Pursuing a Dual Fellowship

By Corin Chapman

When most candidates receive news that they have passed their final exam to receive their Fellowship of the Society of Actuaries or Fellowship of the Casualty Actuarial Society, they usually feel an overwhelming sense of relief. Very few have the urge to turn around and go through a similar examination process all over again. However, Sam Gutterman of PricewaterhouseCoopers did just that.

Gutterman was working at a multi-line insurance company when he completed his fellowship in around two years. At the time, he had been given responsibility for projects in both the Life and Property and Casualty (P&C) departments, but had chosen to pursue a fellowship with the Society of Actuaries with a concentration in Life Insurance. Gutterman believed that in order to do his job properly, he would need additional knowledge and education surrounding the P&C portion of his work.

Although life and P&C have different guiding regulations, products, and mindsets, Gutterman was able to see many similarities between the two areas of practice. He believed that both subjects ultimately had the same fundamental questions approached with similar objectives and rigor, but with differences due to varying contingencies, applicable regulations, products, and time frames. Believing he lacked the motivation to self-study the additional P&C material, he decided to pursue a fellowship of the Casualty Actuary Society, which he believed would force him to learn through an examination process.

The company Gutterman was working for offered little support for pursuing both designations other than the encouragement to continue to expand his knowledge. However, given that most of his peers were still taking exams and he knew a few individuals that had already completed a double fellowship within his company, the additional fellowship seemed reasonable. In the end, the additional fellowship ended up taking around 10 years. Gutterman cited additional responsibilities at work and at home for making studying increasingly difficult and elongating the time needed to complete the exam process.

Although he would probably not recommend pursuing a dual fellowship designation, Gutterman does insist on each candidate completing his or her fellowship and not stopping at an associateship. He believes that the examination process increases a candidate's flexibility within a job by improving the ability to apply various thought processes and problem solving techniques to different fields. Gutterman has found that ultimately, the underlying actuarial principles learned through the examination process can apply to any of the various fields of study. Therefore, a fellowship can greatly improve future career opportunities. Gutterman also recommends that all actuaries maintain intellectual curiosity and strive for exposure to various products and projects to avoid being stuck in a box. A successful actuary is one that can step into various situations and apply actuarial fundamentals towards creating a solution.

Gutterman currently works as a consultant and still works on both life and P&C projects. However, he now tends to work on projects that serve as a hybrid of more than one subject such as hybrid mortgage insurance and social insurance.