary. I was shocked. It made me wonder how the SOA’s International Examination Fee Discount Program works. Are the fees related to actuarial compensation in those countries? She also informed me that it is not common practice for employers in her country to cover the cost of exams unless the student passes, so she had to save a month’s salary in order to sit for her next exam. She said this is a major reason why most of her friends and former classmates chose other professions besides becoming an actuary. This is also making it difficult for her to decide whether to stay in the profession. More investment in global membership may be necessary to meet our goals and the goals of our stakeholders.
Emerging
Recently, the number of new candidates for actuarial exams has been declining. What additional actions should the Board take on this topic in relation to keeping the SOA successful?
The University-Earned Credit program is a step in the right direction. It’s limited scope due to the number of universities that qualify and limited ability to accelerate adding universities in the short term remains a challenge. I would recommend some additional actions around the examination process to bolster interest in the profession and reduce barriers to entry.
First, I recommend making the first exam free for any individual who has never taken an exam before. Sometimes small barriers can be the difference between attracting talent and driving it away. IT professionals, data scientists, and other competing technical professions do not have costly exams as barriers to entry. The barrier created by exam costs could be especially challenging for diverse candidates. It would be valuable to hear from diverse groups, such as the IABA and OLA, about how barriers to becoming an actuary could be affecting diverse candidates and whether such an immediate change would have a positive impact.
Second, I would engage a marketing firm to build a marketing campaign around this change and solicit feedback from such a firm about how to engage prospective future actuaries.
Finally, I would ask the Board to start thinking about the purpose the examination process serves. It is often thought of as a formal education process. More importantly, it is a validation process. Education is available everywhere and it’s often free through technology today. Validation is still valuable though. How would the Board think differently about the examination process if the primary objective is viewed through the lens of validation? I would love to explore this further as a member of the Board.