Profile

As I entered Rose-Hulman all those years ago, I was like most students.  I had declared myself to be an Electrical Engineering major and obviously selected Rose since it was the very best place to get an engineering degree.

However, after a year at Rose, I figured out that it was really the mathematics that I was interested in.  So, at the start of my sophomore year, I changed my major to math.  At the time, I didn't really know what I was going to do with it.  Just figured I'd probably go to grad school and end up teaching, I guess.

But then, during my junior year, Dr. Kinney asked if anyone was interested in taking actuarial exams.  I raised my hand and said "Taking what?"  After that, I spent some time talking with Dr. Kinney about the career, and I was hooked.  I definitely was looking for a practical application of my mathematics knowledge, and actuarial science seems to be a perfect fit for me.

Following graduation in 1991, I started working at American States Insurance in Indianapolis.  I did pricing for our Auto and Homeowners lines of business for six years.  After that, I moved into catastrophe modeling for a couple years before finishing up my time in Indy doing loss reserving.  In 1997, we were purchased by Safeco Insurance, and then in 2001 Safeco closed our Indianapolis office.

At that point, I applied for a job with Allstate Insurance, and started here in August 2001.  I spent the first three and a half years in our Research department doing some economic modeling, followed that up with a stint as the pricing manager for our North Central region (covering Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio), and now I am the lead actuary for our Commercial Lines area.

After sixteen years as an actuary, I can honestly say that I can't think of a better career fit for myself.  I love combining the mathematics and economics of the business world to try and come up with solutions to issues facing our company.