Meet the Candidates: Daniel Fernandez

Candidate Information

  • ACAS: January 2014
    FCAS: July 2015

    Education:

    B.S. in Economics
    Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

    Current Employment:

    PartnerRe
    Vice President & LOB Specialist (August 2020 – Present)

    CAS Activities and Publications:

    Member of the CAS Reinsurance Research Committee (2014 – Present)
    Member of the CAS Diversity Committee (2015 – 2019)
    Member of the CAS/SOA Joint Committee for Career Encouragement and Actuarial Diversity (2014 – 2019)
    Member of the CAS/SOA Joint Committee for Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity (2020)

    Other Actuarial Organizations:

    Organization of Latino Actuaries

    • Co-Founder and Secretary – Board of Directors (2017 – 2019)
    • Director of Marketing – Board of Directors (2020)
    • President – Board of Directors (Present)

    Other Professional Designations:

    Member of the American Academy of Actuaries

  • Employment History - Prior Employers:

    Navigators/The Hartford (May 2014 – August 2020)
    Berkley Re America (August 2010 – May 2014)

    Civic Activities (volunteer, elected, appointed):

    Summer on the Hill
    Treasurer of the Board of Trustees (2018 – Present)
    Member of the Board of Trustees (2016 – 2018)

    Summer on the Hill (SOH) is a year-round, supplemental enrichment program for gifted and talented, low-income public-school students from the Bronx, Washington Heights, and Harlem in New York City.

  • One of the reasons I want to serve on the CAS Board of Directors is to give back to an organization that has provided me with many opportunities early on in my career, while supporting initiatives that will help our organization and profession evolve and thrive.

    I also aspire to have an impact on an organization that I will continue to serve, and will continue to serve me, for the next 30 years or so. As our membership grows at an exponential rate, our membership is also skewing younger. I think it would be great to have more representation on the Board from our younger generation of actuaries rising through the ranks.

    Lastly, I think it would be a great opportunity to work with a group of consummate professionals who care as much about the CAS and the actuarial profession as much as I do. Disagreements are bound to occur on certain issues (I currently serve on two Boards to know that), but as long as we are fulfilling our fiduciary responsibilities as Board members and thinking about the CAS first in each decision that we make, the ceiling is high with regards to what we can achieve – I want to be a part of that.

  • Throughout my career, I have gained a global perspective through working with colleagues across geographies and disciplines to solve a variety of problems. I look forward to leveraging this experience to help advance the CAS in many areas, including building skills for the actuaries of tomorrow, increasing the diversity of our membership, and continuing to expand globally.

    As this profession transforms along with the world around us, actuaries need to be fully equipped with the tools to deal with the abundance of data, predictive modeling, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and more. In order to continue to move in accordance with the trends that we have been experiencing, we have to ensure that our basic education requirements will solidify casualty actuaries as the gold standard in terms of professionals that will be able to use these tools to solve the problems of tomorrow.

    Another important topic that I would help tackle, is the diversity of the pipeline of human capital that our profession employs. As a co-founder and current President of the Organization of Latino Actuaries (OLA), diversity is a subject that is always top of mind for me, and one that I believe we can impact significantly during my tenure. In the short time of the existence of our organization, we have had many successes, including influencing the most recent change in the CAS and SOA exam reimbursement program, which closely mirrored the exam program OLA had created to increase exam resource availability and awareness that the CAS, SOA, IABA, and the Actuarial Foundation identified as an issue during their “barriers to entry” study released in 2018.

    As the CAS expands globally, the supply of credentialed members of the CAS is currently insufficient to support the insurance industry in regions experiencing rapid growth. It is imperative that the CAS expand their global footprint to serve those that are looking for the paramount education source in General Insurance. I have volunteered for the CAS since I became a member, and I would be honored to volunteer in this capacity and serve on the CAS Board.

  • Candidates respond to member submitted questions