Board Member Candidate Questionnaire

Jessica Dang, FSA, FCIA, PhD

AI / Technology

Describe your experience understanding, applying, and/or overseeing technology, particularly AI, data, and analytics to support strategy, operations, and decision-making, including how you consider technology’s limitations, risks, and impacts on business models, workforce needs, governance, and long-term growth. 

I have extensive experience understanding and applying AI, data, and analytics across strategy, operations, and decision-making. As a consultant at an actuarial software company, I supported clients in modernizing their actuarial technology stacks, including implementing high-performance computing platforms and integrating workflows that enable AI-driven insights. This provided firsthand exposure to both successful use cases and practical challenges in AI adoption, including workflow redesign, data readiness, system integration, and change management.

In my academic research, I applied advanced statistical algorithms to improve the computational efficiency of nested simulations for variable annuity valuation. This informs my perspective on AI today, particularly in optimizing AI model efficiency and the computational and cost profile of deploying AI models in actuarial applications. In my professional work, I actively use AI to accelerate coding, automate processes, enhance decision-making, and improve productivity, while consistently applying actuarial judgment to validate outputs and ensure reliability.

I recognize key limitations, risks, and broader implications of AI. It can produce confident but incorrect outputs in specialized actuarial contexts with limited training data. Robust data governance and model risk management frameworks are therefore critical, including controls over data quality, model validation, and appropriate use.

I believe the SOA can play a leadership role by developing an “actuarial world model” grounded in its strong education resources, supporting responsible AI adoption, and ensuring a steady pipeline of high-quality actuaries equipped with the skills needed to apply AI effectively.

Board Experience and Readiness

Describe your prior nonprofit or corporate board experience and how you approach the board’s governance role (strategic oversight and mission stewardship), including how you distinguish governance from management and how you uphold fiduciary duties (care, loyalty, and obedience) in acting in the best interests of the organization. 

While I have not previously served on a nonprofit or corporate board, my professional experience requires me to regularly contribute to strategic discussions, evaluate proposals, and provide recommendations with a governance mindset. As a pricing actuary, I make decisions that safeguard the long-term financial integrity of products, ensure fairness and appropriate value to customers, and challenge proposals that may adversely affect risk profiles. I also engage and influence senior stakeholders through clear, evidence-based recommendations. These experiences have reinforced governance behaviors such as fairness, integrity, and accountability.

I distinguish governance from management by focusing on setting direction, providing oversight, and ensuring alignment with mission and strategy, while leaving execution to management. I believe an effective board provides constructive challenges, asks the right questions, and ensures accountability without becoming involved in day-to-day operations.

I approach fiduciary responsibilities through disciplined judgment, objectivity, and adherence to purpose. My experience as a course instructor at the University of Waterloo reinforced these principles in practice: I was responsible for evaluating students fairly and consistently based on established standards, making impartial decisions in grading and academic matters, and ensuring that all actions upheld academic integrity and the institution’s educational mission. This required balancing compassion with objectivity and accountability, reflecting the responsibilities of acting with care, fairness, and integrity in a position of trust.

Corporate Leadership

Describe your senior leadership experience in corporate and/or not-for-profit environments, including examples of leading people, guiding decision-making, managing complexity, and providing strategic direction while upholding strong governance standards. 

I have extensive senior leadership experience across corporate and academic environments, leading teams, guiding complex decision-making, and delivering strategic outcomes while maintaining strong governance standards.

As a pricing actuary at a multinational insurer, I lead a team of actuarial professionals in the development of complex investment-linked products. I oversee modelling, product design, and pricing decisions, while working closely with product, distribution, operations, investment, and risk teams.

Previously, as a project lead at a global consulting firm, I managed a large-scale proof-of-concept engagement for a multinational client. I led cross-functional actuarial and IT teams across multiple locations, working closely with the client to define scope, timelines, and deliverables. I was responsible for navigating ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and adapting plans as the project evolved, while maintaining accountability for delivery, responding to evolving client needs, and adapting solutions as project scope and constraints changed. The project’s success led to continued engagement with the client.

In an academic setting, I served as lead teaching assistant at the University of Waterloo, managing over 20 teaching assistants and supporting multiple instructors and a large student cohort. I coordinated delivery and ensured consistency and quality across the team.

