22 December 2023
As the festive season begins and 2023 draws to a close, it is a good time to reflect on the year that has gone past and look forward to the future.
2023 brought with it some auspicious milestones for the IFoA. July saw the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Actuaries in 1848 by members from across Britain, ahead of the formation of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland in 1856. October marked the 100th anniversary of the first women qualifying as IFoA Fellows, with both Dorothy Davis and Gladys Gregory qualifying in 1923 and making headline news. Significant progress has been made over the last century in getting more women into the actuarial profession, but our work is far from complete. We will be doing more to celebrate this landmark – please look out for details in the new year.
This year, we also made plenty of progress in continuing to modernise the IFoA and improve the member experience. In February, we launched IFoA Communities as online forums for members to engage with each other and exchange ideas on key topics. The communities have grown steadily throughout the year and we now have nearly 3,500 members using the platform. In other technology improvements, we launched our new member portal in September, which will begin to make the administration of membership much easier for members.
We had a busy year of events with the IFoA Conference, Asia Conference, Life and GIRO all seeing high levels of attendance and strong member-led programmes. We also saw members’ ideas come to the fore through new thought leadership pieces such as The Emperor's New Climate Scenarios, and Beyond the Next Parliament, which sets out the case for long-term policymaking, a particularly timely report as we head into an election year.
This year has also had more than its fair share of challenges for the IFoA with articles in the media, the departure of a CEO, and the objections to the original governance reforms that were passed in June. However, as an organisation we have weathered these storms and emerged more resilient as a result. The governance reforms that were passed by Council in December are genuinely stronger for the feedback received by the members and as an organisation we have been reminded of the importance of ongoing member engagement and consultation on significant changes that affect the wider membership.
As we head into 2024, we will be undertaking a consultation with members on the future of Council starting in January and we will then undertake member engagement on the implementation of DEI changes to the Actuaries Code. Next year in addition to Life, GIRO, and the Asia Conference, we will also be launching new events for members in the Middle East and India. We also plan to launch the new Chartered Actuary designations that members voted for last year as well as evolving the IFoA brand and improving how we articulate the role of actuaries in today’s society.
We are committed to listening to our members and understanding your needs and would encourage you all to share your feedback through the member survey. You will have received an email with your individual link to the survey and you can also find it by logging in to the member portal. The more feedback we receive, the better our decision making will be.
Thank you for your continued support and commitment to the IFoA. I hope you all have a happy festive season and I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2024.
Kalpana Shah
IFoA President