by Conrad Daley FSA, MAAA

I'm a black actuary and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. I work at a consulting firm where I do ACA marketplace pricing for individual and small group plans with eight years of experience. When I was in college, I had a hard time finding internships and entry level actuarial positions.

At the time, the head of the actuarial department told me that because I was a minority, I might have a slight advantage due to the SOA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy. Their goal was for “…all members and candidates to feel fully included and have equitable opportunities to enter, develop, grow and succeed in our chosen profession.”

Companies were traditionally hiring from a narrow demographic, and the Society of Actuaries was starting to make a push for diversity, equity, and inclusion. He suggested that if employers knew I was black before meeting me in person, it might help get my foot in the door.

Because of that advice, I looked for something I could put on my resume and found the International Association of Black Actuaries (IABA). I applied for membership, which cost around thirty dollars, and they occasionally hosted events.

I became a member of the IABA because they pushed for minorities to feel more included in the actuarial science industry. Their mission is to “…increase the number of successful Black actuaries through programs and partnerships that address their underrepresentation in the profession.”

From the Society of Actuaries Full-Year 2024 Diversity Report we can see that the over 70% of US Actuaries are Caucasian by race and only 3.2% are black. Black actuaries make up a very small percentage of the profession.

SOA U.S. Membership 2024 (Diversity Report page 4)

The IABA would put on events for inclusion, and I remember for one event, mentors and mentees showed up online and were matched together. The mentor I was matched with had multiple mentees, and I asked him random questions about the actuarial industry, his job, what exams I should be studying for, and what articles or books I should be reading.

His main advice was that I needed to stay up to date on current events. He mentioned things like actuarial publications and government policy, especially legislation that affects actuarial work.

An example today would be ACA marketplace pricing and whether enhanced premium tax credits are extended (as of right now they are not), which directly affects rate filings. That advice makes a lot of sense now, but at the time, I do not think it was very relevant to me. When you are just starting out, I think the most important thing is getting the soft skills and passing the exams needed to land the job.

The IABA also offered scholarships, which really mattered to me at the time. I was a poor college student and had already spent money on attempting on Exam P without passing. In the summer of 2015, I did door to door sales and earned about $30,000 to pay for college but I spent all of it that first year.

The next summer, in 2016, I went back to door-to-door sales and only earned $15,000. I had just gone through a breakup and was not in a good place mentally to sell. I specifically remember knocking on a door and the woman said, “You look sad” and I said “I am sad!” and walked away.

Because I did not have enough money, I got a job on campus as the laundry attendant for the track and field team. My younger brother was on the team as a Division One long jumper, and I was doing his and the rest of the team's laundry for $7.50 an hour.

I remember telling my boss that I was leaving for an actuarial internship later on and that I did not want to do laundry for the rest of my life. He looked at me with a puzzled look and said, “What about the free shoes and shirts from Nike I give you every week” and I said “I’d rather have a career”.

Because money was so tight, I applied for the IABA scholarship in 2016 which was around $3,000. I did not get it the first time, so I applied again in 2017. I was eventually awarded the scholarship, but the timing made it unusable.

I applied in the fall of 2017, was notified in the spring of 2018, but was told the funds would not be paid until fall of 2018. I planned to graduate in spring of 2018, so I asked if the funds could be applied to my final semester or paid directly to me. They said no. If I was not enrolled on campus when the funds were released, they would not pay them.

I understand that it was their money and they could do what they wanted. That was ultimately my experience with IABA.