How Actuaries lead transformational change without losing control

What does real transformation look like when AI becomes a core part of how organisations operate and how do leaders embrace that change without introducing new risks?

In this episode of Risk Reimagined: How Actuaries lead transformational change without losing control, Steve is joined by Jennifer Jaben, a transformation leader with deep actuarial roots, to explore how technology and AI are reshaping business models across insurance and financial services. The conversation goes beyond incremental improvements to examine what it takes to redesign organisations in a way that is both innovative and resilient.

Together, they discuss why actuaries are uniquely positioned to lead this shift, how talent and mindset shape successful transformation, and where the real risks lie, whether from moving too slowly or adopting AI without the right governance. This episode offers a practical, risk-aware perspective on how leaders can rethink transformation in the age of AI while maintaining control, trust and long-term value.

Mixed & Edited by Next Day Podcast

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Transcript

Steven Abel 

Hello, this is Steven Abel. I'm the Global Technology Lead at Oliver Wyman Actuarial, and I am pleased to be joined by Jen Jaben, our resident expert in all things transformation. And we're going to cover topics involving transformation in the wonderful world of technology. Jen, welcome. And you want to tell us a little bit more about yourself?

Jennifer Jabben 

Thank you, Steve. I'm excited to be with you today for the conversation. I have the privilege of leading a very talented team of professionals that help our clients in transformative moments for their business. And it's really an exciting time to be in this space. So I'm excited to share some thoughts with you today.

Steven Abel 

You know, tell me a little bit more about what brought you to Oliver Wyman and maybe even stretching back further, why Actuarial?

Jennifer Jabben 

You know, it's actually a fun story. When I was exploring options for university, I had the opportunity to accept a scholarship for mathematics. It just required that I declare mathematics as my major. So that opportunity set me on the track to study. And then I decided how am I going to transform a mathematics degree into something that can be a career for me? 

And that's where I found actuarial science. In that process, I had the opportunity to connect with a recruiter from Allstate, and I was given the opportunity to intern, and then ultimately took a full-time opportunity to start my career as an actuarial student there. 

Had a wonderful time at Allstate for almost 20 years, was able to develop my skills not only in actuarial but in product management, portfolio management, IT, and then ultimately landed in a corporate transformation role, which really opened my eyes to the integration of technology capabilities and the ability to redesign and modernize the business models.

Not only is it a necessary thing, but it's an exciting opportunity for businesses. So that role led me to a transition into consulting. Actually took me from Allstate to EY, where I had the opportunity to help build out their actuarial advisory transformation services as a complement to their very astute audit practice.

After three and a half years there, the opportunity with Oliver Wyman presented to build, continue to build on the consulting experience that I had at EY and apply that in a different kind of operating model that was going to allow me to continue to focus on transformative solutions in the actuarial context.

Steven Abel 

So before you joined Oliver Weinman, what did you think you were gonna get into? And then now that you're here, what is it really like?

Jennifer Jabben 

I knew I was joining an organization with a strong set of values and really talentedprofessionals. That was something that was apparent to me, even having observed the firm from the outside for a number of years, but then through the recruiting process. So with that kind of strong foundation, I am.

I think what maybe surprised me or what I didn't expect is the transformative mindset that exists and the strategy that is sitting behind the investments that we're making in technology and upskilling our resources and helping to ensure that we are prepared to assist our clients in their transformation journeys. I had hoped that that would be central to the role, but I wasn't sure. And now having transitioned into the organization and having had the opportunity to establish myself and start to build out the team, I really feel like that is an exciting platform to build upon.

Steven Abel 

So I'm curious, tell us a little bit more about the investments in technology and how that's impacting transformation, both for our practice, but also for our clients.

Jennifer Jabben 

Absolutely. I think there's really two dimensions to that. The first being the underlying skill sets. beyond our professionals having access to kind of self-led curriculum and the support to pursue expertise in the more advanced analytics space, there's also a prescribed curriculum that all of our professionals are asked or required to complete that will help them ensure that they have contemporary skill sets to serve our clients. 

