Meet Wes Griffiths, FCAS

Welcome to the CAS Staff Spotlight, a column featuring members of the CAS staff. For this spotlight, we are proud to introduce you to CAS Admissions Staff Actuary Wes Griffiths.

  • What do you do at the CAS?
    I’m serving as the first Admissions Staff Actuary. My role touches all things admissions and education. I’ve only been on the job since October 2019, but I’ve already experienced a wide variety of endeavors in the role — from working with authors on syllabus content and engaging with vendors on computer-based testing efforts, to partnering with CAS Leadership on a multiyear admissions roadmap and digging into data underlying our examination process to understand areas for improvement. It’s all focused on making sure our education system meets the needs of our candidates and their employers both today and into the future.
  • What do you enjoy most about your job?
    I enjoy working with individuals with such different backgrounds on a daily basis — my fellow CAS staff members, CAS leaders, candidates, university students, volunteers, actuaries from other organizations, academics and vendors. I cherish every relationship that I’ve built and take something from each conversation I have.
  • Where’s your hometown?
    I grew up in Hibbing, a small iron-mining town in northern Minnesota. For those trivia buffs, Hibbing is the childhood home of singer/songwriter/poet Bob Dylan and basketball great Kevin McHale. It’s the birthplace of the Greyhound Bus Line, and it has a high school on the National Register of Historic Places.
  • Where’d you go to college and what’s your degree?
    I attended college in Duluth at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and double majored in math/statistics and economics.
  • What was your first job out of college?
    I started my career at St. Paul Companies (now Travelers) as an actuarial student. I had an amazing 19 years at Travelers in various commercial lines roles until joining the CAS last fall.
  • Describe yourself in three words.
    Positive. Helpful. Curious.
  • What’s your favorite weekend activity?
    I have a boat on the St. Croix River, which borders Minnesota and Wisconsin. I like to spend my summers on the water with my friends and my two dogs Lucy and Riggins.
  • Where’s your favorite travel destination?
    I enjoy beach vacations, where I can read a good book, listen to the sound of the waves and truly disconnect from everyday stressors. For our 40th birthdays, my friends and I traveled to French Polynesia and stayed on the islands of Bora Bora and Moorea. It was an amazing experience and will be hard to top!
  • Name one interesting or fun fact about you.
    In college I worked at a cemetery during the summer months, mowing the lawn and tending the grounds. I’ve heard all the cemetery jokes in the book!
  • Favorite Quote.
    Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.