Welcome to the CAS Staff Spotlight, a column featuring members of the CAS staff. For this spotlight, we are proud to introduce you to Greg Guthrie.
What do you do at the CAS? How does your role support the Strategic Plan?
I am the CAS Managing Editor. Primarily, it’s my job to manage the day-to-day operations of CAS publications, while ensuring that everything the CAS publishes is of the highest quality. In practice, this means I read every article in E-Forum and Variance twice before it goes live! I work closely with our volunteer editorial leaders to translate their visions into tangible results. Along the way, we hope these published works advance the field of actuarial science, promote the knowledge and leadership of the CAS, and support our members as they advance in their careers.
What inspires you in your job? What do you love most about your job?
I love learning, solving problems, and being challenged. In a lot of ways, organizing information into a thoughtful, elegant written piece is simply the process of solving a puzzle. Likewise, grammatical constructions can be thought of as a process of applying a framework to unsorted knowledge. I have devoted my career to the written word, and I love working with words every day. I am also inspired by working with energetic volunteers who contribute to their field and their profession in their free time.
Describe your educational and professional background. What do you bring to the organization?
I have a BA in English from the University of Iowa and an MA in English Literature from the University of New Hampshire. It took me a bit to find my footing, but I’ve gained more than 20 years of experience in association publishing, content strategy, and content marketing.
What is your favorite hobby outside of work?
I am very involved in youth baseball. I’ve been a Little League coach for seven years. I’ve been a division commissioner for five years, which means I schedule the entire season for a division, build team rosters, run player drafts, and more. I also try to volunteer as an umpire when I can. Last summer, I got to watch my older son play in the Little League East Region Tournament in Bristol, Connecticut, which was an incredible experience.
If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go and why?
There are so many places! Hong Kong. I was there for just over 24 hours many years ago, but I would love to go back and experience more of it. My mom was born there.
What would your colleagues find surprising about you?
I have had a lot of jobs. Before I settled into my career track, my early twenties were nomadic. In no particular order, I have been a barista, a janitor in a hydroelectric power plant, a UPS preloader (I loaded the brown package cars), a prospector for a stock brokerage, an investigator/researcher for a credit bureau, a team leader for scoring standardized exams for elementary school students, and more. One of the more interesting jobs was when I sold wine-of-the-month clubs by phone out of a dilapidated office building in Chicago.
How would your friends and family describe you?
I’d like to think that the people in my life would say that I am a thoughtful, humble, and supportive person.