Being familiar with the contemporary programming languages and some of the advanced analytics tools that our clients are using and that in order to serve our clients in the way that we want to, we need to be proficient at. 

So I think the up-skilling and the investment in talent is really a strong component of that investment. The other piece of it is ensuring that we have the most contemporary and advanced tools in our arsenal to design and implement the right types of solutions for our clients. Things that are efficient, that are practical, that are secure, and very effective. So it's about making sure that our professionals have the skill sets and the tools at their disposal to help our clients.

Steven Abel 

A colleague once told me that things that have gone horribly wrong are actually justrephrased as lessons learned. I'm not going to say horribly wrong, but have there been challenges here that have become lessons learned in terms of just our interaction with technology or transformation or talent, which is interesting that you brought up talent as one of the key things.

Jennifer Jabben 

Yeah, I would say, talent might be the piece that is most, not challenging, but lessons learned. There is a certain mindset and a certain aptitude that is required to do transformative work, right? There isn't a playbook. There isn't a prescribed solution. 

You really have to not only have the technical and domain experience, you also have to have a kind of creative design mindset that helps to take clients through solving the business problem and designing a solution that is practical and pragmatic. And that is not an easy thing to teach or to train. And so one of the things as we have started to advance our transformative solutions and our services in this space, it has been a bit of a challenge to transition resources into this type of work who've not done it before. 

And it's really made me take a step back and one, appreciate the practitioners that I've had the privilege to work with in this capacity for a couple of years now who have really strong skill sets, but not to dismiss that that doesn't just show up overnight, that you have to give folks the opportunity and the tools and the frameworks to develop those types of advisory skill sets.

Steven Abel 

So it's hard to grow that talent. How is it finding that talent in the marketplace?

Jennifer Jabben 

It is challenging to find that unicorn type of resource. And I call it a unicorn because it's really a multi-dimensional. You must be deep in technical actuarial knowledge and domain expertise. You have to have an appreciation for data science and technology, software development, skill sets. 

And then you also have to have a consultative kind of posture, a creative mindset, and a, I’m not really sure what the right word is, but it's really that multi-dimensional facet. And many, many folks are strong in one of those domains, but maybe not all three. So what I have tried to do is identify folks who are excited about the future, excited about changing and being part of shaping what the actuarial profession looks like on the other side of this technology changewe're currently going through, of course have the base aptitude, but are passionate about influencing the future. I think that's why I do this work, Steve, and that's the type of resource and team members that we want to be part of our team.

Steven Abel 

So you have an interesting background. You've worked for an insurance carrier, you've done consulting, you're leading practices. Can you sort of compare and contrast those chairs in regards to just transformation, talent, access to resources? How are they similar or different?

Jennifer Jabben 

You know, there are a lot of similarities between the various roles, but I think the transition from the industry role into consulting at the point in my career that I did that, I guess about 20 years in, is a bit unique. There are some things about the structural apparatus that exists in large companies on the industry side, unified goals, consistent themes. 

Majority of the organization is working on similar type projects that are part of a strategic plan and moving forward. And there's a unity and a community to that. That is different in the consulting world because the consulting world is much more diversified and focused onadvancing those strategies for our clients. so you have a lot of, most of the team is working on different projects for other folks. There's not as much integration. 

So that's probably the biggest difference, I think, in those roles for me. And some days I appreciate that diversification. Other times, you know, it would be nice if everyone was rowing in the same direction because in this environment that we're in now, there are competing priorities and that sometimes can be difficult when you're thinking about resources and priorities and talent because all of our clients are our top priority and so you really need to be able to balance priorities in a different way.

Steven Abel 

So competing priorities seems like a theme that I hear a lot. Do you have advice or techniques that have worked to sort of help you manage that? And do you have things to stay away from that don't work particularly well?

