Eric Sandberg, Chief Actuary and Chief Risk Officer, made an announcement about new assignments and promotions in the Corporate Actuarial area.
Becca Noyes will assume interim leadership over the Annuity Valuation Team. Becca brings significant understanding of the block from an ALM and Hedging perspective and I expect will quickly get up to speed in supporting the team.
In recognition of Ed McKelvey’s great work on the Capital Forecasting Project, which is of growing importance, Ed will report directly to me going forward.
I have asked Michel Fournier to lead the ALM/Hedging Team. Michel brings strong ALM, Hedging and Risk expertise from his prior work at National Life as well as his former companies. He will support the team in a number of key initiatives advancing our understanding of our Balance Sheet.
To further support Becca, we have asked Josh Bowman to collaborate with Tom Lu on the financial reporting for our Equity Indexed Annuities. Josh’s experience on Fixed Annuities, as well as understanding of our automated process has prepared him, in partnership with Tom, for the critical role of explaining our complex and biggest set of liabilities.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to announce several promotions:
– Mike Crawford has been leading our Modeling team over the past several years. He has been critical to us in supporting our Appointed Actuarial work along with several other processes including VNB. Given his experience and capabilities, we have asked Mike to assume the roles of Appointed Actuary for both NLIC and LSW in addition to his current role. With these responsibilities, Mike will be providing his professional actuarial opinion on the adequacy of our reserves annually to our various State regulators. Mike exercises the professional insights and balanced judgement necessary for a role that stands at the heart of “Keeping our Promises.”
– Debbie Goulet has been a critical resource for us across Corporate Actuarial for many years. From her work supporting our valuation group, our annual planning process, various capital projects and most recently ALM reporting, she has always demonstrated a talent for detailed understanding of complex relationships and a dedication to getting the job done. For her prior contributions, as well as the many ways she will help us get even better in the future, Becca and I are pleased to announce Debbie has been promoted to Director of Financial Analysis.
– Nicole Frey has been a key contributor for our Product Development area and now for A/LM since joining the Actuarial Program three years ago. Her most recent work has leveraged expertise from both roles in order to give us greater insight into the behavior of our liabilities as interest rates change. Our products contain a vast number of assumptions from premium patterns to lapse rates. Each of these assumptions impact the cash flows we can expect to see. As cash flows change, our optimal investment strategy changes. We have an extensive project occurring right now in partnership with Investments to rapidly advance the understanding of these relationships. Nicole’s work, along with Nick Brink, has informed us on this journey and will ultimately give us far greater confidence on our A/LM benchmarks. In recognition of her contributions and potential, Becca and I are pleased to announce Nicole’s promotion to Associate Actuary.