Leader In The Field | Catherine Byrne

For Leader in the Field Interview I had the pleasure of meeting and learning about Catherine Byrne, an actuary from Boston Massachusetts. Actuarial science is a type of math that calculates and finds the probability of when someone is likely to die. It’s used primarily for life insurance companies so they can figure out how much to charge a client and make the maximum profit available. When talking to Catherine about her job I noticed how much love she had for what she did. Her job is what one would think of when you think of a typical desk job. She works standard hours, around 7 hours a day/ five days a week and has the typical holidays and vacations. While at work her day follows a standard itinerary that is just working through the different clients one by one. The math she has to use is more or less the same extensive equation that varies with the many different factors each person brings. Some of the variables are things such as age, gender, height, weight, occupation, hobbies, etc. Within these variables there are different risk factors that accompany each one. That is the part that Catherine says she finds most interesting. By each person having all these different factors combining into one it is interesting to see how the affect the outcome of how long their likely to live. 

To backtrack just a little, when growing up Catherine didn’t always want to become an actuary, in fact little to none can say they do due to the lack of knowledge about the profession. Instead, when she was younger she wanted to become a lawyer. Even throughout high school and into college she remained pre-med, studying at both Boston College and Williams and Mary in Virginia. A few years into her studies at the university, while applying for graduate school, she first heard about the actuarial science profession. Although it does require extensive background studies in math, it does not fall into one certain major. Even with her focus in pre-law she still had taken the courses recommended to take before taking the Actuary test.

In order to get an actuary license you have to take a series of tests. With passing each one brings more job opportunities. Anyone can take the tests, although it’s very challenging to pass without prior studying in the subject. Even though there are multiple tests, passing only one can already increase you're chances of getting a full time actuary job. Once someone passes the first, many companies will hire the person since they have no experience and can pay them little. Then while they work under the company the company will train them for the program and the upcoming tests they have yet to take. After preparation the company will then pay for them to take the test but keep the employ’s salary the same so as the employes experience grows they start to become underpaid. 

Overall actuarial science is becoming an increasing demand. Businesses of all kinds need these people within their company help with managing their funds and get maximum profit by knowing what to charge their customers. As the demand for accuracy increases the search for actuaries increases as well. Catherine recommends studying to become an actuary to anyone even remotely interested, especially those who excel in math.