Keith Walter, FCIA(1985)
President-Elect candidate
Primary practice area: Life insurance
Secondary practice areas: Health and living benefits, Investment
Employer: Retired
Province: Ontario
CIA Legacy Award: Award of Distinction (2023)
Position statement
It would be an honour to serve as President of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. I believe my executive experience, volunteer experience and board experience have prepared me to serve the CIA in this capacity.
My 40-year career has encompassed corporate leadership roles in the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Canada. Even while working internationally, the support of the CIA and its members was valuable to me. If chosen as President, I will do everything in my power to ensure that the CIA remains an important and valuable contributor to current and prospective members.
Over the years, I have volunteered with many industry-based and charity organizations and have found this to be both enriching and rewarding. When I returned to Canada from Singapore in 2015, I began volunteering with the CIA, participating on several committees, and in 2023 received the Award of Distinction. After leading the transformation of CIA research from a committee to its establishment as a council of the Institute, I served as chair of the Research Council during the COVID years. Those were challenging times, but I was impressed by the way that CIA members stepped up and worked together to better understand and deal with the pandemic.
I am proud to be a member of the CIA and would bring passion and a proven track record to the role of President. If elected, I would have a particular focus on CIA education, development in emerging topics and member engagement.
It is critically important that we continue to invest as appropriate in the CIA education system to ensure that members are equipped for the future. The future may be hard to forecast, but we know that it will be impacted by key emerging trends, including AI, climate change and cybersecurity.
Member engagement is critical to the success of the CIA. This can be formal, through councils, committees, task forces and other groups; or it can be informal, through networking and sharing with other actuaries. I encourage you to be engaged in any way you can. Personally, I would like to hear directly from you to better understand your perspectives, your ideas and the opportunities you see to make the CIA better for you.
This year is the 60th anniversary of the CIA. It is an important milestone for an important organization, and we have a lot to be proud of, but there is more to do. Let’s work together to create the CIA of the future.
2024-Present – Actuarial Foundation of Canada, Director
- 2024-present – Finance and Audit Committee
2024-Present – Drafting entity for an insight statement on long-term care
2023-Present – Health Practice Committee
2019-22 – Research, Project Oversight Groups
- 2019-22 – Longevity of buildings and infrastructures
- 2020-21 – COVID-19 Industry Data, Chair
2018-21 – Research Council
- 2018-21 – Chair
- 2021 – Research Project Group – Evidence-informed public health and safety decisions amid pandemics: The use of actuarial models to inform and protect Canadians, Reviewer
- 2020-21 – CIA COVID-19 Response Team
2015-18 – Research Committee
- 2017-18 – Chair
- 2017 – Vice-Chair
- 2015-17 – Member
- 2015-17 – Group Life and Health Experience Subcommittee, Chair
Previous volunteer roles with industry-based and charity organizations
- Member of the Board of the Singapore Actuarial Society
- Member of the Board of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan
- Member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the Governing Council of the Salvation Army in Canada
- Chair of the Board of the CGOV Foundation
Current board roles
- Member of the Board of the Actuarial Foundation of Canada
- Member of the Board of Endeavour Consulting
Academic and professional
- B.Sc., University of Toronto (1982)
- Recipient of the Dr. James T. Phillips Honour Scholarship in Actuarial Science
- FSA and FCIA (1985)
- MBA, Business School, City, University of London (1989)
- CFA (2011)
Career
- Manulife Financial, including executive positions in Waterloo, Toronto, Hong Kong and Tokyo
- Watson Wyatt/Towers Watson, including leadership positions in Toronto and Singapore
- Deloitte Canada
- Reinsurance Group of America
What do you think of the effectiveness and importance of the CIA in its core functions?
The CIA’s importance and significance has grown over the 60 years since it began. Canada’s insurance, pension and financial systems are secure and sustainable, and the CIA is highly regarded as a key contributor to this, certainly by insiders in the industries we serve.
However, there is more that the CIA can do to raise the profile of the profession and to expand the reach of actuaries in new and emerging areas of practice.
With all the challenges in the world today, we must be prepared to stand up and speak up to advance the profile of the CIA. It is important that the CIA be the primary home and voice for actuaries in Canada, and for Canadian actuaries internationally.
I have lived and worked in multiple countries on three continents, and I have seen first-hand the impact and influence of CIA members both in Canada and around the world. We must not be complacent, but I am proud to be a member of the CIA and proud to be a Canadian actuary.