2022 Board Member Candidate
Karen Burnett, FSA 2002, FCIA 2002
Senior Director, Retirement
WTW
Toronto, ON
Election Message:
In today’s turbulent and challenging times with inflation being on the rise combined with talent shortages, risk management is critical for businesses to be successful and sustainable. The qualifications of actuaries uniquely position our profession to partner with companies to strengthen risk management solutions to ensure business viability and continued growth opportunities. At the same time, the SOA must continue to partner with organizations and professional bodies globally to generate innovative and practical research and solutions to help face global emerging challenges.
As an SOA Board member, I will work with SOA members, staff and the Board to ensure we execute on the SOA’s Strategic plan to:
- Engage our various communities around the globe to innovatively address key societal issues such as the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence, changing work environments and the long-term effects of the COVID 19 pandemic;
- Prepare actuaries to be broad business leaders to continue to enhance the leverage of data, technology, and judgement to create responsible and sustainable risk solutions; and
- Provide education and research globally and locally to meet the opportunities and challenges to respond to our evolving needs
In order to succeed, all aspects of the SOA short and long-term strategy need to have clearly articulated environmental, societal and governance (ESG) goals with key metrics to measure success. As a Board member, I will challenge the Board to ensure full inclusivity and equality in our membership and Board representation and to continuously seek membership input on societal issues that matter to them. As a governing body, the SOA needs to be able to help its members continue to learn and evolve on the ESG front. We also need to ensure that we conduct and support research and education that helps us support our broad ESG goals.
In addition, the future success of the SOA depends on the pipeline of future actuaries. Education and promotion in schools and post-secondary institutions of the profession and the significant societal impact the SOA and its membership have is critical to attract and generate excitement in future potential candidates. I will work with the Board to make sure that issues important to youth looking at career options are fully integrated into SOA education system and proactively engage actuaries to talk about these issues to the younger generation. Research shows us that Gen X is more purpose-driven than previous generations and we need to be able to articulate how being an actuary will help them create a more equitable and sustainable world. Success can be achieved if future candidates move away from asking “Why should I be an actuary?” to “Why would I even consider being anything but an actuary?”
My extensive experience building successful strategies for retirement programs, working on developing holistic approaches to plan management, along with my passion for emerging trends in ESG, DEI and wellbeing will be extremely helpful in fulfilling my SOA board responsibilities. My progressive roles on both the SOA examination and education committees, along with my role on the Association of Canadian Pension Managers (ACPM), make serving as a SOA board member a natural next step.
I have a great desire to continue to give back to the organization that has allowed me to have a very fulfilling professional career and help to shape the future of the profession and I hope I can count on your support to help me achieve this goal.
Brief description of current work:
Advisory and Consulting services in retirement plan management of defined benefit, defined contribution pension plans and other savings programs.
Primary Area(s) of Practice:
Retirement
Bio:
Karen Burnett joined WTW in 2000 and is a senior director in the Toronto Retirement Practice. Prior to joining WTW, Karen worked in the actuarial and pension consulting field for more than 5 years. Karen is the co-lead of Defined Contribution services in Canada providing strategic advice with respect to all aspects of defined contribution pension and savings plans.
During her 20+ years in the pension consulting industry, she has specialized in strategic consulting in all aspects of retirement plan management of defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans. Karen's consulting experience includes advising clients on all aspects of pension plan design, implementation and administration, and providing analysis and advice related to the financing of benefit plans.
Karen graduated with distinction from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics in actuarial science. Karen is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Karen is also the chair of the ACPM Ontario Council.