Tell us about your career path and how you got to where you are today.

I work on the Workforce Benefits team as an AVP Pricing Actuary (Dental/Vision). Since we are just starting to stand up our business, my current focus is on pricing our group dental and group vision products. Once we start to sell business, my main focus will shift to making sure we are profitable and competitive from a rate perspective. My team will also need to set reserves, build out reporting, and support our stakeholders such as Underwriting.
 

Tell us about your job responsibilities and what a typical day looks like for you.

In the beginning of the day, things are a bit crazy in my house as my wife and I are both likely on calls for work while we try to get our two young children ready for school. Once everyone is off to work and school, I can enjoy a cup of tea and really start my work day.

Work things right now are not typical at all as things are in such an early state, but here are some work things that are common:

• Meetings with vendors and/or other employees
• Coding in python to try and price some benefit/make something more automated

At the end of the workday, I’ll go and pick up the boys from school and do something with them. At the very end of the day, I like to unwind with some online chess or a video game.
 

Can you tell us more about your career background and how you came to join Pacific Life?

After graduate school, I started teaching high school mathematics. I did that for 5.5 years in various states (Oklahoma, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana). I enjoyed teaching, but I was totally burnt out from it and started seriously looking for something else. We were living in Louisiana at the time, so I applied to a local regional insurance carrier, where Erich Sternberg also worked, and was pleasantly surprised when they hired me. Last year Erich reached out to me to let me know that he was starting up a group insurance business again with Pacific Life and that I should apply, which I of course did.
 

How did you first become interested in actuarial work? And what was the most difficult part in your journey to the FSA designation?

One of my graduate school teachers taught a class that was meant to prepare students for one of the actuary exams. This was the first time I had ever heard what an actuary was. The actuarial profession appealed to me as I enjoy self-taught things, i.e., I really didn’t want to do any more schooling.

What advice do you have for actuarial students?

Learn python and get a mentor.
 

What skill did you learn early on in your career that you most frequently utilize today?

While teaching I had a lot of chances to improve my communication skills. While working as an actuarial student I tried to make sure all my presentations were as clear and succinct as possible for the audience at hand.
 

What do you do when you’re not working?

Hanging out with my kids (zoo, museums, trampoline parks, swimming,) biking, kayaking, whale watching, hiking, listening to podcasts, and cleaning my house.