Jennifer Jabben 

So that's a great question. One of the things that I try to do is ensure that our delivery teams are as focused on individual client projects as possible. I find that when we have resources stretched across a number of client delivery responsibilities that can become a challenge with priority because as I mentioned all of our clients are our top priority and when you put your resources, your delivery resources in a situation where they have to try and prioritize, that can become very difficult. 

So as I set up our delivery teams to the extent that we can, we really try to make sure that our delivery professionals are aligned and dedicated as appropriate, right? Certainly it would depend on the scale and the depth of the project, but I think that's a way that I have found to be successful in balancing priorities.

Steven Abel 

So doing a fewer number of things allows us to be successful and doing a lot of things might not make us successful at anything.

Jennifer Jabben 

Correct, yes. If you're stretching yourself too thin and trying to make progress on too many things at once, it can be challenging. So I try and be diligent about prioritization and focus formy resources.

Steven Abel 

Let's pivot to another direction, triggers for transformation. I don't know many executives that just wake up on a Tuesday and think, boy, I just want to transform my enterprise. And how are they evolving in today's landscape? And both for consulting companies, for individuals, and maybe for our friends that work for insurance companies.

Jennifer Jabben 

I think there's obviously challenges in the business that require transformation. Those situations, I actually, I find exciting because certainly it's a very focused problem. Generally, you know what needs to be fixed, but I don't know that that always results in really a transformative solution. think oftentimes that's just a, we've got a problem, we have to solve it. How can we do that in an effective way, a future forward way? 

Where I get excited about leaders who are thinking transformatively is it's about looking at the horizon. I think I had a leader once in my career who would say, you know, we're too focused on shooting the alligators that are trying to climb in the boat and no one's looking at the horizon, right? 

So I've always tried to internalize that as a leader and then also have been inspired by leaders who are, you know, keeping the alligators out of the boat, but at the same time, thinking about the horizon and what's next and how can you maintain a competitive advantage and what do you need to do differently in your business to be a strategic leader.

I think that for me, it doesn't, I don't think it really matters. mean, I consulting firms, honestly, at this point have a drive to need to change and be transformative because the business is changing. And if you aren't thinking about transforming your service delivery model or your solution portfolio, then you will likely not be in this same capacity here in a few years, right? 

I think if you are not actively trying to think about integrating advanced technology, making sure that your professionals have the right skills to serve clients in kind of our new and advanced technology world, then it will result in a challenge for your business. 

I think on the industry side, certainly the macroeconomic dynamics or economic dynamics that the industry is facing are challenging, but pushing through that with a transformative mindset and not just address the problem mindset is going to be exciting.

Steven Abel 

The economy is complicated, I heard that. Everybody seems to be talking about AI and some are saying it's hype, some are saying it's an existential threat, some are saying it's a good way to write a recipe. As a transformation leader, how do you think about technology and AI? And is that changing the landscape?

Jennifer Jabben 

That's a great question. And I think as a transformation professional, I see AI as a necessary component of your future strategy.

I feel that embracing it and not just incrementally, but embracing it as a driver of changing your business model is the way to think about AI. If you're exploring it as a bolt on to incremental efficiencies or potentially helping folks be a bit more astute in certain areas. I just think you'll miss the opportunity to really integrate AI capabilities in a native way. 

You know, I think it's like the kind of when the cloud or internet, you know, some of those big things that have come out from a technology perspective, I think AI is it. So embracing it, designing with that as a central component of your business model and thinking about how itactually can change the way that you operate is important, not just how it makes the way you operate today more effective.

Steven Abel 

So tell me more about embracing. So you mentioned, okay, let's avoid incrementalism. What other ways can practitioners or people that are undergoing transformation embrace the new technology and the pace of change we see?

Jennifer Jabben 

When you get to a point where anything that you're doing, the first thing that comes to mindis engaging with whatever AI capability that you have available to you that should be step one, right? Like as you think about, need to execute this task or I need to, you know, execute this business process. The first, I feel like the first thing you should do is engage with the AI tools that you have available to you. If the fourth or fifth step in your process is then going to integrate, you know, to reach into integrating this technology, I think you've probably missed it.

