Bruce Butler:  

4/25/10 After my sophomeor year at Bemidji, I attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire from which I graduated in 1957. My first grades at Exeter were simply awful. I had never seen such grades! Fortunately, I managed to turn this situation around during the balance of that first year and ended up getting decent or better grades thereafter. After Exeter I attended Yale University from which I graduated in 1961. I majored in Math and was extremely fortunate to have a summer job between my sophomore year and junior year as an actuarial student in Hartford, CT. The role of actuaries is not terribly well known in the United States. Actuaries work primarily for insurance companies or consulting companies and are trained in assessing and pricing insurance risk. Behind most prices for insurance are actuaries. This is probably the primary thing actauries do. Following graduation from college, I married my sife whom I met that first summer in Hartford. We then spent a year at the University of Iowa from which I graduated with a master's degree in actuarial science. I also taught freshmen math dur9ing the fall, spring, and summer terms. I enjoyed the teaching very much but knew that I wanted to continue my career as an actuary. To become credentialed actuaries take a series of exams which have a pass rate of roughly 50% and which take roughly 5 years after college or more to complete. This process is considered the equivalent of attaining a PHD. I became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in 1968. I was employed as a full time actuary raching senior positions at two companies until I retired from full time employment in 2004. I have continued as an actuarial consultant since the...Expand for more