One of the best things about being president of the IFoA is seeing seeds that were planted long ago start to take root, sprout and flower.

The Thought Leadership Series is one example of this, and shows what our strategy looks like at its best: repositioning the profession through visible thought leadership in the public interest, transforming the member experience by providing compelling events, with our members debating important issues with recognised experts, and fostering a vibrant global community by offering a programme that is available to all our members, wherever they may be.
We’ve learned a lot about what works well and what is less successful during the past few months, and over the next year we’ll be feeding these lessons into our longer-term thought leadership strategy – including how we measure the success and impact of our activities in this area.
We will be using our platform to contribute our actuarial skillsets, influential insights and bold ideas to help shape the future on macro changes, challenges, risks and opportunities for society and the economy. We will promote the actuarial voice to ensure it is heard and valued by key decision-makers and influencers in politics, regulation and business, establishing the actuarial profession as a go-to source of expertise, insight and original thinking. As part of our next phase of ‘being the voice of actuaries’, the IFoA aims to be at the heart of key public policy debates, which will not only strengthen existing relationships but also broaden stakeholder connections, expanding the profession into new domains.
On that note, I hope you will join us later this month as we launch our ‘The Road to Glasgow: Sustainability Series’ ahead of COP26 in November of this year. And, because true sustainability goes hand in hand with diversity, equity and inclusion, our Diversity Series will follow in early 2022. It is an exciting time to be part of the IFoA.
Louise Pryor is the president of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries