Candidate Questionnaire
Melody Prangley, FSA 2007, MAAA 2008, EA 2009, FCA 2021
New York State Teachers’ Retirement System
Deputy Chief Actuary
Albany, NY
Brief description of current work:
Public Pension Plan Actuary
Primary Area of Practice:
Retirement
Professional Background
Provide a brief description of your professional background and the type of work you have performed and explain how these experiences have uniquely prepared you as an Elected Board Member and qualify you in carrying out the strategic direction of the SOA.
Melody spent 17 years at Willis Towers Watson. Her latest role was the leader of Settlement Solutions in the Pension Risk Transfer space. The Settlement Solutions Leader led sales and implementation of the administration of lump sum windows, annuity purchases and plan terminations. Implementation included benefit and actuarial calculations, call center management, project management and resource management. Additionally, the role included leading development of intellectual capital. Prior to this role, Melody was a lead consultant for private pension plans. Responsibilities included financial management and leading special projects for the plans.
Currently Melody is the Deputy Chief Actuary of the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS). NYSTRS is one of the ten largest public pension funds in the United States. The actuarial team maintains a secure, stable pension for the members of NYSTRS. Melody leads the annual preparation of the actuarial valuation and employer contribution rate.
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.
Melody has been a volunteer at the SOA for close to 15 years, starting in December 2007. She is currently the General Officer of Fellowship Retirement Examinations. The Fellowship Examination Committees are responsible for the development and grading of fellowship examinations. Melody is the General Officer for Canada and US Design and Accounting, Canada Funding and Regulation and the joint Retirement Plan Investment and Risk Management under the Retirement Benefits track.
Melody is passionate about growing our new members through exam education. Melody would like to expand her support of up-and-coming actuaries through the development of college programs to promote and grow the profession.
Melody was a board member of the Seven Lakes Community Association from 2016 to 2020.
Agility/Change
Describe a significant change that you led in the workplace or in your volunteer activities. Explain what worked well and what could have gone better.
As a board member of the Seven Lakes Community Association, Melody led the project development for use of excess funds. The identification of the excess funds and development of potential project ideas went well. The consensus building to choose a project could have gone better. Initially a vote of all members was utilized, but it drew inconclusive results and arguments between members. Ultimately, it worked better for the elected board members to choose and implement projects for the community.
Motivating/Influencing
Describe a difficult situation or disagreement that you had in a professional setting during which opinions varied and you worked through the issues that led to a successful result.
In the role as Settlement Solutions Leader at Willis Towers Watson, Melody coordinated multiple work groups to successfully complete projects. The groups included Pension Administration, Actuarial and Risk Management. Often the groups had competing priorities, so Melody formed strong relationships with each group and created processes and work flows to ensure successful calibration. When there was a conflict or a difficult situation, Melody would meet with all parties and facilitate a working session to determine possible solutions and an execution plan.
Diversity
What additional actions do you think the Board should take regarding diversity, equity and inclusion?
The current SOA membership is a third female. Melody would like to concentrate on promoting the actuarial profession through outreach to math and accounting females in their initial year in college to inform students of the profession and grow interest. Additionally, she would like to explore a female support program, connecting female exam-taking analysts with professionals through group seminars and formal mentorship programs.
International
What can the SOA Board do to balance the needs of our global membership? How will your experience help the Board accomplish this?
As the General Officer of the Retirement Exams, Melody recently recommended to the SOA board to explore changing the Funding and Regulation Exam (Canada only) to a more inclusive Global Funding and Regulation Exam. This exam could cover Global Retirement topics, Public Retirement topics and Funding methods. It would expand the FSA path for students in both our global and US memberships.
Emerging
Recently, the number of new candidates for actuarial exams has been declining. What additional actions should the Board take on this topic in relation to keeping the SOA successful?
Melody would like to promote the actuarial profession through outreach to math and accounting students in their initial year in college. The actuarial profession is consistently promoted as a top profession. The SOA should be at the schools promoting this message, articulating the value of actuary vs data science, and helping students understand the path to becoming an actuary, with the new UCAP and CAE programs.
Additionally, internships are very important for students to connect with the profession, the SOA should explore rewards for employers who employ additional interns (example, free webcast, reduced membership fees, etc.).