In Memory of Ken Seng Tan
January 23, 2023
The Society of Actuaries (SOA) received the sad news that Ken Seng Tan, ASA, CERA, passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 1, 2023. His loss is greatly felt at the SOA, and our thoughts and condolences are with Ken Seng’s friends and family. We hope to honor his professionalism, achievements and especially the friendships he formed through his interactions and volunteer work with the SOA.
Most recently, Ken Seng was president’s chair in actuarial risk management at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, as well as professor and deputy division head of actuarial science in the Division of Banking and Finance. Additionally, Ken Seng served as the director of the Insurance Risk and Finance Research Centre at NTU.
Ken Seng received his Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and his 1995 doctoral thesis won an award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies. He was the research chair professor in quantitative risk management in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo. He also served the chief actuarial advisor for the Risk Management, Economic Sustainability, and Actuarial Science Development in Indonesia project and led a government-to-government development initiative between Canada and Indonesia.
Ken Seng also had been affiliated with the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, China, as the honorary director of China Institute for Actuarial Science, a key research institute as designated by the Ministry of Education, China. Ken Seng had been active in research, education reform and support for the actuarial profession, including serving as the evaluation member of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant.
Ken Seng had been an SOA member since 1992. He was a devoted volunteer and a co-editor of the North American Actuarial Journal (NAAJ). He served as an elected council member for the International, Joint Risk Management and Investment sections and had been vice chairperson for the Centers of Actuarial Excellence grants committee. Ken Seng was also a key member of the China region committee and guided the SOA’s development in the early years of its presence in the region. In fact, Ken Seng participated in many SOA committees over the years, and most recently he had been an active member of the research council committee.
“Ken Seng often volunteered his time and expertise by speaking at events like Living to 100,” stated SOA Research Institute Managing Director Dale Hall. “We will miss his energy and enthusiasm.”
Ken Seng contributed his time on the academic planning committee for the SOA’s Asia-Pacific Actuarial Teaching Conference, which took place in Bangkok in December 2022, and he presented at a couple of the sessions.
“We met with him in Bangkok to discuss his ideas about supporting the actuarial profession’s further development in Southeast Asia,” said Andy Peterson, SOA International managing director. “In addition to being an active SOA member and volunteer, Ken Seng was an idea guy with lots of energy who got things done.”
Along with co-editing the NAAJ, Ken Seng served as the associate editor of the Annals of Actuarial Science and Agricultural Finance Review. Ken Seng was also a prolific researcher, having published more than 140 research papers and book chapters and presented, upon invitation, at scores of academic and professional conferences and seminars. The caliber of Ken Seng’s work earned him several awards, including the 1996-97 Redington Prize, the NAAJ Prize for best article in 2001 and 2003, and the 2012 Charles A. Hachemeister Prize.