Meet the actuaries

Dan Pribe

FSA, MAAA
Senior Consultant
Towers Watson

The year 2010 may be remembered for many things, but healthcare reform certainly will be one of them. And, actuaries who work in related areas have often found themselves in the middle of it all. That's definitely been true for Dan Pribe, who works for a leading consulting company in its practice focused on group health and managed care. "Healthcare reform is probably the hottest thing to happen in my career," says Dan. "I work with clients to help them design employee and retiree non-pension benefit plans, and most recently that work has included estimating the impact of health care reform on plan sponsors."

But, as revolutionary as what's happened in Washington has been, Dan says it's the daily part of his job that he loves the most. "Every day, I have the chance to help clients achieve their goals by designing effective benefit packages. That, along with helping companies design and price their projects, is very rewarding.

As much as Dan loves his career now, it wasn't part of his original plan. "I had never even heard of an actuary until my friend, who was majoring in math told me about the profession and suggested I check it out. But, I was planning to be an engineer and I stayed on that path through graduation." It wasn't until a year after graduation – having worked as a production engineer and discovering that he didn't enjoy the job – that he took his friend's advice.

"I loved math, but found that I didn't enjoy engineering as much as I hoped," Dan remembers. "So, I spoke with several people and decided to make the switch to actuarial science. I took a job as an underwriter and then took the first exam. After passing, I changed to an actuarial position." And the rest, they say, is history.

"This is a great profession – I love that I am able to work with some really talented people, both actuaries and non-actuaries," says Dan. "And right now, it's an especially exciting and challenging time to be a health actuary. The advent of health care reform is creating a lot of immediate work, not only in the design of employee and retiree benefits, but also in the ‘total rewards' for employers."

Dan received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Mathematical Statistics, including a concentration in Industrial Engineering, from The Ohio State University. He also is Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.