Written by Claire Mastrangelo
Diana Skrzydlo talks about how the program has changed in recent years, why it continues to draw top global talent and what the future holds for insurance professionals worldwide.
What is the most rewarding part of your role?
I love all of it, but I think my favorite thing is how close the class becomes. It really becomes a family. They lean on each other a lot. They come from many different backgrounds, both culturally and academically, and they help each other out in different areas. Even years after graduating, people are still friends with their class. It's a huge, huge influence on their lives.
How has the program changed in recent years?
The nice thing about a graduate program, which is all our own, is that we can make small changes to the course material without needing to go through a long administrative process. We can be nimble.
One or two years before the Society of Actuaries introduced predictive analytics to their curriculum, we noticed that more employers required those skills. We changed one of our courses to predictive analytics with actuarial applications. Once the Society of Actuaries started calling for analytics, we were able to say, “done already.”
We have one recent change that is really exciting, and that’s an industry capstone project. Previously, in the final term, the students did a research project on a topic of their choice. This year, we made the capstone more industry focused by working with companies on their projects. Having some industry experience working with real data was very good for the students, and the companies benefited from the students’ contributions as well. We plan to continue the industry capstone project next year
How would you describe the students in your program?
I don't think there’s any one way to describe them because they’re so different from each other. They are all definitely smart, and really hardworking. They come from a huge variety of backgrounds - engineering, medical physics, psychology, economics... We deliberately look for people who don’t have an actuarial background, because the program is for people who heard about actuarial science later in their career and want to shift gears.
Why do so many international students come to the program?
In part, it’s the accreditation. It’s the only program in North America that is accredited by the U.K. Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and their accreditation is transferable to the Society of Actuaries in the U.S, as well as India, Australia, Hong Kong, etc. The program is accredited by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries as well.
I’ve been fortunate to inherit [founding director] Mary Hardy’s reputation, but Waterloo itself has a good reputation for actuarial science internationally. The number of faculty who are well known, the research produced here . . . actuarial science is in the water.
How are your graduates making an impact on industry?
Of the alumni we track, 80 per cent are in an actuarial role - usually in an insurance company, but not always - 10 per cent are in a non-actuarial role in financial institutions, and 10 per cent are in something else, mostly teaching. Some teachers came through the READI project, which was our six-year program to build actuarial capacity in Indonesia. Lecturers from Indonesia took our program, then went back and taught their students.
One of our grads from a few years ago manages all of the sustainable investing for a large capital firm in Germany. I asked her to give a guest lecture online, and she shared ESG principles and talked about how companies can invest sustainably.
What are the big questions actuarial science faces today?
Climate change is a big one. Flooding and fires are growing worse, and many areas that need insurance either don’t have it or are underinsured. Insurance isn’t common in some places, so a culture shift has to happen to let people know what it is and how it can help.
Equity in AI is important as well. People are finally realizing that their algorithms might be rewarding the wrong behavior or using variables that are proxies for wealth instead of actually reflecting risk. Being more cognizant of equity when setting insurance rates is another issue. You used to hear about a little, but now keynote speakers are talking about it at major actuarial conferences. It’s on people’s minds more than ever, which is good.
How does your program address those questions?
The first two terms of the program are fairly technical, then in the third term we get a bit more nuanced. We have guest speakers who talk about things like sustainable finance. However, I always talk about ethics in class. I love the idea of embedded ethics, which is a quote from my friend and colleague. Ethics and equity should be part of every conversation, not the subject of a separate course.
Students will often choose to look at something important to them in their capstone projects. One of them looked at crop insurance in Indonesia. Several of them have looked at climate change. One year, I even put that as the final exam question - “What can actuaries do about climate change?” - because the insurance industry can have an effect on public policy. What it chooses to cover, or refuses to cover, can have a big influence on what people actually do.
What is your vision for the future of the program?
My short-term goal is to deepen the connection between students and employers through the industry capstone project. I’ll also continue to admit students who have a strong sense of ethics and believe that actuaries should uphold the solvency of financial security systems, so that people can rely on them when they need to.
Anytime I see a story in the news about an insurance company that cheated somebody out of a payment, I get so mad. That’s not how insurance is supposed to be. So, I think my most ambitious goal is to change the public perception of what actuaries are and what insurance is — that it’s actually there to help you. That’s impossible for one person to do, so I can lead by example for the students who come through the program, and then hopefully they go out into the workplace and bring that sense of ethics to their work.