PROCEEDINGS May 15, 16, 17, 18, 2005 - Casualty Actuarial Society

ADDRESS TO NEW MEMBERS 743Now to an area I would refer to as your outward horizon.Again, a short anecdote: Many years ago I had a brief discussionwith the chief executive officer of General Re, Harold Hudson.We talked about why no officer had the title of “actuary” in thecorporation. His response was that the title was “too limiting.” Idid not necessarily agree, but I understood the point. It’s certainlyfood for thought.I know most of you look forward to pursuing your career asan actuary. It is a great profession. J.D. Powers & Associatesalways ranked it very high or number one on several occasionswhen compared to other professions. Now let me offer a fewoutward horizons that may arise along the way.Again, a brief anecdote: At one point in time, Ace, GeneralRe, American Re, NAC-Re, Everest Re, Employers Re, UnderwritersRe, and Renaissance Re all had one thing in common–all their chief executive officers were actuaries. Outside of theSwiss and Germans, this was most of the United States reinsurancemarket. All were members of our Society except one,and he was a member of the Danish Actuarial Society. Manyof them got there by different routes such as actuarial, finance,underwriting, and accounting, just to name a few.Think about it. Your actuarial background prepares you wellto take on other assignments that may come your way in yourhorizon.For example, today I see a large group of casualty actuariesin the room–I would wager that less than 25 in the audiencespend one quarter of their time working on the asset side ofthe balance sheet, yet investment analysis and management isnatural for an actuarial mind. Did you know that, at one time,and perhaps still today, a substantial percentage of the BritishInstitute of Actuaries were employed in the investment industryrather than the insurance arena? Certainly, this is an appropriatearea when you are thinking about risk theory.