CCA Member Spotlight
Consulting actuaries don’t sit on the sidelines. We’re front and center – the movers and shakers – unafraid of using our powers of intellect and charm to advise and conquer. We are individuals with extraordinary stories to tell. This page will feature the stories of CCA members - who they are and what they do both inside and out of the actuarial world.
Meet CCA Member: Jim Dolstad
Meet your fellow member, Jim Dolstad. Jim is a committed CCA volunteer and enjoys the opportunity to work with colleagues from other companies to plan continuing education sessions for the CCA’s Healthcare Meeting and Annual Meeting. He finds participating in the organization rewarding both personally and professionally.
Name: Jim Dolstad | Location: Leavenworth, WA | Employer: Optum | Area of Practice: Healthcare
It was of four options on the table upon graduating college one of the other options was optimizing land lines for one of major telephone companies. Fortunately, I chose well.
When actuaries fall in love their heart grows to the size of a pea and then explodes.
The membership, participating on the Board, the continuing education, and the subscription to the Wall Street Journal.
I am getting fairly adept at driving and using a tractor.
Steve Berry and Dan Brown are two of my favorite authors.
I have been fortunate to have several fantastic mentors throughout my career, including currently. One specific mentor that sticks out is Dr. Jerry Osband, He was the Chief Medical Officer at two of the companies I worked at and he provided me great guidance on how to work effectively with senior leadership as well as how to communicate effectively to the market, customers, and executives.
I was surprised and humbled to be elected to the Board of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries as it was not on my radar.
Working together with colleagues from other companies to put together a really good continuing education session for CCA's Healthcare or Annual meetings.
I graduated from the University of Puget Sound, double majoring in Math and Economics.
Learning something new and improving every day.
It is a commitment, a commitment that can be highly rewarding but you need to continually put the effort in to be successful.
With so much data and computing power now available actuaries need to rapidly adapt to predictive modeling and machine learning in our everyday work. Understanding how to use the data and models in a responsible and fair manner and work with multiple professional disciplines will be a key to the profession's future success.
First and foremost, trusted advisor whether you are consulting within your company or external to your company.
Actually participating in the actuarial organizations, not just being a member, can be very rewarding both personally and professionally.
Coach football
The opportunity to have access to the best, most applicable, continuing education sessions, and network with other actuaries at conferences and through the various communities.
[Have a question for Jim? Send the CCA an email at conference@ccactuaries.org containing your contact information, and we’ll get the message to them on your behalf.]
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