Back when Actuarial People was just a concept, I said to John Harney ‘If I somehow make it to 50 episodes, I’ll be the guest and I’d love you to host!” And here we are! This week John is asking the questions, and I genuinely had absolutely no idea what he was going to ask. It was such an interesting experience being on the other end of the conversation, and John was a fabulous host. So if you’d like to find out a bit more about me, how I got here and my take on various aspects of actuarial...

Bobby has over 30 years’ experience in the actuarial industry, and is Managing Director of HS Trustees. Bobby shares his journey to date, from beginning his career in Life Insurance, transitioning to Investment Consulting and more recently becoming a Professional Trustee. We discuss everything from how he discovered the actuarial profession, memories of interviewing at various stages of his career, his approach to the exams, becoming a people manager, growing teams & business areas, and...

John is a Partner at Aon, where he leads the Corporate Consulting business across the UK. John is responsible for a team of over 100 people as well as being a lead consultant for a number of corporate clients. We explore everything from how John entered the actuarial profession as a summer intern, his experience with the exams, starting in a mixed trustee/corporate consulting role, his involvement in setting up a specialist valuations team, transitioning to become a corporate specialist, and...

Kelly is a Leadership Coach, a Wellbeing Researcher and her background includes being a Qualified Actuary in the pensions field. We explore Kelly’s journey to date, including how and why she became an Actuary, moving from a consulting environment to an in-house pensions team, her leadership & people management experience, and her decision to move away from an actuarial role to set up her coaching business. We then explore coaching in more detail, including how people at all levels can...

Neel is an Associate Director at WTW, working in the Retirement Team. Neel began his actuarial career in Kenya before moving to the UK. We discuss everything from how he discovered the actuarial profession, securing his first role, progression quickly into a management position and his reasons for seeking a move to the UK. We explore some of the differences between working in pensions consulting in Kenya vs London, his experiencing of interviewing for UK roles and why he chose to join WTW....

Emma is an Associate Partner at Aon and leads the Bristol Trustee Retirement Team. We discuss everything from how she discovered the actuarial profession existed, why she chose to work in pensions consulting, understanding the role of a pensions actuary, and how her role evolved over time. Emma shares her experiences of seeking opportunities and stepping out of her comfort zone, and how some of these opportunities influenced her career development. Emma also shares her experience of going on...

Steve is an Actuary & Corporate Consultant at First Actuarial, based in Manchester. Steve shares his journey into the actuarial profession, discussing his experiences, challenges, and insights gained over 20 years in the industry. We explore how his role has evolved over time, including becoming a Scheme Actuary before specialising in corporate advice, with a particular emphasis on finding enjoyment & fulfilment in each role rather than focusing on job titles. Steve also offers...

Niraj is an Investment Analyst at LCP. He shares his journey into the actuarial profession, his experience of studying and working during the pandemic, beginning his career in pensions consulting and transitioning to investment consulting. Niraj shares his insights on balancing work, study, and personal life, encouraging early career professionals to prioritise their well-being alongside their ambitions. We learn some of the differences and similarities between working in pensions and...

Andrea is a Partner at K3 Advisory, where she leads K3’s solutions for schemes moving through the buy-in phase of the transaction to ultimate buy-out.  She also manages key relationships with insurers, reinsurers, K3’s business partners and trustees. We explore how Andrea discovered the actuarial profession, and follow her career path which includes working for two consultancies, the PPF, the bulk annuity team of an insurance company and now K3 Advisory. We discus the differences between...

The Actuarial People podcast returns this week, and I'm delighted to be joined by Grace Holtom! Grace is an Associate and Senior Consulting Actuary at Barnett Waddingham. As well as supporting Scheme Actuaries and leading various projects, she also leads the development of BW’s Lloyds 3 offering, she is a people manager & mentor, and part of a group which oversees the South West actuarial teams in Bristol and Cheltenham. We discuss everything from how she joined the profession, seeking...

Mark is the London Practice Leader & Head of GMP Equalisation at Buck, a Gallagher Company. He is an experienced People Leader, Scheme Actuary and a Council member at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. We discuss everything from how Mark initially entered the actuarial profession, beginning his first role with WTW in Reigate, gaining line management experience at an early stage, moving to PwC after 12 years to experience a different type of role, and then joining Buck in a Leadership...

Felicia is an ex-Life, Pensions & GI Actuary who is now a Wealth Coach in the field of Pensions, Property and Stock Market Investments. We discuss everything from Felicia’s entry into the actuarial profession, working in Life, Pensions and General Insurance, how she balanced this with running her own property business, through to life after being an Actuary. Today, Felicia has set herself a goal of helping one million women to become financially independent through education, and...

