Board Member Candidate Questionnaire
Melody Prangley, FSA, MAAA, EA, FCA
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: Share a personal experience, trait, or characteristic that will help the membership to better understand you and your candidacy.
I have recently become a figure skating judge. I was a figure skater as a child, and I loved the creativity. I love that I get to volunteer for the sport I love. I love the rules and the numbers that I'm learning to be a successful judge.
I'm a hard-working person that takes volunteer positions seriously. I enjoy giving back to the community.
PROJECT LEADERSHIP / CHANGE MANAGEMENT: Describe a significant project that you led in the workplace or in your volunteer activities. Describe how you made decisions and addressed changes that were proposed, whether changes were made, or were not made, after considering all options. How did you achieve buy-in in the final outcome, and what were the biggest challenges you had to overcome?
When I became the Deputy Chief Actuary at my current job, the majority of the existing actuarial team was planning to retire within five years. A key part of my role was to create a new team to ensure the work would continue accurately and successfully. This project was all about change management and took several years.
My first part decision I made was how to slowly onboard new members of the team. I started wanting mid-level staff (some exams and not fully credentialed). Not originally from the area, i quickly learned that I was unable to find that type of worker in the area. I pivoted to develop deep connections with local colleges and created an internship program that is now used throughout all departments at my workplace. I wanted the internship program to be focused on skill development, so I created an internship training that included a month of skill development and a month of on-the-job work that used the skills taught. This program continues to be used but has been modified each year to be more interesting and include more exercises to help the interns understand the work more successfully.
My next step in the project was developing documentation and strong work review policies to guide the team as retirements occurred and new hires were onboarded. I meet with all of the existing team members and created documentation for the work they were doing and then when onboarding, created training to transition the work to new team members.
The biggest challenges along the way were making the people on the team comfortable with the changes. Talking to everyone about their feelings build a strong team atmosphere and made the change management project successful.
ACTUARY OF THE FUTURE: What does the future of the actuarial profession look like to you? What strategies should the SOA implement to grow the actuarial profession, especially in light of more competition for analytical skills and data science job opportunities?
To me, the future of the actuarial profession is both exciting and transformative. As technology evolves, actuaries are increasingly positioned at the intersection of data science, risk management and business strategy. In my previous response, I discussed transitioning my team. This experience has provided me with a unique perspective on how we can evolve.
The next evolution is the integration of advanced analytics with machine learning. Actuaries will need to blend their understanding of risk predictions with advanced data technology. Further, the actuaries of the future will increasingly rely on a collaborative approach to technology.
Mentorship and formal training will become critical components in educating our current and future actuaries. The ability to communicate complex actuarial and technological insights in clear, actional terms will be essential to success. Thus, strategies for success should also focus on communication and collaboration skills. Finally, flexibility will be needed to keep up with the rate of change. Training models like the certificates, can provide at-need training.
INNOVATION / ADAPTION: How has your experience prepared you to lead through challenges such as AI, technological disruption, climate change and generational shifts? How would you guide a knowledge-based workforce, including actuaries, in addressing these emerging issues?
As I discussed previously, I have worked closely through the generational shift of the workforce over the last few years. I have helped workforces to adapt through training and strong process documentation.
Actuaries have many risks to consider. My workplace has adopted a Stewardship and Risk Mitigation philosophy. We periodically report updates. To supplement this work, the actuarial team reports an annual assessment of risk that is included in the annual valuation. We review a wide range of potential risks and corresponding financial impacts.
As actuaries we have always analyzed risk. While new risks may have alternate financial impacts, the risk analysis can use the same process. I would guide a knowledge-based workforce through education. Learning and embracing change and new knowledge helps us prepare for the range of risks. For example, the Society of Actuaries has a Climate Risk Certificate Program. This program allows actuaries to study in-depth content and real-world case studies. Actuaries can use education like this to expand their understanding of potential risks and then apply them to work.