It’s a well known fact that actuaries are dull people, so the term “actuarial drama” is nearly as much an oxymoron as “business ethics”. Well, guess what? We’ve got one.
Bruce Schobel, arguably one of the most well-known and respected senior actuaries in the circle, had recently been removed as the president-elect from the American Academy of Actuaries, as a result of a felony he commited 30 years ago.
Bruce was a past president of the Society of Actuaries, and had highly engaged himself in public policy, professional promotion, and education reform for this profession. At the same time, he’s constantly on online forums to provide information to actuaries and to help students study for exams. To the junior exam takers and those without powerful top connections, he was somebody who really cared. As the president of the SOA, he had signed and delivered over 1,000 FSA certificates, including mine:
Now, it’s a shocker to hear about his ugly history, and it’s reasonable for a profession to expect high integrity in its members and leaders… but for a mistake taken place 30 years ago, are we really gonna lose one of the best individuals out there? How much should a wrongdoing haunt down its doer long after the laws might have expunged it?
All I know is that somebody with a criminal record can still become the president or congressman of the United States.