Candidate Questionnaire
Milliman, Inc.
Equity Principal & Consulting Actuary
New York, NY
Brief description of current work:
I provide consulting services to drug manufacturers and other clients in the healthcare industry
Primary Area of Practice:
Healthcare, Life Sciences
Other Areas of Practice:
Data analytics
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.
I have two decades of consulting experience in the healthcare industry. I have consulted to payers, pharmaceutical and device manufactures, patient advocacy groups, and other clients on issues related to healthcare affordability and access, the cost burden of disease, and the value of therapies. My experience as an actuary in a non-traditional role provides me with a broad view of the quantitative and leadership skills needed in today’s markets to assess and manage risk. Over the years I built a multidisciplinary team that combines data analytics, financial analysis, and predictive modeling to identify unmet patient needs and to understand the competitive landscape and market incentives with the goal of helping clients in the life sciences industry bring therapies to patients. This is an area where actuaries have been historically underappreciated and where I see a lot of potential. My team includes professionals from many backgrounds, including data scientists and MBAs who have been pointed out often as competitors to actuaries in the job market. I have gained an appreciation of the unique skill set that we actuaries bring to the table, what sets us apart from other professionals, and where we have room to grow.
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.
I have volunteered with the SOA and served in leadership roles for several years, which provided me with a solid understanding of the organization, its commitment to the members, candidates, and the general public, and the challenges and opportunities described in the strategic plan. I joined the Latin America Committee in 2015, became chair in 2018, and served in the International Committee until 2020. I continue to volunteer for the SOA by participating in sub-committees and speaking at the Health and Annual meetings, where I have the pleasure to connect with recent Fellows and ask about their experiences and aspirations.
I was already practicing as an actuary in my native Argentina when I moved to the US and undertook the SOA’s credentialling process, something my Argentinian colleagues describe as “starting from scratch” and “nuts” (perhaps, considering I became a Fellow after the birth of my second child). But it was worth it. The SOA really is the premier organization for credentialling actuaries, and the skills gained in the process are indispensable in the industries we serve. But we have several areas of development. As more actuaries gain positions of leadership in their organization, and as we expand to new industries, we cannot afford to hide behind our models. We must be able to articulate our complex models and analyses to non-actuarial audiences, learn to build consensus for decision making, and become comfortable voicing concerns and advocating for better data to guide business decisions.
Agility/Change
Describe a significant change that you led in the workplace or in your volunteer activities. What were the largest obstacles you overcame, and what would you have done differently to ensure greater success.
My practice at Milliman went through a major reorganization in late 2021, merging two teams who worked at different locations, operated in different lines of business, and had substantial work culture differences. Two major obstacles were integrating our work teams, which required a plan for members of both teams to acquire the knowledge and skillsets to operate in new lines of business, and different compensation structures which provided disincentives for the behavior changes needed for a successful integration. As one of the partners in the practice, I led the leadership teams tasked with redesigning the compensation structure and harmonizing our risk management practices, and oversaw multiple other teams working on harmonization efforts. While the integration was successful as measured by several metrics (we experienced minimal work disruptions, harmonized team policies, and maintained a high level of client satisfaction), the leadership team failed in other domains. In particular, we underestimated the value of multiple channels of communication (e-mails, town halls, one-on one meetings) to address people’s fears, failed to invest time to build trust in the practice’s leadership, and tried to accomplish too much too soon instead of prioritizing changes strategically and realistically. These failures provided important lessons for the present and future of the practice.
Motivating/Influencing
Describe a time when you helped resolve a difficult situation in a professional setting. Describe the situation, the actions you took, and the outcome.
