Steve Lowe, president of the Casualty Actuarial Society, visited Drake University and served as the keynote speaker for the Iowa Actuaries Club’s annual Education Day on February 24-25. He also met with faculty and students during his visit.
At an evening presentation held exclusively for Drake students, Lowe discussed opportunities that are available for casualty actuaries both inside and outside the insurance industry. He also shared about his own career path, including the positions and projects he has been involved with along the way and how his actuary positions contributed to meaningful business decisions. Casualty Actuarial Society is a professional society of actuaries that specialize in casualty and property insurance.
“Steve Lowe was very insightful,” says Melissa Neutz, a sophomore actuarial science and finance major who attended Lowe’s talk. “Before his presentation I was unsure about the CAS route, but after hearing information about CAS and some of his professional stories, I am very interested. There are so many different opportunities for casualty actuaries, and I look forward to looking into those opportunities for a potential career.”
Students were also invited to the Education Day events, giving them a chance to attend breakout sessions and to interact with the approximately 200 industry professionals who participated in the day’s activities. Several students volunteered to introduce speakers and sessions, which included topics like cyber risk events, actuarial innovation, and implementing price optimization.
“This was a great networking opportunity for our students as well as a great learning opportunity,” says Susan Watson, assistant professor of statistics and assistant director of the school of actuarial science and risk management at Drake. “Students were able to hear from actuaries in the Des Moines area and to make connections that will extend beyond their years at Drake.”
During the day’s luncheon, Lowe gave a presentation titled “Data Science, Predictive Analytics, and the Casualty Actuarial Society.” Drake’s CPBA presented the Floyd S. Harper award to Sam Gray and Roy Ju, the top actuarial students of the year, and the Goldberg award to Roy Ju for passing the most actuarial exams. Ju passed all of his exams and is the youngest person ever to attain the designation of Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.