Meet Brent Nachison Class of 2020

Brent Nachison | Business Analyst
Deloitte Consulting | LinkedIn | Email: brent.nachison@gmail.com
 
Brent started his journey in Deloitte Consulting in September 2020 after he interned with Deloitte in the summer of 2019. He also interned with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency in the summer of 2018. Back when Brent was a student, he worked as a statistician for many of Penn State’s varsity sports teams (Football, Hockey, Wrestling). Brent has passed three exams, and he is looking forward to getting his fourth exam done. He graduated with an Actuarial Science degree from Smeal College of Business in May of 2020 and in his free time he is an overinvested sports fan and plays golf.
 
What is your current role?
“I currently am working on a Value Based Care implementation project (Health Strategy) with a large health system. Our team is working to help the client move up the risk continuum and ensure that they have a care and operating model that will be able to successfully support value-based contracts. I spent my first six months at the firm supporting life insurance audits for several large life insurance companies. This was more traditional actuarial reserving work across different life and annuity products.”
 
What is your greatest accomplishment?
“My greatest accomplishment to date was passing IFM. I got a 0 on IFM my very first try when I was a student and did not let that discourage me.”

​ – Brent Nachison
 
Who/what inspired you to pursue the career?
“When I visited Penn State when I was in high school, I was lucky enough to run into Ron Gebhardtsbauer who gave me an introduction to what an actuary was and what skills made a successful actuary. I decided to go the consulting route because I thought the breadth of exposure that consulting offers to you so early in your career is great to take advantage of and can lead to so many non-traditional opportunities both actuarial and non-actuarial.”
 
Have you ever influenced/inspired anyone? 
“I like to think that I have performed and conducted myself in a way that people like to view as somewhat of an example, however, I don’t know if I can consider myself an “influencer”. I am always happy to talk with students and peers and give my two cents, but ultimately think my best advice is to talk to as many people and get as many viewpoints as possible. With that, you will be able to make well informed decisions that can shape your career. Happy to talk to any students who may be interested in any part of my path or want to hear why I went a certain way.”
 
What is a challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?
“I think that my 0 on IFM was a big challenge for me. I really did not grasp any of the material the first time I took it and thought that because I passed P and FM on the first try, I could get lucky. I took it again after re-studying and got a 3. Then again and got a 5. It was my fourth try where I got an 8 and it felt so good given my path. I think it was encouraging that my score improved every time and the key to overcoming it was taking time after each attempt and asking myself how I could enhance my studying approach.”
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What was your favorite place to go at Penn State?
“At Penn State, my favorite place was Pickles. One event that I was thankful happened before COVID was our senior year bar crawl and favorite memory was having a beer with Ron Gebhardtsbauer at my favorite bar/restaurant. I really enjoyed going to Pickles for country night and thankfully actuarial classes tended to be on Tuesday’s so there was no issue staying out late on Tuesday’s.”
 
Our sincere gratitude to Brent. All the best for your future endeavors!