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way we work in ways that were hard to anticipate. In the early days of the pandemic, I had to make several time-sensitive decisions to ensure the work of my practice was not interrupted, including providing all employees with adequate equipment to work at home, setting up new processes for onboarding new employees remotely, and communicating with clients to ensure there were no disruptions in ongoing projects. But if those early days were chaotic and unpredictable, the months that followed provided an even greater challenge: employee fatigue set in after months of increased productivity, the job market tighten with the great resignation, and return-to-office dilemmas were raised. As a leader of the practice, I strived to stay informed on pandemic developments, conducted research on issues that impacted employee satisfaction, communicated often with all members of my team to ensure they had the support they needed to thrive in a remote work environment, and projected stability in an otherwise changing landscape. I met regularly with both practice leaders and team members to ensure we created space for meaningful interactions. I had one-on-one virtual coffee breaks with team members to check on their wellbeing, ask about their level of engagement, and to answer their questions. I did not pretend to have all the answers, but reassured employees that any decisions made would be in the best interest of the team. I also acknowledge that we were living in unusual times, and that I would likely make mistakes along the way, but that I would appreciate honest feedback and suggestions to work better together. The outcome was a high retention rate, a productivity boost, and a successful and orderly return-to-office with tailored solutions for hybrid and remote work that fits employee needs.
Diversity
What steps might the SOA take to improve its diversity, equity and inclusion? You can read more about current efforts by the organization at www.soa.org/programs/diversity-inclusion.
I am very excited about the SOA’s commitment to advance diversity and inclusion not only through a more diverse membership but also through actuarial research to shed light on systemic disparities in our societies. The actuarial profession has a long and rich history of serving the public; the work we do impacts the financial wellbeing of the population in the countries of influence. An actuarial profession that is more representative of the population we serve is better equipped to solve the problems our communities face and more likely to produce solutions that work within our current constraints. At the same time, actuarial research that provides hypothesis on the underlying reasons for disparities and suggests potential solutions is sorely needed. In healthcare, my area of practice, the issue of equity has been prominent in recent years: Do we understand the reasons behind racial disparities in oncology care in the US? What drives differences in obesity rates in communities, and what can we do about it? Are there health insurance coverage features, tactics in the delivery of care, or others solutions we should explore?
I had the privilege of being a founding member and sponsoring partner of Milliman’s Unidos employee resource group, a group dedicated to the hiring, inclusion, and advancement of colleagues of Hispanic descent at Milliman. We are starting to learn the reasons why our pipeline of Hispanic consultants is weak, but we are only scratching the surface. If elected, I would work with the SOA to advance this important issue.
International
The 2022-2024 Strategic Plan includes an objective to Accelerate International Growth. Please explain how you will help the Board accomplish this.
All members of the SOA should feel energized by the organization’s initiatives in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The successful growth of the SOA in Asia was in large part due to initiatives the SOA undertook one or two generations ago. These efforts look less like a sprint and more like a marathon: slow but steady efforts to build relationships, understand the local market needs, and craft solutions that meet those needs. We know these initiatives may take time, but the reward will be an even more global actuarial organization that can 1) educate actuaries with a “portable” credential who are qualified to operate in most of the world, and 2) meet the demands of actuarial employers operating in multiple countries in a complex, interconnected economy.
During my time as chair of the Latin American Committee (LAC), we visited the three countries with the largest output of actuaries in the region: Argentina, Colombia and Brazil. We met with regulators, employers of actuaries, university leaders, and candidates. We asked lots of questions, listened, told our stories, and stayed in touch. We were encouraged by their enthusiasm. If elected, I would be able to translate my experience in the LAC to the SOA’s initiatives in the Middle East and Africa.
Emerging
The SOA Long-Term Growth Strategy outlines the six critical issues our research has identified as the trends changing our environment and impacting our work as actuaries. How might the Board address any of these issues to keep the SOA successful?
With the unprecedented pace of change in our economies, actuaries risk becoming obsolete if unable to adapt to the new paradigm. Historically, actuaries have been experts at “crunching” data. Today, however, to better serve their industries, actuaries must be able to sift through the data, manipulate it, interpret it, and make decisions with seemingly conflicting data points. In addition, actuaries who aspire to leadership roles must craft a solution, solicit feedback, propose variants of such solution to address feedback, articulate the risks and rewards of the proposed solution to stakeholders, build consensus for decision making, etc.
A key step in addressing the need of today’s actuaries is the modernization of the SOA’s education program. The educational focus on data science, unconscious bias, and artificial intelligence in the SOA’s long-term strategy will prepare candidates for today’s challenges of working with data to keep actuaries relevant in the job market. In addition, the new educational approach, which aims to incorporate emotional intelligence and adaptability skills, will better prepare tomorrow’s actuaries by providing the tools to be influential leaders in the industries we serve.