Meet Paul Birch Class of 2019

​Paul Birch | Actuarial Consultant
Aetna, a CVS Health Company | LinkedIn
 
Paul Birch is currently an Actuarial Consultant (ALDP II) at Aetna, a CVS Health Company. Paul has worked at Aetna since graduating from Penn State in May 2019, where he majored in Risk Management – Actuarial Science and minored in Statistics and History. While at Penn State, Paul interned all three summers (amazing!) at three different companies – Kuzneski Insurance Group (a small group brokerage) after freshman year, Liberty Mutual after sophomore year, and Aetna after junior year. Paul will be receiving my ASA in the summer of 2021 and aim to attain FSA in 2022.
 
What is Paul’s current work?
“Currently, I lead renewal pricing for Aetna’s small group level-funded product. Level-funding is an arrangement that combines self-insurance and stop-loss elements and is one of our newer product lines. In this role, I work with underwriters and our different markets’ actuaries to determine optimal and appropriate increases for our level-funded groups. One of my favorite parts about the role is devising different statistical measures and elements to enhance our renewal methodology model – working either by myself or alongside data science partners to better understand patterns in our block of business.”
 
Who/what inspired Paul to pursue the career?
“People often stereotype actuaries as being heartless human calculators, far more focused on the fifth decimal point than the big picture or the people surrounding them. I’ve been very grateful to have a very connected, meaningful, personal experience as an actuary throughout my education and career. I decided to attend Penn State because of the individualized attention and opportunities that I could tell even such a large program provided to its students, and I was very pleased during my underclassmen years to have a number of professors and older students who helped mentor me to grow in skills and knowledge.” 

​And there is more to it…
“Later, when I served as the Penn State Actuarial Science Club President, I was amazed to see the motivation and skills displayed by a diverse group of students and was honored to provide both organizational leadership and individualized support to some very inspiring peers. I’ve had much of the same experience at Aetna – I dare any person to say actuaries can’t be fun after living through the interns’ Aetmazing Race! Even on a day-to-day basis, I’m able to see how the work I do directly impacts both my business partners and even individual consumers, and this is great motivation to do my best to ensure our customers can afford and access the care they need to achieve and maintain wellness.”
 
Let’s look into Paul’s thoughts on Penn State’s program…
“I’m continually impressed by the amount of resources available to Penn State actuarial students and encourage all students to take advantage of the opportunities the program provides. Not only are they beneficial to professional growth, but they can be personally enjoyable too! I’m forever thankful for the Penn State program for helping me find not only a challenging, rewarding job and a top-tier professional network but also a crew of actuaries to travel the world with, the chance to thoroughly research Jeopardy wagering strategy, and an understanding of the true impact I can make on the world as an actuary.”
 
Our sincere gratitude to Paul, and congratulations on attaining ASA designation. All the best for your future endeavors!