Always Looking Forward

An update from the SOA’s Entrepreneurial & Innovation Section Tom Totten

The newly renamed Entrepreneurial & Innovation (E&I) Section (formerly the Entrepreneurial Actuaries Section) is led by a dedicated council that is looking for ways to support its members by providing relevant content to those who are interested in changing the environment of actuaries. We changed the name of the section to ensure we are including those actuaries who may work at large entities and are doing meaningful intrapreneurship activities.

In 2016, we focused on webinars and an interesting project called the Entrepreneurship Book. We hope to highlight a number of actuaries who are leading innovative changes at their companies and educate other actuaries on how they did it with some form of case study. We have a number of actuaries who volunteered to tell their stories, but we are also open to hearing more.

Personally, it’s my mission to ensure that actuaries have a seat at any firm that includes risk as part of the equation (which, frankly, is every firm). While it is our job in many cases to quantify risk, it isn’t always our job to embrace risk; but as an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, it must be in your DNA. However, this DNA can be taught, and I hope our section provides avenues for risk-seeking actuaries to share these experiences. We are beginning a new effort that encompasses Asia and may involve InsureTech actuaries, who are very entrepreneurial.

I invite other actuaries to take this journey. Let’s lead it.

Tom Totten, FSA, EA, MAAA, is CEO of Nyhart in Indianapolis. He is also chair of the Entrepreneurial & Innovation Section at the Society of Actuaries.

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