CAS Profile: Ari Moskowitz, ACAS
Where do you work and what is your position?
I’m currently Group Chief Risk Officer at Everest, a global P&C insurance and reinsurance company headquartered in Warren, NJ.
Why did you decide to become an actuary?
I majored in actuarial sciences in college because I really enjoyed math and wanted to eventually be in the financial sector. But I decided to start my career as a teacher before I moved into the actuarial field. Teaching was a passion of mine and I loved my years teaching, but ultimately the actuarial career path did provide greater stability and long-term viability for me and my family.
What aspects of the field do you love?
I love the problem-solving nature of what we do. While I can geek out with math problems all day, I more so enjoy putting the tools to task and making a strong business impact.
What is the best career advice you have ever received?
Don’t view your career path as linear. Many entrants into the field think that career trajectories are clearly defined paths where each subsequent step is perfectly predictable. I’ve found my career takes many different forms from insurance to reinsurance, reserving to pricing, and individual contributor to departmental oversight. But the steps weren’t necessarily down a specific pathway that I traversed through and sometimes the opportunities arose in my peripheral vision. It’s important to be at a company that supports non-linear career paths and ultimately can give you the most opportunities. I’ve personally spent over ten years working at Everest within which I’ve had many different zigs and zags, included moving away from being the Chief Pricing Actuary into roles beyond traditional actuarial such as Chief Operations Officer and more recently Group Chief Risk Officer.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Always offer to be involved with different projects at work. Raise your hand if someone needs assistance with something and if they don’t need assistance then raise your hand anyway! Opportunities don’t just fall onto your desk and sometimes you need to put yourself out there to find them. This includes being willing to stretch outside your comfort zone to be involved with new types of work which may require new skills or doing work which may not seem as exciting but will allow you to see aspects of your company that you wouldn’t have seen in your role otherwise.
Why would you recommend a career in the insurance industry to current college students?
The insurance industry is constantly evolving as the world’s risk environment constantly shifts and the method of transferring risk via insurance also changes. This offers great opportunities for future actuaries to blend strong technical skills with creativity for problem solving and innovation.
What can students do now to prepare for a career in the industry?
Since actuaries work with people across many parts of a company, it’s good to complement your math skills with other important business needs like finance, economics, programming, and communications.