Allianz Experts
Meet Isaac
Cooperative and determined Associate Actuary at Allianz Life Insurance of North America.
He says: “It is crucial to understand the business as a whole.”
What’s your mission at Allianz?
We use math, statistics and finance knowledge to quantify the financial impact of uncertainty and help minimize the companies' risk. My tasks are, to name but a few, developing new product concepts and features, working with other teams from the product department and rate the management of current products. At the same time, I support the distribution internally and externally with training sessions and answer questions on our products.
What’s your career progression?
I studied actuarial science and moved from Ghana to Illinois in the US to do my master. After graduating, I started in the product development department at Allianz. Then I worked in the hedging department for a while, before returning to product development. Working on a three years industry wide project about making changes to reserving and capital framework of variable annuities was probably one of the most memorable experiences I've made.
What's surprising about your job?
There have been several misapprehensions about my job – but when I tell people I work at an insurance company and determine the premium for their life or car insurance they understand what I do. We work with almost every department of the company – legal, operations, risk, investment, hedging, etc.
What’s your main career advice ? What inspires you?
Cultivate the habit of reading very often. If you want to pursue a career in my field, you should like technical work and develop good communication and presentation skills. Helping others and overcoming challenges inspires me. I love to work with people who are smart and open to changes!
