Adina Erdfarb, FCAS, MAAA, CPCU, grew up in Highland Park, New Jersey, with career aspirations that were far from actuarial. An avid sports fan with a strong interest in writing, she regularly read Sports Illustrated and The New York Times sports section cover-to-cover. She was inspired by reporters who transcended sports through the power of their writing and aspired to do the same. She wrote for several print and online platforms before sensing a shift in the world of journalism and turned her attention to mathematics.
Erdfarb first learned about the actuarial career during her senior year at Bruriah High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey. She was drawn in by its focus on quantitative and critical thinking skills. “I knew I was pursuing a career as an actuary,” she said, “but at the time, I had no idea that I was embarking on a job as an insurance industry professional.”
Her first job out of college was at Chubb, where she interned after her junior year at Yeshiva University in New York. She started in the loss reserving department and, after several years, rotated to her current role in commercial property/liability pricing. “Loss reserving provided me with a broad yet focused view of the company, as well as a solid foundation of actuarial concepts,” she said. “In my pricing role, I have rounded out my perspective of the organization and the industry as a whole.”
Within a month of starting full-time at Chubb, Erdfarb saw a posting on the CAS website for candidate representatives to the Candidate Liaison Committee (CLC). She jumped at the opportunity. “I was raised in a household that put a heavy emphasis on volunteering for local organizations and community institutions,” she said. Growing up, she regularly saw her parents end their long workdays with a school board meeting or neighborhood function, and she pledged to emulate this worthy attribute.
Erdfarb was further encouraged by the fact that her voice was truly being heard and that her opinions were having a positive impact on CAS candidates. The CLC’s quarterly publication of Future Fellows also gave her the opportunity to tap into her journalism background and to write and edit articles on a regular basis.
Upon becoming an ACAS and an FCAS, Erdfarb remained on the CLC as a committee member and also branched out to volunteer on the Committee on Professionalism Education and the New Members Committee. She is now vice chair of the Committee on Online Services, for which she has largely focused on CAS social media engagement.
Erdfarb uses CAS participation to employ and improve her written and oral communication skills, whether by authoring blog posts for CAS Student Central or presenting at CAS meetings. She now serves as a CAS University Liaison to Yeshiva University and has coordinated CAS mentoring programs in the past. She has also pursued professional growth outside the CAS, completing the CPCU credential last year.
Erdfarb has maintained her keen interest in sports and is an avid fan of the New York Yankees, Rangers and Giants. In her free time, she choreographs, dances and participates in community dance outreach activities. She is also an ardent traveler whose most recent trip was to Alaska’s Inside Passage.
Throughout her career, Erdfarb has maintained her goal of well-roundedness. She aims to look beyond the traditional confines of the actuarial profession and incorporate perspectives of underwriters, claims professionals and others in the insurance field. She strives to further the actuarial profession by mentoring up-and-coming actuaries. in both formal and informal settings. “While a CAS-based actuarial education is of utmost importance in the P&C industry, it’s often the non-actuarial experiences that enhance our value proposition as a profession and that will keep us relevant for years to come.”
