Ushering in a New Era

In my application for the Director position on the Board of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, I shared my perspectives on the future of the profession and the importance of the CIA, the governing actuarial body in Canada. We are witnessing yet another paradigm shift in our profession since the advent of computers and we need to innovate to adapt. My goal is to raise awareness of the disruption and challenge fellow actuaries to work together to advance our profession.

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Prospect of the Profession & Importance of the CIA

1. What are your thoughts on the future of the actuarial profession and emerging practice areas?

The actuarial profession is evolving with the advent of new fields such as predictive analytics and artificial intelligence. While these tools are helpful in creating more sophisticated models, we must remember that our stakeholders look to us for our strategic insights, and not just numbers.

Our cross-disciplinary skill set – statistics, computer science, finance and business acumen – sets us apart from experts of the respective fields. As actuaries, we excel in analyzing complex risks across multiple dimensions and conveying distilled insights to non-technical audiences. This requires intuition developed through years of experience and is a higher level cognition that’s difficult to replicate.

Actuaries will continue to manage complex risks in the future. We must embrace technological advancements while upholding our core value proposition of providing strategic insights based on our cross-disciplinary expertise.?To expand our impact, we can leverage new tools, automate lower-level tasks like data checking and continue to deliver actionable insights to stakeholders. These efforts can also help us pioneer new practice areas in non-traditional industries.?The future of the actuarial profession is exciting!

2.?What do you think of the effectiveness and importance of the CIA in its core functions (e.g., qualification, continuing education, professional development, promotion of the profession, research, standard-setting and professional conduct)?

The CIA is a vital institution for the Canadian actuarial community, performing excellent work in its core functions, particularly in upholding the professional code of conduct among its members. This code is essential as it differentiates our profession from a trade and outlines the high standards and integrity expected of us to the public. It’s important to recognize that the CIA’s influences extend well and beyond – Canada has one of the highest numbers of actuaries per capita, a robust and prudent insurance sector and some of the best actuarial science schools.

There are opportunities for the CIA to further expand its role in shaping and facilitating the Canadian actuarial community. For example, by establishing an online forum, the CIA can enhance the engagement of the community, allowing prospective candidates to ask questions and practising actuaries to share concerns and seek advice. Also, the CIA can engage directly with its members to gather timely and reliable feedback. I believe that the CIA is well-positioned to foster a strong and connected Canadian actuarial community.

3. What do you feel is the value of professional development partnerships to engage members in complementary skills development (e.g., Chartered Financial Analyst, Financial Risk Manager, analytics, coding)?

There is tremendous value in partnering with professionals in complementary fields. Actuaries can learn from others’ expertise and bring new perspectives to their work.

For example, by learning coding or database management skills, we can improve our ability to handle large datasets and perform complex analyses, which can be especially valuable in today’s data-driven business environment. Similarly, by pursuing certifications like the CFA or FRM designations, we can expand our knowledge of finance and risk management, which can be useful in many areas of work outside of the actuarial field.

Overall, professional development partnerships can be a powerful tool for our profession looking to enhance our skills and stay relevant in an ever-changing industry. By working with others and seeking out new learning opportunities, we can position ourselves to succeed in a variety of roles and industries over the course of our careers.

Additionally, volunteering can provide us with valuable experience and insights into other industries, which can help broaden our skill sets and make us more versatile professionals.?Furthermore the lessons learned and experience acquired from working in non-traditional industries can be disseminated back into the wider actuarial community for other actuaries to leverage.??

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Position Statement for the Board of Directors for the CIA

Actuaries used to rank near the top in job surveys, if not at the very top. The latest survey, which is based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ranked actuaries at #27. Has our skill set become irrelevant? Is there still a demand for actuaries?

My name is Tommy Yip, and I am a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (2018). I was drawn to the actuarial profession because of its cross-disciplinary skill set, intellectually stimulating work and rewarding career. Yet, surveys in recent years indicate there are many careers more rewarding and intellectually stimulating than being an actuary. This concerns me not out of self-interest, but because it deeply affects talent acquisition for our industry. With competing disciplines such as predictive analytics, computer science and now artificial intelligence, we are losing the best and brightest. This reduces the quantity and quality of candidates entering the actuarial field and could negatively impact our profession. How can we mitigate this risk?????

There have been various suggestions. One is to raise the level of compensation to compete against other high-paying professions. To achieve this, we can expand the recognition of actuaries to other fields and industries outside the traditional scope. By doing so we can increase the demand for our profession. Additionally, maintaining the high standards of our credentialing process can help control the supply of actuaries. While these strategies can improve compensation by balancing supply and demand, they only solve a part of the problem. For our profession to remain competitive, we must also expand career opportunities, enhance job satisfaction, grow prospective demand and make an impact on society. This requires our profession to be at the forefront of tackling pressing issues such as climate change and population collapse.

It is my goal to expand our profession’s value proposition outside of insurance and promote a work experience that is more fun and challenging than other professions. I am committed to promote pro-bono work outside of insurance. By leveraging our expertise in risk management, predictive analytics and risk measurement, we can assist non-profit organizations like Red Cross in assessing their risk tolerance, constructing predictive models to simulate and measure risks and communicating the risk-mitigation strategies to stakeholders.

I am a good fit for the Board because of my distinguished attitude of being curious and unafraid. Throughout my career, I ventured across industries (retrocessionaire, reinsurer, consulting) and collaborated with people of different backgrounds and working styles. I believe that my character, my repertoire of experience and my vision of growing the profession will add tremendous value to the CIA Board.

The future is uncertain but exciting. I look forward to serving on the CIA Board. Thank you.

Additional Information about myself

Since high school, I have had a passion for creating community outreach programs and securing funding through grant applications.

Two programs in particular were special to me: Guitar Lessons for Youths with and without Disabilities and Citizens of Change. In the guitar program, I combined my curiosity to try guitar with my desire to make a meaningful difference and was able to create a safe and supportive environment for youths of all abilities to come together and learn from one another.?Through Citizens of Change, I was able to provide a platform for young people to engage in meaningful dialogue about the issues that matter most to them, fostering a sense of empowerment and encouraging them to become active citizens in their communities.

For my effort in enriching my community, I received recognition through several awards and scholarships. Most significantly, it led me to serve on the board of my local community organization, where I gained valuable experience in supporting the board’s mission, providing challenges as necessary and, most importantly, learning and asking questions.

These were invaluable experiences that greatly influenced my leadership style, and I look forward to making a positive impact wherever I go.