2024 Board Member Candidate
Hans J. Wagner, FSA 1992
Volunteer and start-up advisor
Message One
It is an honor and brings me great joy to have been endorsed by the Nominating Committee for the ballot of the SOA Board election. This is especially true for this election, the first where the SOA Board has created a reserved seat for an International member. Having spent over 25 years living and working on three continents outside my original home of the USA, I feel uniquely qualified to bring not just an international but a global perspective to the Board.
My priorities in serving on the Board would include:
- Ensuring the SOA prepares its membership to serve societal needs and exploit professional opportunities in meeting emerging challenges/opportunities including AI, climate change and demographic trends
- Attracting and effectively serving an increasingly diverse membership, including under-represented communities in US/Canada and also international members with varying needs
- Further strengthening the SOA’s partnerships with a wide range of other organizations/institutions to leverage our limited resources and maximize effectiveness. These include other actuarial, industry, and professional associations, communities of actuaries that have developed around various shared backgrounds/interests, local actuarial clubs, educational institutions, regulators, and employers’ groups
- Protecting the SOA’s reputation and brand, maintaining and growing the value of our credentials and the ability of actuaries to serve society as part of rewarding careers
The actuarial profession is a small one, but we are uniquely positioned to help the world face the challenges of an AI revolution accompanied by climate change and in many countries by aging demographics and a host of other changes. To fulfill its potential our profession, and our Society, must adapt to the ever-more-rapid changes around us. The SOA has both unique potential and responsibility to lead the response to these changes and help the actuarial profession retain its attractiveness both to current and potential future members. However, leadership does not mean going alone, rather the SOA needs to further strengthen collaboration with other organizations, across both actuarial and other professions. Our work must include both academic theories and practical applications and encompass both the SOA’s traditional base in North America and its growth in other markets. To strengthen the SOA we need to actively encourage diversity in membership and also diverse working relationships with other organizations. Our international growth is both an opportunity and a challenge, as we need to consider different local cultures, markets, employers, regulatory environments, existing actuarial organizations and other factors to successfully grow and meet our members’ needs. To lead effectively the Board must solicit, listen to, and effectively incorporate and act on member input from an increasingly diverse membership.
The SOA has finite resources and needs to maximize the impact of our member volunteers and staff. I believe my diverse background has prepared me well to help the SOA Board in these efforts, which as the SOA grows internationally need to recognize the different situations of members around the world. My work has included a full range of actuarial responsibilities and enterprise risk management- at holding companies, regional offices, and local operations- as both a consultant and company employee- at stock and mutual insurance companies- living and working on 4 continents- in business roles but also working with regulators- on life, annuity, health, and pensions (and a little bit of property/casualty)- on individual and group coverages. After college I was a high school teacher for several years before starting my actuarial career. I have volunteered service to the SOA in a variety of ways so I well understand the challenges and opportunities in a volunteer-driven organization. I have also been in successful teams for other organizations and of course my employers.
I was first attracted to the actuarial profession by its strong ethics and the opportunity for socially important work coupled with interesting intellectual challenges and potentially lucrative employment. The path my career has taken for over ten years in the US and over twenty-five years abroad has not been what I could have expected but has always delivered on those initial attractors. My goal in running for the Board is to take my volunteering to the next level and help guide the SOA’s strategic direction to maintain and enrich the profession so that our members and society as a whole benefit.
Teamwork is essential for our success, and I have a track record of being both a member and a leader of diverse successful teams. I look forward to a fun and challenging term if I am elected to the Board, and hope I will have your vote.
Message Two
Thanks for clicking through to my message. Our election is certainly not the most substantial one this year, but I believe the SOA can make a difference in both its members’ lives and those of the general population, and our leadership matters. My objective in running for the Board is to help the SOA maximize its positive impact on current and future members, as well as society as a whole. Please exercise your vote for the candidates of your choice, and I hope one of those votes is for me.
It is an honor and brings me great joy to have been endorsed by the Nominating Committee for the ballot of the 2024 SOA Board election.
What differentiates me from the other candidates?
- A global perspective from an actuarial career spanning more than ten years in the US, and more than twenty-five years living and working on three other continents
- Wide-ranging work experience in many different types of companies, across different actuarial and risk management functions, both for in-company and consulting roles
- Extensive experience volunteering in different areas of the SOA, including strategic projects in professional development, education, and member engagement
- Excellent skills listening to others’ views and input from a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds, and building consensus solutions
My priorities in serving on the Board would include:
- Protecting the SOA’s reputation and brand, maintaining and growing the value of our credentials and the ability of actuaries to serve society as part of rewarding careers
- Ensuring the SOA prepares its membership to serve societal needs and exploit professional opportunities in meeting emerging challenges/opportunities including AI, climate change and demographic trends
- Attracting and effectively serving an increasingly diverse membership, including under-represented communities in US/Canada and also international members with varying needs
- Further strengthening the SOA’s partnerships with a wide range of other groups to leverage our limited resources and maximize effectiveness.
I look forward to hearing from many of you about the challenges and opportunities facing the SOA, and how we can strengthen our profession. You can find my contact details in the Actuarial Directory and on LinkedIn. I hope I’ll have your vote for the SOA Board.