In 2020, the Minority High School Scholars Analytics Academy, or MHSSAA, will mark its 25th year. The time is right once again to pause and honor this program and all that it represents to the insurance industry, the actuarial profession and the students it serves. Through the MHSSAA, participating students from around the country learn about how insurance works, the requirements of the actuarial profession and the role of analytical skills in solving real-world business problems.  

At Pinnacle, giving back is a centerpiece of our culture. In fact, community involvement is one of our core values as an organization. During the year, our employees give to and volunteer at all kinds of charitable organizations, from Wounded Warrior and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital to local churches, schools and food pantries. We’re proud of everything our people do, both for our clients and in making our communities (and the world) a better place. We truly have great people at Pinnacle.

My colleague at Pinnacle Actuarial Resources, Inc., Gary Wang, often says that he’s lucky. As a consulting actuary in the field of predictive analytics, Gary lives the exact life he envisioned for himself when he was a kid. I understand how Gary feels. We are fortunate to work in an exciting and expanding industry absolutely filled with opportunity. We get to work with great clients and tackle interesting projects on a daily basis. It’s an exceptional time to be in predictive analytics and I agree with Gary: We are incredibly lucky.

In the spring of 2019 we attended our first industry event: the Casualty Actuarial Society’s (CAS) Ratemaking, Product and Modeling (RPM) Seminar. RPM serves as a networking event and provides continuing education for CAS members by way of numerous workshops and sessions. We both work on predictive analytics projects, which made this event relevant to our work and solidified our understanding on many of the topics we work on every day, including modeling methods, model testing and implementation. 

Our annual “Pinnacle U” pairs small groups of college students with one or more of our actuarial analysts in order to research a topic of interest, culminating in a day full of presentations. The format of Pinnacle U hasn’t changed much over the years, but our approach to the event has evolved to foster a real-world business experience for everyone involved.