Elayne Grace
The Actuaries Institute this month celebrates 125 years of guiding government, business and the wider community through insight, independent advice, and rigorous data analysis.
From a small group of like-minded individuals in 1897 to the diverse, successful organisation it is today, the Institute has always focussed on what data can predict about the future.
“Today is the age of the actuary because it is the age of data,” Actuaries Institute President Annette King said. “And our relevance continues to increase as artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science change the world we live in. Actuaries will be there to harness, integrate and question that data; to ensure it is used wisely and well – and for good.”
Elayne Grace, Chief Executive Officer of the Actuaries Institute, said the Institute had served the public interest since it began – from underpinning financial institutions like life insurance companies and friendly societies to the varied services actuaries now offer across insurance, superannuation, and consulting but also in areas of public policy such as climate change, intergenerational equity, data ethics and cyber security.
“When we began, we protected Australians from an uncertain future. Our professionalism, our independence, and our ability to wrest the truth from data helped people and organisations to plan and adapt,” Ms Grace said. “Our essence has not changed, but everything else has and we have continued to evolve with it.”
Australian actuaries work in a wide range of disciplines – insurance, superannuation, banks, data science, government, risk, climate change, energy, health, fintech, finance and investment. They are strategy-focused leaders who work with the exploding world of data and data management techniques to balance stakeholder interests, manage risk, optimise outcomes, price products and solve complex business and social problems.
Increasingly, they drive public policy. “Actuaries’ rigorous skills work in public policy because we combine them with a tradition of independence and an ethical framework that has always been built on a sense of equity,” Ms King said.
The Institute now boasts 5500 members, 50% under 35 years of age and 25% working in Asia, having started with 17 members in 1897. The member base is 34% female and 66 % male, but with increasingly strong female representation at the highest levels.
Annette King is the eighth female president; the first was Catherine Prime, appointed in 1991, and there have been 5 in the past 10 years. Hoa Bui was the seventh female and first Asia-born president when appointed in 2020. The Institute currently has a female CEO (Elayne Grace), with the first CEO being Catherine Beall in 1999.
Professor Alfred Pollard established the first Actuarial Studies degree at Macquarie University in 1968 and now seven Australian and one New Zealand university offer actuarial training accredited by the Institute. More than 700 members volunteer their time on the Institute’s committees, task forces and working groups – to shape the profession and engage with industry, government, academia, and the media.
“Wherever you stand in this profession, you stand on the shoulders of giants,” said Ms King, “the presidents, councillors, volunteers, and countless others who led a profession that continues to help shape Australia. We are who we are today because of their work and their traditions of excellence, integrity, curiosity, innovation – and courage.”
The Institute will be hosting the International Congress of Actuaries, a global meeting of the brightest actuarial minds, in Sydney next May/June. The five-day ICA2023 will bring together 500 speakers from more than 50 countries to discuss data analytics and AI, climate change, cyber risk, the rise and rise of Asian financial services, the impact of IFRS 17, the age of the consumer and many other topics.