Candidate Questionnaire

Darryl G. Wagner, FSA 1987, MAAA 1990
Principal
Deloitte Consulting LLP
New York, NY
Brief description of current work:
Talent Leader-Actuarial & Insurance Solutions
Americas Leader-Insurance Finance Transformation
Consult with insurers and their stakeholders to help transform actuarial functions and enhance the measurement and management of the financial performance of their business
Primary Area of Practice:
Life Insurance, Financial Reporting
Other Areas of Practice:
Annuities, Audit, Regulatory, Valuation/Reserving
Professional Background
Provide a description of your professional background and the type of work you have performed. Explain how these experiences have prepared you as an Elected Board Member and qualify you in carrying out the strategic direction of the SOA.
I started my career in industry and have worked the last 30+ years as a consultant, including over 20 years with Deloitte. My work and specialization have revolved around measuring and managing the financial performance of insurance business under multiple measurement frameworks. My consulting projects have afforded me the opportunity to work with actuaries and other professionals around the world. Volunteering has also been an important part of my career experience, helping me shape both my leadership capabilities as well as my frame of reference for the actuarial profession.
My experiences have uniquely prepared me for serving as President-Elect and carrying out the strategic direction of the SOA by helping me build:
- Perspective on the profession-Gained by working in both industry and consulting, serving clients on six continents, and collaborating both within my firm and among my clients with actuaries and other professionals of varied backgrounds and disciplines.
- Global exposure and relationships-Through my client work and volunteer experience, particularly with the International Actuarial Association, I have insight regarding the SOA’s global membership and the global positioning of the SOA.
- Connections to the SOA’s core competencies-As a former exam committee member, a member of two university actuarial program advisory boards, a frequent “on-campus” presenter, SOA textbook author and IFRI POG member/instructor, I have valuable experience with the SOA’s core competencies of education and research.
- Focus on the future of the profession-I helped develop Deloitte’s point of view and proposition around the future of actuarial work and would leverage perspectives gained from that experience as an SOA board member and President-Elect.
- Leadership experience-Experiences from both my professional career and volunteer experience, including serving on the SOA Board, will be valuable as I take on this important leadership role for the SOA.
Volunteer and Governance Experience
Describe how your volunteer and governance experiences would strengthen your contributions to the SOA Board, the SOA, and strategic plan execution. List your relevant volunteer experience. Include the name of the organization, your role, and approximate dates.
My volunteer experience includes:
- Exam 150 committee-1988-1992
- SOA International Section Council member/Chair-2007-2010
- AAA standard of practice committee member-2007,2018-2021
- SOA delegate to the International Actuarial Association (IAA)-2008-2019
- SOA board member and Vice President-2010-2015
- IAA monograph author-2012-2018
- University of Nebraska actuarial program advisory board member-2014-present
- Columbia University actuarial program presenter and advisory board member-2014-present
- SOA textbook author-2017-present
- IFRI POG member and instructor-2020-2023
- Chief Actuaries Forum Board Member-2023-present
- Frequent author and presenter-Ongoing
I will focus on two of these experiences in terms of how they will benefit me as an SOA board member:
- Working to develop technical content and promote actuarial education gives me important connection to the SOA’s core competencies. I believe these experiences will also serve to ground me as an SOA leader given the importance of education and research to SOA members. I am also excited to bring my involvement with shaping the future of the profession to bear on these topics as we consider the changing and likely expanded roles the SOA will play moving forward.
- My international volunteer experience on the section council and with the IAA brings me valuable perspective on the profession around the world, as well as relationships with SOA and other actuarial colleagues globally. Given the growth of SOA membership outside North America, as well as the increasing globalization of the organizations and environments where our members practice, I am sure I will call on my international experiences and colleagues to help further the mission of the SOA.
Leadership/Managing Change
Describe a significant project that you led in the workplace or in your volunteer activities. Describe how you addressed changes that were proposed, whether changes were made, or were not made after considering all options. How did you influence alignment in the final outcome, and what were the biggest challenges you had to overcome?
For the past several years, I have been heavily involved in helping insurance clients implement the new requirements of IFRS 17. IFRS 17 represents a new insurance accounting framework for insurance and a new language for communicating the performance of insurance business.
From my experiences, the keys to addressing proposed changes include:
- Mastery of the subject-The colleagues I have worked with have done a great job gaining a deep level of understanding of IFRS 17 in their respective contexts and helping others come up the learning curve. I am particularly proud of the way actuaries have stepped up in this regard, often leading the way.
- Collaboration- IFRS 17 is a “team sport,” requiring collaboration among actuaries, finance professionals and technology/operational specialists to achieve success in both implementation and ongoing operation. I have witnessed this success in my projects.
- Problem solving and creativity-I have been impressed with the ability of the teams I work with to innovate and structure both creative and efficient solutions. I also view the diversity of backgrounds and points of view of these teams to be a necessary condition for this success.
Changes to the IFRS 17 framework have been made by the clients with whom I have worked. I influenced alignment in the final outcomes by engaging with the team through assessment, design, and implementation. One of the ways I did this was by serving on the steering committee for the project. I also spent time with the leaders and team members from different parts of the team across multiple professional disciplines. I find a balance of top-down vision and strategic thinking along with more bottom-up communication, trouble shooting etc. is crucially important to achieving success in complex and multi-faceted endeavors such as this.
