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Interviews

Actuary of the future: Stephen Renshaw

Open-access content Tuesday 31st January 2012 — updated 5.13pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Friends Life's Stephen Renshaw is a big fan of colour-coding and does a mean turn as a gangster rapper

2

Employer and area of work
Friends Life - life insurance.

How would your best friend describe you?
He says "Overpaid and incompetent". I am now looking for a new best friend.

What motivates you?
The feeling of satisfaction you get from achieving something.

What would be your personal motto?
If at first you don't succeed... I find this particularly relevant when it comes to the exams.

Who do you most admire and why?
After watching him bat for two days at Brisbane last winter and another day at Edgbaston this summer, I'll say Alistair Cook. A fellow left-handed opening batsman, albeit one who tends to spend slightly longer at the crease than I do.

What's your most 'actuarial' habit?
I can't stand messy spreadsheets. When given a new spreadsheet to play with, I refuse to do anything else with it until I have tidied it up and made it compatible with my own colour-coding system.

How do you relax away from the office?
I enjoy playing sports (cricket, golf, squash, football), pub quizzes and also going on holidays.

Tell us something unusual about yourself
On a recent skiing holiday I won a karaoke competition by performing Shaggy's It Wasn't Me and Mr Boombastic.

Alternative career choice?
Based on the above, probably a gangster rapper!

Greatest risk you have ever taken?  
Due to my actuarial nature I try to avoid excessive risks. Although I did put £5 on the favourite at the races last week in an attempt to recoup my earlier losses - fortunately this risk proved to be successful!

What's your most treasured possession?
My collection of Tranmere Rovers football shirts, dating back to 1990.

If you ruled the world, what would you change first?
I'd make a lot of actuaries very happy by abolishing the EU gender directive.

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2

Actuary of the future: Adam Roebuck

Light-bulb moments, rock operas and lego combine to make Towers Watson's Adam Roebuck an actuary of the future
Monday 27th February 2012
Open-access content
2

Q&A: On my agenda: Charles Cowling

Yvonne Wan talks to Charles Cowling of JLT Pension Capital Strategies about his work with the actuarial profession and his charitable activities
Tuesday 28th February 2012
Open-access content

Careers: The actuary as leader

Actuaries who can add leadership skills to their undoubted technical expertise are likely to find themselves in high demand, says Daphna Horowitz
Tuesday 31st January 2012
Open-access content

People moves round-up - February 2012

Latest appointments and moves from the actuarial world
Monday 30th January 2012
Open-access content

Graduates flock to Imperial fair

The annual Actuarial Finance Careers Fair, hosted by Imperial College Business School on 15 November 2011, attracted an unprecedented number of undergraduate students and major employers, many sponsoring actuarial trainees at Imperial as MSc Actuarial Finance students on a day-release basis.
Monday 30th January 2012
Open-access content
2

Actuarial careers events attract growing interest

The Actuarial Profession’s careers department ran two promotional events in 2011.
Monday 30th January 2012
Open-access content
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