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Interviews

Actuary of the future: Matthew George

Open-access content Wednesday 5th February 2014 — updated 5.13pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Matthew George of...

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Employer and area of work, Aviva - protection pricing.

How would your best friend describe you? Quite random at times.

What motivates you? Success; looking back and knowing it has all been worthwhile.

What would be your personal motto? It's a dog-eat-dog world.

Name five dream guests you would invite to your dinner party? Bill Gates, Larry Page, Steve Jobs, Neil Armstrong and Albert Einstein. I'm sure they'd all have an interesting story to tell.

What's your most 'actuarial' habit? Giving answers to at least eight decimal places.

If you could learn one random skill, what would you learn? I already have, solving a Rubik's cube - it's much easier than it looks.

Favourite Excel function? Definitely Index and Match, haven't used a vlookup in years.

How do you relax away from the office? I enjoy cycling through the North Yorkshire countryside.

Alternative career choice? My childhood dream was to become a Concorde pilot; that went the same way the Concorde did.

Tell us something unusual about yourself I once won £5 from a race in the Scottish Highlands. It was presented to me in front of the Queen Mother.

Greatest risk you have ever taken? Moving from a stable role in the pensions team, to one split between the ERM, banking and longevity risk teams. I also spent three weeks in Oman working for a large bank.

If you could go back in history, who would you like to meet? Pythagoras, and tell him how famous he's become in classrooms today.

What's your most treasured possession? At the time it was my calculator when I thought I'd lost it, minutes before an actuarial exam.

What are the top 3 things you would like to achieve in your lifetime? Qualify as an actuary within the next two years, own a house with an impressively long driveway, and go on an epic road trip across America.

If you ruled the world, what would you change first? Tax cuts for everyone.

Do you know an actuary destined for greatness? You can nominate an Actuary of the Future by emailing [email protected]

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Book review, February

Climate change in the media: reporting risk and uncertainty by James Painter
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The Actuary Puzzles February 2014

February puzzles, including prize puzzle, and December solutions
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Actuary of the future - November

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Actuary of the future - October

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