Dhyan is an Actuarial Apprentice, working in the Pensions Team at WTW. We discuss his entry into the actuarial profession, the application process for the apprenticeship and the different interview stages, joining the actuarial pensions team having initially applied for a role in insurance, and achieving his goal of joining the profession without studying at University. Dhyan gives a great account of the experience he has gained so far, the challenges he has faced and the wide range of...

Daryl is Head of Market & Liquidity Risk at Legal & General for the Retirement Institutional business. He looks after all elements of market risk which includes interest rates, inflation, FX and property risk. We explore how Daryl entered the actuarial profession, how he transitioned from his first role in pensions to investment consulting, specialising in investment strategy and LDI, moving to the insurance company AXA in both the UK and the US, and ultimately joining L&G back in...

Lisa is an Associate Partner in the Risk Settlement Group at Aon in Leeds, where she advises scheme Trustees and Sponsors on buy-ins and buyouts. We discuss everything from how Lisa entered the actuarial profession after completing a Masters and PhD in Chemistry, beginning her career in pensions consulting with PwC, transitioning from consulting to Insurance with Aviva as a Deal Manager, and then returning to consulting with Aon 4 years later. Lisa also leads the Wellbeing Team within the...

Emily has recently celebrated her 25 year anniversary at WTW, where she is a Scheme Actuary, a Relationship Manager for Independent Trustees, a People Manager and company nominated Trustee for one the company pension schemes.   Emily shares her journey in the actuarial profession, from discovering the profession to qualifying, and the importance of being open to new opportunities and taking on challenges. Emily discusses her passion for supporting female talent and promoting diversity and...

Cian is currently a Reinsurance Pricing Actuary at MS Amlin. He is responsible reinsurance pricing across all business lines, with a main focus on Property Catastrophe and Casualty Treaty. We discuss everything including how he entered the actuarial profession, why he chose a career in General Insurance, Cian’s experience of working for consultancies, insurance companies and brokers, and his view on the differences between specialising in reserving, capital modelling and pricing. He also...

Kiran is a Pensions Actuary and Team Leader at WTW in London. We discuss everything from how Kiran entered the actuarial profession, his fond memories of his first role with Hewitt (now Aon), taking breaks from the exams and qualifying recently, working for consultancies from the very small to the very large, working in both trustee and corporate focussed teams, working for companies through significant periods of change, why he joined WTW and how he has found it so far, and his role as a...

Matt is Head of Origination Structuring at PIC. Matt is responsible for sourcing, assessing and bringing on new pensions risk transactions, including finding innovative solutions for the more unusual trades – such as those involving deferred premiums or illiquid assets. We explore how he entered the actuarial profession, beginning his career with Buck, moving to insurance with PIC (despite accidentally keeping the interviewer waiting for 45 minutes 😊), and his recollection of how he found the...

Peter is a Life Actuary, with extensive experience in ALM and Investments. He relocated from the UK last year to join the BMA in Bermuda. We explore everything from how he secured his first actuarial role, beginning his career in insurance consulting, balancing technical skills with clear communication, transitioning from consulting to a life insurance company, developing his specialism in ALM & investments, climbing the career ladder and his recent decision to relocate from London to...

Amanda is a Consulting Actuary, people manager and recruitment specialist at WTW. We explore how Amanda discovered the actuarial profession, deciding between offers in insurance and pensions consulting, her approach to the exams, the challenges of finding opportunities to shine after qualifying, helping people to find their ideal mix of work, the value of trying something different, and developing a specialism in recruitment at WTW. I also loved hearing about Amanda’s passion for singing...

Kevin is an Actuary with 25 years of consulting experience, and the Founder of Guiide. Guiide is a free online platform which aims to bridge the pensions advice gap. It allows anyone who plans to enjoy the pension freedoms to build a tax efficient plan simply, to get what they want in retirement, using everything they have. We discuss everything from how Kevin entered the actuarial profession, his experience working for three different consultancies, helping to set up the bulk annuity team at...

Cath is a Client Partner at 4most, one of the leading specialist credit risk analytics and actuarial consultancies, globally. Cath has over 25 years of actuarial experience and specialises in understanding and solving the challenges faced by Life Insurance companies. We explore Cath's path to becoming an actuary, the value of trying different roles and functions within Life Insurance, becoming a people leader for large teams, being an examiner for the actuarial exams, her (unexpected, yet...

Julie is a Partner within the Public Sector Team at Hymans Robertson. We discuss entering the actuarial profession after completing her PhD, her experience with the exams, moving into people leadership and specialising in public sector consulting. Julie is also responsible for the internal Working Parents Network, so we explore her experience of balancing work with family life, working flexibly, and returning from maternity leave without hindering her career progression. Having spent time...