Last month marked a year since the World Health Organisation officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic, which has so far led to more than 2.7 million deaths across the world.
When we launched the IFoA’s new five-year strategy, we knew our success would hinge on ensuring that our members were at the forefront of all that we do, and that our culture (‘the way we do things’) had this as second nature.
This issue of The Actuary has a strong environmental focus and challenges readers to consider how actuaries can help address the biggest challenge of all: the overheating of our planet due to human activity, and the consequent costs to humanity.
At this time last year, with the development of the IFoA’s 2020-24 strategy in its final stages, we began to revisit what our ‘purpose’ is, knowing how critical this would be in setting our ambition and in the way we deliver it.
When we talk about reviving the spirit of a learning society and expanding the IFoA’s influence in thought leadership, I think it is helpful for us to think of four Greek words that can help us to engage our stakeholders and respond to the context and timing of change.
What a start to 2021. We have had mobs of protesters storming their way into the US Capitol building, a third COVID-19 lockdown introduced in England, and the end of the Brexit transition period as the UK leaves the EU.
In many ways, it seems much longer than the 10 or so months that have passed since we started writing up the IFoA’s new five-year strategy, which we launched earlier this year.
