Actuarial People – Details, episodes & analysis

Mark is the London Practice Leader & Head of GMP Equalisation at Buck, a Gallagher Company. He is an experienced People Leader, Scheme Actuary and a Council member at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

We discuss everything from how Mark initially entered the actuarial profession, beginning his first role with WTW in Reigate, gaining line management experience at an early stage, moving to PwC after 12 years to experience a different type of role, and then joining Buck in a Leadership role where he has gone from strength-to-strength.

Mark gives amazing insight to his love for the people side of actuarial teams. We learn about the concept of ‘locus of control’, how he helps people to avoid a career plateau a few years after qualifying, and the importance of creating an environment where people have open discussions about their careers. Mark also shares how he came to take a lead on setting up and running the GMP equalisation team, the breadth of skills you can develop working in this area, his views on the future of the pensions industry, and advice for anyone starting their actuarial career in pensions today.

I hope you enjoy the conversation!!

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Felicia is an ex-Life, Pensions & GI Actuary who is now a Wealth Coach in the field of Pensions, Property and Stock Market Investments.

We discuss everything from Felicia’s entry into the actuarial profession, working in Life, Pensions and General Insurance, how she balanced this with running her own property business, through to life after being an Actuary. Today, Felicia has set herself a goal of helping one million women to become financially independent through education, and empowering them to take control of their finances. She wants to normalise talking about money, savings, pensions and investment strategies and we explore how she is doing this via workshops, podcasts, Instagram and YouTube.

Felicia was wonderfully open and honest about her own life experiences, and how events in her life have provided the motivation and inspiration for what she does today.

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Please connect with Felicia here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicia-flinders-b1359618/

You can follow her Instagram account here: https://www.instagram.com/ff_women_wealth_creation/?hl=en

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Amanda is a Consulting Actuary, people manager and recruitment specialist at WTW.

We explore how Amanda discovered the actuarial profession, deciding between offers in insurance and pensions consulting, her approach to the exams, the challenges of finding opportunities to shine after qualifying, helping people to find their ideal mix of work, the value of trying something different, and developing a specialism in recruitment at WTW.

I also loved hearing about Amanda’s passion for singing with Vocal Dimension and the Nova quartet, and her love of the theatre, drumming and tapdancing!

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Please connect with Amanda here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-prest/

Feel free to contact me via info@actuarialpeople.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescturner/

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Kevin is an Actuary with 25 years of consulting experience, and the Founder of Guiide. Guiide is a free online platform which aims to bridge the pensions advice gap. It allows anyone who plans to enjoy the pension freedoms to build a tax efficient plan simply, to get what they want in retirement, using everything they have.

We discuss everything from how Kevin entered the actuarial profession, his experience working for three different consultancies, helping to set up the bulk annuity team at Aon, taking on the challenge of being the only actuary in a new team at GT, developing the idea for Guiide and ultimately setting up his own business.

Kevin is a great example to anyone who’d like to start their own business, and it was really interesting hearing about Guiide and how it helps 10,000 people every month with their pension planning.

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Please connect with Kevin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-hollister-778a1293/

Feel free to contact me via info@actuarialpeople.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescturner/

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Cath is a Client Partner at 4most, one of the leading specialist credit risk analytics and actuarial consultancies, globally. Cath has over 25 years of actuarial experience and specialises in understanding and solving the challenges faced by Life Insurance companies.

We explore Cath's path to becoming an actuary, the value of trying different roles and functions within Life Insurance, becoming a people leader for large teams, being an examiner for the actuarial exams, her (unexpected, yet career-defining) move into actuarial modelling, and everything she has learned about herself along the way.

We also discuss Cath's recent move into actuarial consulting with 4most, and the kind of Consultant she is striving to be in her new role.

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Please connect with Cath here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cath-hodges-68b2344/

Please feel free to contact me via info@actuarialpeople.com

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Julie is a Partner within the Public Sector Team at Hymans Robertson.

