Board Member Candidate Questionnaire

Si Xie, FSA, CERA, FCIA 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: Share a personal experience, trait, or characteristic that will help the membership to better understand you and your candidacy.

I am an actuary with an entrepreneurial spirit, passionate about transforming ideas into reality and driving innovation. Throughout my career, I have championed the belief that actuaries can be transformative business leaders. My experience cut across the value chain of insurance and wealth management business. I have successfully launched pioneering insurance products and brought double-digit sales growth for broker and semi- tied channels across Asia and Canada.

At my core, I thrive on creative problem-solving and business transformation. Today, I lead an InsurTech startup empowering individuals to take charge of their health through food-as-medicine and pioneering food-as- underwriting for product innovation.

My journey has reinforced my belief that actuaries are more than technical experts—we are problem-solvers, decision-makers, and leaders. As a candidate for the Society of Actuaries presidency, I bring this same drive to break barriers, foster international engagement, and ensure our profession continues to evolve. I am committed to amplifying member voices, championing forward-thinking solutions, and strengthening the actuarial community for the future.

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?

In 2019, my company set out to launch a new financial planning service in China within just eight months—an ambitious goal made even more challenging by the lockdowns due to COVID-19 pandemic. Basic infrastructure was lacking; even our VPN bandwidth couldn’t support simultaneous logins. Morale was low, and many long-time employees feared failure and hesitated to fully commit.

As the business lead for the end-to-end customer journey and system build, my priority was stabilizing the team, fostering trust, and implementing an operational framework that ensured rapid execution in a fully remote environment. First, I reassured the team that no one would be blamed for challenges or setbacks—I took full accountability so they could focus on delivery. This psychological safety allowed them to work with confidence and collaboration.

Next, I transitioned the team from 100% co-location to 100% remote operations. We implemented structured daily standups for working-level teams to align priorities and evening standups for team leads to resolve challenges. Bi- weekly “decision days” ensured senior management received timely updates for swift decision-making.

Lastly, I proactively tackled white spaces and gaps that no one was addressing. Expanding my scope beyond expectations ensured critical milestones were met and contributed significantly to the success of the project.

Despite the extreme constraints, we successfully launched the business on time, proving that rapid transformation and execution were achievable—even under unprecedented circumstances.

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?

The actuarial profession is evolving, shaped by AI and climate change, two forces transforming industries and redefining risk. To stay ahead, we must embrace innovation and expand our influence, ensuring actuaries remain relevant in an increasingly data-driven world.

At its core, actuarial science is about pricing and managing any risk, but the nature of risk is changing. AI-powered analytics are revolutionizing predictive modeling, automation, and decision-making. Meanwhile, climate change introduces deep uncertainties, affecting insurance, financial markets, and global resilience. The actuarial profession must not only adapt—but take the lead in shaping these conversations.

How the SOA can help us get there

1. Empowering Actuaries at All Levels: Equip actuaries with AI and sustainability expertise, ensuring they remain at the forefront of risk assessment. When established actuaries thrive, new talent sees a future worth pursuing.
2. Expanding Industry Influence: Collaborating with regulators, technology firms, and sustainability experts to develop new applications for actuarial techniques.
3. Expanding New Practice Areas: Support actuaries to push boundaries into new fields, like climate risk, transition risk and AI-driven risk modeling etc., ensuring relevance for both analytical roles and business roles.

With the right focus and collaboration, actuaries won’t just adapt—we’ll lead the way in shaping the future of risk.

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?

Throughout my career, I’ve embraced innovation, transformation, and purposeful leadership—whether launching the first ever Index Universal Life, introducing a new kind of whole of life product in Canada, pioneering China’s first "digital+ human" hybrid financial advisory service or driving innovation in InsurTech with food-as-underwriting and AI-powered health risk engine. These experiences have reinforced my belief that success comes from understanding people, embracing change, and executing with precision.

I believe true innovation and successful transformation start with people —identifying real pain points, integrating customer insights, and refining solutions through continuous feedback. As an expert in design thinking and agile methodologies, I focus on building solutions that deliver impact, not just ideas.

I see challenges like AI, technological disruption, climate change, and generational shifts as opportunities for actuaries to evolve and grow. To navigate change, I lead with empathy and respect, fostering a culture of inclusivity, collaboration, and accountability, ensuring teams feel empowered to challenge the status quo and push boundaries.