Congratulations Jennifer Lang
The Actuaries Institute is delighted to announce that Jennifer Lang is the recipient of the 2020 Actuary of the Year Award in recognition of her leadership of the Institute’s COVID-19 response.
Jennifer volunteered to convene the Institute’s COVID-19 Working Group without hesitation and has led a group of more than 80 volunteers to assess the potential impacts of the pandemic on the profession, policymakers, business and the community in this difficult and uncertain time.
Leading the Working Group to establish the Institute’s Pandemic Resource Centre as a repository for timely relevant material to assist actuaries to support their companies to manage and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, has resulted in the publication of 70+ articles, 16 Pandemic Briefings, six Virtual Insights Sessions and a plenary session at the 20/20 All-Actuaries Virtual Summit with Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty – all providing strong guidance to the profession on myriad issues across all practice areas.
This work has greatly raised the profile and influence of the actuarial profession in managing this significant risk to society in general, our Australian economy, and for the financial services industry.
Jennifer’s energy and leadership helped keep the Working Group focused, and, importantly, our members were able to review a range of valuable, frequently updated material related to the pandemic. It is fitting that Jennifer has received the 2020 Actuary of the Year award for her valuable contribution.
Michael Rice AO – Executive Director, Rice Warner, COVID-19 Working Group Member and 2017 Actuary of the Year
Jennifer is the sort of leader that you want in a crisis. She’s calm, a clear thinker and works hard to achieve the right outcomes. She was an ideal person to set up and lead the Institute’s COVID-19 Working Group during this difficult period. Paul Nuttall – COVID-19 Working Group Member
Jennifer continues to enjoy a distinguished career as a highly respected and influential actuary. In past roles as CFO and Chief Actuary, she has guided some of Australia’s major insurance companies during recent turbulent times in the financial services sector and has had senior roles in major consulting firms. She has now moved into a career as a Non-Executive Director indicating wide regard for the depth of her financial skills and experience.
The Institute itself has benefited over many years from Jennifer’s considerable contribution as a Council Member and through her membership of a wide variety of Institute working committees. She has been a prominent leader, advocate and role model for young female actuaries and was recently appointed Convenor of the Institute’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group.
Jennifer is an innovator and skilled communicator. She has for many years used her blog – Actuarial Eye – to generously share her own professional insights and also promote the work of other actuaries. She inspired the Institute’s Actuarial Hackathon initiative – an annual event where actuarial volunteers help solve business and community problems on a pro bono basis, and continues to be heavily involved in the Organising Committee.
Jennifer has always been a great mentor, she believes strongly in our responsibility as actuaries to provide actionable insights to stakeholders, and that has had a lasting impact on my career to date.
Zhan Wang – Former colleague and co-organiser of the NAB Hackathon
Jennifer has made a key contribution to business and community sectors and brought much credit to the profession. She is a very worthy recipient of the 2020 Actuary of the Year award, many members of our profession and the business community will be pleased to see her contribution recognised.
CPD: Actuaries Institute Members can claim two CPD points for every hour of reading articles on Actuaries Digital.