So I've been challenging my team to start with the AI capabilities that will get you likely, I don't know, 60 % of the way to where you need to be very quickly. And then you can iterate from there, develop from there, improve from there. It's not going to give you the answer, but it's going to get you on the right path very quickly.

Steven Abel 

Tell me more about some risks. Certainly as a risk professional, as an actuary, you see emerging in the existing landscape.

Jennifer Jabben 

I think there are two risks.

The first one is the risk of not embracing the technologies and not giving your resources or the professionals that are working for you the right tools with the right controls. Because there are tools out there. People can't access them and they're going to use them. So the risk of not providing your professionals with the right AI tools presents actually a bigger risk to your organization where they're going outside of your environment, potentially exposinginformation to unsecure sources that would you don't want them to. 

And it will happen because folks know this technology as you mentioned they use it to write recipes or to get a recipe for a thing to build my meal plan to you know plan my vacation so people are understand the capabilities and the solutions that these tools provide so if you're not giving your resources, access to secure environments where they can benefit from this type of technology. I think there's a real risk to your business. So that's the first one. 

The second one is not providing the appropriate training and governance around your use of the technology within your organization. Helping people appreciate the limitations and potential pitfalls of the technology, making sure that you have the right checks and balances still in place to make sure that in the same way that you would have checked something that was prepared manually, it's still, still you'll need to have those kind of reviews and technical checks in place. 

They just will look different than they do in today's world. So I think it's twofold. It's the risk of not providing the professionals the technology and then also making sure when you do provide the technology, you've got the right controls around it. And then certainly the IT security, et cetera, is important.

Steven Abel 

Well, thank you. I will close on a couple of questions. And the first is a leading question. Do you think the actuarial profession itself is undergoing a transformational moment? Why or why not?

Jennifer Jabben 

I do. And the reason I do, Steve, is because the actuarial community, I feel like, is best suited to help the industry navigate this technology change. The talent, having both a very strong technical aptitude as well as really understanding the technology and having worked with the technology well, in addition to understanding the interconnectedness within the business system and how that impacts both your profit and your growth metrics, the actuarial community understands the system of insurance and how it works. 

So this, just feel like the profession is at a transformative moment where we should really step up, embrace this and help our organizations bring it in in a way that can really transform the business while not falling victim to unexpected risks or not understanding that implementing a capability in your claims process is going to have implications to your financials. 

You know, the actuaries are just really, I think, well positioned to be leaders in this change. So I do think the profession is at a transformative moment. And I think leaders should be looking to their actuarial teams to be part of, not, you know, not stand alone, but part of cross-functional teams alongside their IT and their product organizations to embrace this technology.

Steven Abel 

Gosh, we've covered so much. If you had three takeaways for a listener, what would they be?

Jennifer Jabben 

Embrace the technology, become familiar with the capabilities, and think critically about how to integrate them into your business model as a core component and not a nice to have or an incremental accelerator would be the first one. 

The second would be don't lose sight of the non-technical skill sets that are going to become very important in the future when the technology is doing a lot of the hands-on keyboard technology or technical work that's happening and our resources and our professionals are using different skills alongside the technology. So you need to focus on developing those skill sets within your organization. 

And the third part or the third takeaway Steve would be for actuaries that are listening to this, raise your hand, get involved, step up and take leadership roles within your organization as it relates to transformation and bringing these accelerated technologies into the organization.

Steven Abel 

Jen, thank you for an engaging discussion. If our listeners wanted to contact you to continue this discussion, how can they reach you?

Jennifer Jabben 

I'd be happy to continue the discussion in any way, Steve. Certainly LinkedIn is a great platform to connect with me, but also we can provide my email address.

Steven Abel 

And your email addresses.

Jennifer Jabben 

Is jennifer.jabben at oliverwyman.com.

Steven Abel 

Thank you and I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today.

Jennifer Jabben 

Thanks, Steve. Appreciate the conversation.