One of the biggest challenges we had to overcome was seeing “around corners” to the future. This has been difficult with IFRS 17 because of its newness and the dynamic organizational and regulatory environment. It has also been challenging to look beyond the looming prospect of implementation to the post-go live operational construct. But all in all, the industry has made great progress in achieving a massive and complex transformation, and I am proud of the way our teams have helped our clients and the industry move forward in this important and high stakes transformation.
Diversity
What should the SOA’s goals be in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion? You can read more about current efforts by the organization at www.soa.org/programs/diversity-inclusion.
I would like to see the SOA establish goals around the following initiatives to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among SOA members and the profession:
- Understanding available membership data and setting directional quantitative goals for increasing DEI among SOA membership and leadership.
- Partnering with actuarial employers to support and amplify their DEI strategies.
- Working with universities to understand and address the admission trends and barriers impacting DEI and facilitating greater access among HBCU students to the actuarial profession.
- Strengthening relationships with IABA, OLA and other organizations committed to increasing DEI for the profession and identifying ways to multiply their impact.
- Encouraging SOA membership broadly to embrace DEI through mentorship and other personal outreach and supporting such efforts through education and community building.
- Supporting both individual community involvement by SOA members as well as collective membership involvement in impactful programs such as the Actuarial Foundation’s Math Motivators.
- Leveraging social media to make the profession more accessible.
I am committed to working with the SOA board and staff to activate these and other strategies, recognizing the efforts already in place to address DEI. I believe that increasing DEI in both our association and our profession is key to making our profession more vibrant, more impactful, and more engaging and attractive to the benefit of both our current and future members.
International
The SOA has been growing internationally. How would your experiences help the SOA further the needs of the membership outside of North America?
Given the faster rate of growth in SOA membership outside North America, the SOA should focus on better understanding the background and needs of its international members and ramping up efforts to support them accordingly.
We should also look for opportunities to better leverage the knowledge and experience of SOA members to benefit their colleagues on a global scale.
I also encourage the SOA to promote ways of helping both SOA members and their employers through international involvement, such as providing continuing education for individuals in India working with North American employers.
My international experiences will be valuable in helping the SOA better meet the needs of membership outside North America, including:
- Working internationally on client assignments and witnessing both the challenges and potential of what can be accomplished by global teams.
- My global actuarial practice leadership experience at Deloitte which aids me to better appreciate both the differences and common ground among actuaries working in markets around the world and how to constructively identify fruitful areas for cross-border collaboration and effective strategies to achieve it.
- Volunteering with the IAA for many years has given me insight into and appreciation for both the uniqueness of actuarial associations around the world and the power of the global profession when we work together. I have also forged many personal relationships with actuaries and association leaders around the world which will be valuable in my role as an SOA leader.
- Developing the SOA’s first international strategy during my prior service on the SOA board.
Emerging
The SOA needs to continue to attract the brightest students to our actuarial profession and now there are more technical career options available. What do you recommend that the SOA do to continue to attract the right people to the actuarial profession?
I have had numerous opportunities to speak to university actuarial students and have heard them describe their view of declining numbers among their own ranks. Reasons they cited include competition with the data science profession, concern with taking actuarial exams and lack of appreciation for longer term opportunities for advancement and making an impact as an actuary. Considering the input I have received and my overall sense of this dynamic, to increasingly attract the right people to the actuarial profession, I would like to see the SOA:
- Find ways to better articulate and “advertise” the differentiating characteristics of the actuarial profession, including the mix of technical and business involvement and impacts, the holistic nature of the actuary’s role in addressing challenges and developing solutions and the vibrant community within the profession.
- Consider strategies to expand connections with the data science profession, with the goals of increasing the level and quality of collaboration between actuaries and data scientists, attracting aspiring or experienced data scientists into the profession, and creating pathways for actuaries and actuarial students who want to deepen their data science capabilities and experience.
- Assess the “demand” side of the exam candidate equation by working with actuarial employers to better understand their current and future needs for actuaries, the roles and capability sets they are most focused on and solicit their ideas as to how to enhance the candidate pipeline in terms of diversity and quality, as well as numbers.
- Factor each of the above into the continuing evolution of the SOA’s educational pathways.
Personal Experience
Share a personal experience, trait, or characteristic that will help the membership to better understand you and your candidacy.
My result on personality tests is typically a combination of Integrator and Pioneer, reflecting my affinity and ability for both connecting with people and connecting people to each other and to initiatives and passions, as well as developing new and big ideas, often by “connecting the dots” of my own experiences along with those of others. Both these descriptions are consistent with how I operate both professionally and personally and reflect the essence of who I fundamentally am.
I also believe these traits are vital to my success as SOA President-Elect, especially now. I believe our profession is at an inflection point on multiple fronts. Navigating the current environment in a way that causes us to thrive both now and in the future, will require new and big ideas to which our membership feels connected and committed. I believe I am genuinely and uniquely qualified to lead the SOA in this pivotal moment.