We discuss entering the actuarial profession after completing her PhD, her experience with the exams, moving into people leadership and specialising in public sector consulting. Julie is also responsible for the internal Working Parents Network, so we explore her experience of balancing work with family life, working flexibly, and returning from maternity leave without hindering her career progression.

Having spent time getting to know Julie, I realised that anyone who enjoys being a pensions actuary, who’d like to continue in consulting but would like to do something genuinely different, should consider adding public sector consulting to the list when considering what to do next.

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Please connect with Julie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliewestlgpsemployers/

Feel free to contact me via info@actuarialpeople.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescturner/

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Victoria is a Partner at LCP and led the actuarial team of 80 people in Winchester for 5 years.

We discuss Victoria’s journey to date including joining LCP as a Graduate, her experience with the exams, becoming a people manager, asking for help and advice, saying yes to new opportunities, and her career progression through each level to becoming a Partner.

We also discuss her experience of hosting the podcast ‘Beyond Curious with LCP’ and her role as a Trustee for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, which prompted one of the hardest-hitting question I’ve posed to date: ‘What do you prefer – Pensions or Penguins?’

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Please connect with Victoria here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicsnowden/

‘Beyond Curious with LCP’ is available on all podcast platforms and the LCP website – Victoria co-hosted series 2!

Find out more about the charity UK Antarctic Heritage Trust here: https://www.ukaht.org/

Feel free to contact me via info@actuarialpeople.com, james@turnerperkins.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescturner/

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Joe is a Capital Actuary at Beazley. He is responsible for helping the Capital Team with updating and maintaining the internal model, specifically testing the model to ensure its operating effectively and compliant with regulations such as Solvency II.

We discuss Joe’s entry into the actuarial profession, his experience with the exams and helping others with their study, his reasons for moving from pensions consulting into General Insurance, how he prepared himself for the change, choosing to specialise in Capital Modelling, and how he has found it so far.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

Please connect with Joe here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-hills-21491195/

Feel free to contact me via info@actuarialpeople.com, james@turnerperkins.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescturner/

Actuarial People is sponsored by my actuarial recruitment company – https://turnerperkins.com

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Helena is an Actuary, People Development Specialist and Executive Coach at WTW.

She moved from the traditional actuarial path into people development a number of years ago, and now works to understand the learning & development needs of a range of colleagues from junior actuarial trainees through to very experienced client facing consultants, designing and delivering L&D solutions.

We discuss Helena’s entry into the actuarial profession, becoming a qualified actuary, working in small and large consultancies, moving internally into L&D, her passion for lifelong learning, and her role as a member of the IFoA Diversity Action Group.

Helena is a wonderful example of someone who has transitioned from being a traditional pensions actuary into something she is so clearly passionate about, and how you can do so with the support of a great employer.

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Please connect with Helena here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helena-ingram-39441a60/

Feel free to contact me on info@actuarialpeople.com, james@turnerperkins.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescturner/

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website

Matt is an Investment Consultant working for Isio, and specialises in LDI.

We explore Matt’s route into the actuarial profession after studying Maths and Cyber Security, gaining experience via a fully remote internship, choosing a career in consulting, balancing work with study and his other interests, presenting at his first client meeting, transferring from pensions to investment consulting and specialising in Liability-Driven Investment.

It was lovely to speak with someone at a relatively early stage of their career who has already experienced such breadth of what an actuarial career can offer.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

Please connect with Matt here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewcorrie100/

Feel free to contact me via info@actuarialpeople.com, james@turnerperkins.com or https://actuarialpeople.com.

Mentioned in this episode:

Actuarial People is sponsored by my recruitment company Turner Perkins. I specialise in helping pensions actuarial professionals across all experience levels with their career moves. Please visit https://turnerperkins.com or email james.turner@turnerperkins.com to arrange a confidential conversation!

TP Website