Across these roles, I have consistently provided strategic direction, led diverse teams, and upheld governance principles through disciplined decision-making, accountability, and a strong focus on long-term value creation.

Financial Oversight

Describe your experience providing financial oversight in a corporate setting, including your ability to understand and scrutinize key financial documents and reports, identify financial risks, develop mitigation strategies, and ensure regulatory compliance. 

In my role as a pricing actuary, I provide financial oversight for complex life insurance products with embedded investment guarantees, including variable annuities and indexed universal life. I regularly assess and challenge key financial drivers, including profitability, capital strain, and sensitivity to market and policyholder behavior assumptions, drawing on model outputs and financial projections. For proposed product changes or system enhancements, I evaluate impacts on financial performance, risk exposure, and regulatory compliance, ensuring that risks are appropriately identified, quantified, and reflected in pricing.

I play a key role in developing and implementing risk mitigation strategies, including product design features, pricing margins, and hedging considerations. I also work closely with finance, risk, and compliance teams to ensure alignment with internal governance standards and regulatory requirements.

In addition, I have been involved in building shared service centers for my organization, where I contributed to budgeting processes, resource planning, and cost management. This experience strengthened my understanding of financial planning, cost discipline, and operational oversight.

In my broader risk management experience in Asset Liability Management, I have contributed to the design of hedging strategies using derivatives to manage market risks. This has strengthened my ability to assess financial exposures, evaluate risk-return trade-offs, and ensure that mitigation strategies are effective, sustainable, and aligned with the company’s overall financial objectives.

Global

Describe your international experience (e.g., multinational corporations or significant projects abroad) and how your understanding of global markets, cross-cultural communication, and international business practices would contribute to SOA’s strategic positioning and international relationships. 

I bring extensive international experience developed across North America and Asia through roles in insurance, consulting, and academia. I began my career in Canada with a multinational consulting firm and life insurer, where I supported business units in Canada, the U.S., and Bermuda. I later moved to Singapore, where as a Research Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University, I worked on projects sponsored by insurers and regulators across the Asia-Pacific region. Currently based in Hong Kong, I previously worked as a consultant at Aon, advising clients across East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Europe, and I am currently part of the Group Product team at Prudential plc, where I work closely with its business units globally. I have also played a key role in building and training actuarial teams in India for my previous employer.

These experiences have given me a deep understanding of global insurance markets, including differences in product structures, regulatory environments, and distribution practices. I have developed strong cross-cultural communication skills, enabling me to work effectively with stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, adapt to different decision-making styles, and build alignment across regions. I am also familiar with international business practices, including navigating varying regulatory expectations, organizational structures, and market dynamics.

I would leverage this experience to help the SOA strengthen its global engagement, ensure its initiatives reflect diverse member needs, and enhance its effectiveness in building meaningful international relationships.

Not-for-Profit

Describe how, through your involvement with not-for-profit organizations, including the SOA, you balance mission-driven objectives with strategic success and operational sustainability especially in volunteer recruitment/coordination and incorporating diverse points of view. 

Through my involvement with not-for-profit organizations, including the SOA, I have developed a strong appreciation for balancing mission-driven objectives with practical effectiveness and long-term sustainability. At Nanyang Technological University, I worked closely with the Global Asia Insurance Partnership, a nonprofit organization, to produce research on pandemic risk for life insurers in the region. This work was grounded in a broader societal mission—to help close the protection gap—while ensuring that the research delivered practical, actionable insights that insurers could apply in their commercial and risk management practices. This experience reinforced the importance of aligning mission with tangible value creation to sustain engagement and achieve meaningful impact.

Through my volunteer work with the SOA, I have gained experience coordinating and supporting volunteers and contributing to member-focused initiatives. As a team lead for the MLC/LTAM exam grading process, I was responsible for ensuring consistency and quality in grading across a diverse group of graders. This involved calibrating grading standards, reviewing outputs for consistency, and providing targeted feedback where grading approaches diverged. I also addressed variations in grading quality through regrading requests while maintaining constructive working relationships. In addition, through my volunteer work with The Actuary magazine, I have contributed ideas for articles, interviewed industry practitioners, and developed content that delivers value to SOA members while promoting the actuarial profession to students and early-career actuaries.

