Building actuarial capacity through GAIN: Q&A with Jorge Torres
Jorge Torres is a Milliman principal and consulting actuary who began his career in Mexico City and is now based in Denver. He initially signed up as a volunteer for the UNDP-Milliman Global Actuarial Initiative (GAIN) to leverage his Spanish language skills. His involvement quickly expanded into a leadership role, and he now serves as GAIN’s country lead for Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
What inspired you to volunteer for GAIN?
My area of expertise has been international projects, specifically in Latin America. Over the years, I've seen gaps, including that some countries don't have actuaries. When I heard about GAIN, I was immediately drawn to give back for all the different things that I've gotten from my profession. When I saw the opportunity in Colombia, I thought I was in a great position to help. I’ve worked with Colombia for more than three years now, and we started the initiative in the Dominican Republic in September of last year.
What types of projects have you worked on?
We started with monthly presentations for people to understand an actuary’s role, because people often don’t know what an actuary does. We have done those for more than two years, and they have been very successful. We also helped develop the first mentorship program in Colombia. We paired people who were interested or already studying subjects related to actuarial science with more experienced people in the country or within Milliman. We have also worked with the Colombian Association of Actuaries, providing peer review support for their work related to the Actuarial Climate Index.
How has this experience helped you professionally?
The first time I went to Colombia, I was going as a translator because I went with two other Milliman people who only spoke English. We thought it might be difficult because some people don't speak English. Then 95% of the conversation ended up being in Spanish, so I went from just being in the back to translate, to leading all those meetings. I was jumping into the deepest part of the pool. One of my biggest fears was always public speaking. And I've now done at least 30 presentations in front of very large audiences.
My professional life really changed when I went to Colombia. We get to know people at universities, insurance companies, and so on. This helped me develop a network of people outside the United States. International projects were always my focus, but now it’s triple what it was before. I'm seeing things from a different perspective. It really pushed me to be more extroverted and look for opportunities to connect people from different industries to work together.
What are highlights of your experience with GAIN?
The work that we've done with students at the universities has been the biggest opportunity to give back by helping them understand and showing examples of what they can do, and that there's really no limits when you're an actuary. You can work in different industries, for example, and focus on a variety of topics.
It's been super fulfilling when you see people being appreciative of all we’ve done, and they’re looking forward to doing more together.
What regulatory advances have you seen so far?
We've seen some advances for sure. Now that we have talked to many people about what an actuary is and so on, it has created a lot of interest and along with interest comes people trying to start regulating how to become an actuary and what an actuary should be. It’s still a work in progress, but many stakeholders are interested in being part of those conversations. Being able to connect all of them has been crucial.
What’s next for you?
We’re going to the Dominican Republic to give a training on what a health actuary does. It's going to be our first on-site event there, and we're going back to Colombia to present microinsurance training.
What advice would you share with anyone interested in volunteering for GAIN?
Some people are very concerned that it might take a lot of time to get involved, but really there's opportunities for activities that would require five hours, or other roles that are around 100 hours, and anything in the middle. There are opportunities that fit almost everyone, including entry-level. It’s an opportunity for people starting their careers to make connections and get a broader perspective.
Keep up-to-date on GAIN's progress and join the effort
Volunteers from Milliman and other organizations have worked together on strategies to build actuarial capacity in 16 countries, with detailed road maps currently being implemented in 12 countries.
To stay up to date on the GAIN program, you can join the mailing list, or if you’d like to volunteer, sign up here.