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Meet Rick Gorvett, FCAS, Staff Actuary

Posted on Members Research
The Gorvett family. Rick is the tall one.

Welcome to the CAS Staff Spotlight, a column featuring members of the CAS staff. For this spotlight, we are proud to introduce you to Rick Gorvett.

    • What do you do at the CAS?
      I’m the CAS’s first-ever staff actuary. This may simply mean that it took the CAS over 100 years to find someone crazy enough to take the job, but it’s a real privilege and joy to be here!  The position is still evolving, but I am taking on roles associated with research, education and exams, and am a spokesperson for the CAS and the casualty actuarial profession.  It’s an honor to get involved with so many projects and issues affecting our future, such as The CAS Institute, basic and continuing education offerings, and future actuarial skill needs.
    • What do you enjoy most about your job?
      Working with wonderful fellow-staff members and interacting with incredibly talented CAS members. I also enjoy the variety of things that I’ve had a chance to get involved in.  I love having the opportunity to contribute to the actuarial profession —  I felt like I had a chance to do so as a teacher and a professor, and I really feel that there are opportunities to do so working at the CAS.
    • Hometown:
      I was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, and grew up in another western Chicago suburb, West Chicago. Actually, I’ve lived all but one year of my life in Illinois — probably because I admire our politicians so much….
    • College and degree:
      I have a bachelor’s of science in math from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an MBA from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (I told you that I was somewhat Illinois-centric!)
    • First job out of college:
      Actuarial analyst at Allstate Reinsurance.
    • Describe yourself in three words:
      Witty, fun-loving, and (as my six-year-old son suggested) awesome! (I won’t mention  the words that my 12-year-old and 15-year-old suggested.)
    • Favorite weekend activity:
      Anything, as long as my family (and preferably food and cabernet) is involved.
    • Favorite travel destination:
      Disney World. My family belongs to the Disney Vacation Club, and we go there nearly every year.  I know it doesn’t sound sexy, like visiting Machu Picchu or something, but the whole family loves it — the planning, the visit and the memories.  What more could someone ask for?
    • One interesting or fun fact about you:
      Several years ago, after my very first CAS Board of Directors meeting, I was outside walking back to the hotel, when I tripped over a lizard and broke a tooth (my tooth, not the lizard’s).  When I got back home, I went to my dentist and explained how my tooth predicament came about.  I think she and her assistant are still laughing.