Associate Actuary at Milliman

Responses were provided based on a previous role with CUNA Mutual Group

  1. Where in the world do you work?

Madison, WI

2. Prior to the pandemic, did you work primarily in an office or from home? What about now?

Primarily in office, worked from home on rare occasions and needed prior approval to do so. As of a couple weeks ago the company just opened up the building for those who want to come back in to the office, but no one is required to. Going forward, it sounds like the broad P&C actuarial team here is planning on doing a hybrid model with most of us opting for 3/4 days from home and 1/2 days in the office. The company has been extremely flexible on this, which is great.

3. Do you travel for work? If so, how much? To where?

Only travel would be for going to conferences such as the CAS Annual Meetings.

4. What type of company do you work for? (Ie. Traditional Insurance, Consulting Firm, Government, etc.) Name of company?

Traditional insurance at CUNA Mutual.

5. What do you like about this work environment? What do you find challenging or what would you change?

CUNA Mutual only writes insurance for credit unions, so they operate in a very niche market. This allows us to be able to really focus our products and services to best fit the needs of credit unions, so I’d say our book is comparatively more stable compared to the broader market.

The biggest challenge and also what I like most is that being a P&C actuary here means you get involved in a diverse work load. I’ve done reserving, pricing, and some loss & expense forecasting while having been here for just over a year now. If I could change one thing, it would be our view of analytics in the actuarial space. We have data scientists and analytics teams here, however they focus on marketing, sales, billing, etc. so not the actual insurance product. Due to our book being so stable and profitable, leadership hasn’t seen the need to evolve our actuarial methods to incorporate, for example, some of the material on Exam 8 regarding GLMs. I’ve made it my personal goal to be our first “R&D Actuary” here (:

6. Company Culture

  • What type of vacation benefits do you get?
    • We are allotted a finite amount of both sick and vacation time. We are allowed to carry over all of the sick time and a portion of the vacation time into the next year if it goes unused. Management is good about encouraging us to use our time throughout the year so we don’t end up in a situation where we lose vacation time.
  • How flexible is your company about when/how you get work done? Are there set “business hours” you’re expected to be working and available?
    • The P&C actuarial team has freedom in when and how we get work done since our work is primarily project-based. So it is largely left to the discretion of the analyst and the project owner to determine the appropriate deadlines and methods. As far as when we get work done, we’re expected to be available during typical working hours (9 – 4) and for any meetings if they are scheduled outside of those hours which normally does not happen. If we have something going on outside of work such as a doctor/dentist appointment, child duties, etc. there is no problem taking time off during the work day.
  • Do you often work more than 40 hours per week? Is there pressure from leadership or peers to do so?
    • There is absolutely no pressure to work more than 40 hours per week and it is certainly not the norm to do so. The largest exceptions would be for tight deadlines such as quarter-end reserve bookings, but even then the amount of extra hours worked is not significant. I personally get carried away with my work, so I will usually do a few extra hours per week but this is in no way, shape, or form influenced by my leaders or peers.
  • Do you hang out with coworkers outside of work?
    • I don’t hang out with coworkers outside of work, we do have happy hours and team outings though that we’ll do.
  • What types of company sponsored events have you attended or has your company hosted?
    • Our company hosts some internal events such as semi-annual analytics conferences and actuarial forums where employees get together for a day or two and listen to presentations from those both inside and outside the company.

7. What aspects of working for your company and in your geographic location do you love? What would you change?

Both my girlfriend and I’s families are an hour away from Madison, so its easy to have them visit us on the weekend or for us to go back home to see them. We’re also close to where we went to college so we have friends nearby. Madison has lots of activities and is also close to the Wisconsin Dells, some parks such as Devils Lake, Milwaukee, Chicago, “up north” with lakes and cabins, and lots of cheese (it’s a Wisconsin thing)! In my opinion, CUNA Mutual does a great job of listening to employees, customers, and the Madison community. It seems like they do truly care about those it has an impact on. The only thing I would change is the weather, I’m not a fan of the cold!

8. If you could work anywhere in the world, where would you choose?

I have some family in the Carolinas where I was born, so I would love to go back and work from there. The weather is great and there’s city activities (Charlotte, Charleston, Raleigh), beaches (Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head), the Great Smoky Mountains, and tons of history too. I know, not the most exciting answer since I’d stay in the US even though there’s a whole world out there!!