Candidate Questionnaire
David Ruiz (he/him), FSA 2000
Vice President, Head Finance Actuary
Pacific Life Insurance Company
Alisa Viejo CA
Brief description of current work:
I have accountability for the PL Life Insurance Division’s Actuarial Modeling, Valuation, ALM, Reinsurance, Financial Planning and Projections, and Actuarial Transformation.
Primary Area of Practice:
Life Insurance, Finance
Why do you want to be on the Board?
My diverse background in education, innovation and international experience would bring new dimensions and perspectives to the SOA board, help to prepare our future candidates for the fast-changing landscape, particularly in Asia and assist SOA to achieve greater international success.
Professional Background
Provide a brief description of your professional background and the type of work you have performed and explain how these experiences have prepared you as an Elected Board Member and qualify you in carrying out the strategic direction of the SOA.
I have 29 years of experience in the Profession, all the while working as a Financial Actuary. Over that time, working both in the US and the UK, I have accepted increasing levels of management and leadership responsibility. In my current role as VP & Head Finance Actuary for the Life Insurance Division of Pacific Life, my core responsibilities include Valuation, ALM, Reinsurance and Financial Planning and Projections for the Company’s variable and fixed life insurance offerings.
Over the course of my career I have had the opportunity to provide my leadership on several strategic projects impacting the actuarial community in my company. I am currently accountable for a multi-year Actuarial Transformation project that will change the way we work across all actuarial functions. As actuarial work changes across the industry, the SOA will continue to perform a critical role in training and developing new actuarial talent that can thrive in the new environment. One of my passions is developing the next generation of Actuaries. My experiences in Transformation will allow me to bring my expertise to Board discussions on the future of the profession.
Volunteer, Governance and Personal Experience
Describe how your volunteer, governance and personal experiences would strengthen your contributions to the SOA Board, the organization, and strategic plan execution. Please list your relevant volunteer experience. Please include the name of the organization, your role, and approximate dates.
Volunteer contribution to the Actuarial Profession:
- SOA/CAS Joint Council on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, 2021 (current)
- Society of Actuaries Leadership and Development Section Council, 2018-2021 (current)
- Chair 2020-2021
- Treasurer/Secretary 2018-2019
- Society of Actuaries Financial Reporting Section Council, 2015-2018 (Treasurer)
- American Academy of Actuaries Life Financial Reporting Council, 2012-current
- Institute and Faculty of Actuaries volunteer, 2011-current
Relevant Personal Volunteer experiences:
- Board Member, Transatlantic Council, BSA 2007-2014
I currently serve as Chair of the Leadership and Development Section Council. As a Council member for L&D and for Financial Reporting councils, I have been involved in working toward the SOA’s strategic initiatives for the last six years. The L&D council is currently assisting with the young professional engagement initiative as well as DEI. These experiences have given me insights into how the SOA implements strategy through the power of member engagement.
As a board member for Transatlantic Council, BSA, I held several committee positions that gave me experience in leading a non-profit charitable organization focused on character development of its members. I was involved in setting strategy, overseeing financial position, and driving program offerings for thousands of members across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Agility/Change
What did you learn in the COVID19 pandemic that will help you, post-pandemic?
The pandemic transformed our industry overnight into a work-from-home profession. Actuarial leaders all over the world had to learn a new set of skills to adapt to the virtual environment, including how to hire, develop and manage a team of remote individuals, network across the organization and industry, and build the personal connections that make leadership successful.
Gone are the days of everyone working in the office. As we move into the “new normal”, I will have a team that works from home a majority of the time. The virtual operating skills I’ve learned over the pandemic will help me to maintain the team culture when half of the team is in a meeting room and half are on the screen. I’ve also become fluent in virtual networking, which will help me to strengthen my connections with people both within my company and across the industry.
Motivating/Influencing
Describe a constructive conversation you had in a group setting or one-on-one during which opinions varied and you needed to get to a consensus.
My company is currently implementing a new actuarial software package and related data infrastructure that will be the engine for our transformation. I am accountable for making sure our Actuarial Transformation occurs on time and within budget. In a recent steering committee meeting we needed to come to consensus on whether to add to the scope of the project or keep it as originally laid out. The new scope would bring a new product into our initial system implementation but would cause us to delay some components and to increase cost.
The argument against the scope change from some key executives was strong, due to the additional expense. I argued in favor of the scope change because this addition would increase engagement of some key stakeholders. I was able to influence the group to adopt the change by pointing out the value of having these stakeholders as engaged champions of the transformation efforts.
Diversity
Describe how your awareness of diversity, equity and inclusion has evolved throughout your life.
When I joined the actuarial profession as a student, I did not notice the lack of diversity of the actuarial community. I only started to become aware of the issue when I first started attending industry meetings. Over the years post-qualification, I have been increasingly troubled by the lack of diversity of our profession. I joined our company’s Enterprise Inclusion Council to help make a difference in the ways we approach hiring diverse talent and building diverse teams within the company. Our efforts to date have largely served to educate people about unconscious bias and to highlight the importance of diversity in the workplace. Our Council organized Days of Understanding, conversations about how we show up in the workplace and whether we bring our authentic selves to work every day. We also host Diversity Circles on a monthly basis to explore topics about inclusion.
As the latest step on my DEI journey, I have joined the SOA/CAS Joint Council on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. As a member of this group, I hope to continue to work to increase the number of candidates and actuaries coming from underserved communities and to increase the diversity of our SOA leadership.
International
How would your experiences strengthen your understanding of international issues?
I had the privilege of working overseas from 2006-2011, which opened my eyes to insurance market in Europe. As a life-long Financial Actuary, I was able to work on and learn Solvency II while also being a local expert on US GAAP. Now that I am back in the US, I have stayed engaged with the international business of my company and of a few of our close competitors. I believe this has given me a good understanding of international issues.
One of the most pressing international issues facing the SOA today is outsourcing and co-sourcing of actuarial work. As actuarial work is moved offshore, it is often moved to actuaries who are not affiliated with the Society of Actuaries. In order to stay relevant in an increasingly global economy, we need to strengthen our presence overseas.
Emerging
How does the SOA need to change to meet emerging challenges and opportunities?
Increasing diversity and inclusiveness is the key to a strong and viable Society of Actuaries. We must continue our focus on diversifying the profession, engaging with young professionals and strengthening our partnerships with actuarial organizations across the globe. Seeking out and welcoming new members from underrepresented communities will be a key to meeting this challenge.
In order to embrace diversity, we need engagement from our entire membership. We need every actuary to seek out ways to ensure that our profession has diverse membership, that represents the entire population we’re serving. Starting an open and ongoing dialog will be critical to ensure we raise awareness and identify solutions that will help us on our journey.
We need visionary leaders to keep the Society moving forward. A new strategic plan will carry us from 2022-2025 and beyond. This strategic plan needs to set a bold vision for the Society and the transformation of the actuarial profession. As a Board member, I will work diligently to influence the strategic direction of the SOA. It will be my mission ensure the SOA becomes recognized as a leader in diversity and inclusiveness, while it continues to maintain and enhance its role as the premier global actuarial organization.