Professional Education and Development

Describe your experience developing professional education programs for actuaries or other professionals—for example, in a university, employer, professional association, or SOA setting. Include examples where you designed, led, or managed learning programs, curricula, mentoring frameworks, or structured development pathways and how your approach was informed by how professionals learn.

I have extensive experience developing and delivering professional education for actuaries and students across academic and professional settings. As a course instructor for a life contingencies course at the University of Waterloo, I designed and delivered a full curriculum to a class of over 70 students. Student feedback was consistently strong, with some describing it as one of the most effective courses in their program.

I have also supported actuarial education more broadly through my work as a teaching assistant across multiple courses, reinforcing concepts and adapting to different learning styles.

In addition, my research contributions, including publications in the North American Actuarial Journal, reflect my ability to translate complex actuarial topics into structured, accessible frameworks. My work on pandemic mortality and computational methods for nested simulation has informed how technical content can be organized and communicated effectively for professional audiences.

Through long-standing volunteer work with the SOA, I have contributed directly to professional education design and delivery. As a question writer and grader for the MLC/LTAM exams and a curriculum committee member for the Fellowship track, I was involved in shaping assessment standards, ensuring alignment between curriculum and practice, and maintaining rigor, fairness, and consistency in evaluation. I also participated in university outreach with SOA staff in Hong Kong, sharing my experience as an actuary with students and supporting early professional engagement.

My approach to professional education is grounded in how actuaries learn best: combining conceptual understanding with application, reinforcing learning through structured progression, and ensuring relevance to real-world practice.

Risk Management

Describe your risk management experience, including how you have identified and evaluated organizational risks (including reputational risks) and assessed or implemented appropriate risk mitigation measures. 

I have extensive risk management experience through my roles in product pricing, asset-liability management (ALM), and enterprise risk management.

As a pricing actuary, I am responsible for identifying and evaluating risks embedded in complex insurance products with investment guarantees, including variable annuities and indexed universal life. I assess a wide range of risks—market, policyholder behavior, operational, and reputational—by analyzing their impact on financial performance, capital requirements, and product sustainability, as well as implications for distribution channels, sales practices, and policyholder perception. I regularly perform sensitivity testing under different scenarios and challenge key assumptions to ensure risks are appropriately understood and reflected in pricing decisions. I also collaborate closely with subject matter experts across functions to validate assumptions, evaluate risks from multiple perspectives, and assess potential outcomes under different scenarios.

In my broader experience in asset-liability management and enterprise risk management, I have been involved in ongoing monitoring of market risk, the design and evaluation of hedging strategies using derivatives, engagement with regulators, and participation in company-wide risk assessments. These experiences have strengthened my ability to assess complex and interconnected risk exposures, evaluate trade-offs, and implement mitigation strategies that balance financial performance, customer outcomes, and organizational integrity.

Strategic Planning

Describe your involvement in strategic planning (including in a corporate environment), and how you have helped formulate vision, establish priorities, and allocate resources to support long-term success and effective organizational positioning. 

I have been actively involved in strategic planning through my leadership roles in consulting and academia, where I have helped formulate direction, prioritize initiatives, and allocate resources to achieve meaningful outcomes.

As a project lead at a global consulting firm, I was responsible for defining and executing engagement strategies for large, complex client projects. This included working closely with clients to understand their strategic objectives, operational constraints, and priorities, and translating these into a clear scope of work and delivery roadmap. I played a key role in setting priorities, sequencing deliverables, and aligning expectations to ensure that project outcomes supported clients’ needs. Internally, I allocated resources across actuarial and technology teams, balancing expertise, capacity, and timelines, and adapting plans as client needs and constraints evolved.

In my academic role at Nanyang Technological University, I was actively involved in planning research projects in collaboration with the Global Asia Insurance Partnership (GAIP). This included proposing research topics aligned with GAIP’s mission, research goals, and industry needs, defining project timelines and deliverables, identifying and securing relevant data sources, and designing appropriate research methodologies. I also considered resource requirements and feasibility to ensure that output was both rigorous and practically relevant to stakeholders.

Across these experiences, I have developed a structured approach to strategic planning—linking vision to execution through clear prioritization, thoughtful resource allocation, and continuous reassessment to support long-term impact and effective positioning.