Cover Kartina Tahir Thomson will officially start her role as president of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) in June 2024 (Photo: Daniel Adams/Tatler Malaysia)
Kartina Tahir Thomson will officially start her role as president of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) in June 2024 (Photo: Daniel Adams/Tatler Malaysia)
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From June 2024, the senior director at Willis Towers Watson will take on her newest role as president of the UK’s only chartered professional body that develops and regulates actuaries in the UK and globally
Reflecting on her 25 years of actuarial, risk, governance and regulatory experiences, Kartina Tahir Thomson admits that she’s never adhered to just one path in her career. In her teens, she attended MRSM (Maktab Rendah Sains MARA) Taiping boarding school, and received a scholarship to study in London at the age of 17.
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“I was always proactive about getting diversity of experience,” she says. “I was supposed to come back home after getting my degree but that was during the Asian Economic Crisis. Instead, I did my training at several multinational insurance companies before going to a global insurance broker. Later, I became the chief risk officer of an insurance company around the time when the European insurance legislation, Solvency II, was being implemented. Then I joined the Bank of England because I wanted to help influence policies and markets."
Above Senior director at Willis Towers Watson Kartina Tahir Thomson has 25 years of diverse actuarial, risk, governance and regulatory experience
Senior director at Willis Towers Watson Kartina Tahir Thomson has 25 years of diverse actuarial, risk, governance and regulatory experience
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“I loved my time there,” she continues. “I was able to do many different things, always learning something new.” It was after this that Kartina pivoted and joined PwC, one of the largest international accounting and professional services firms in the world. Though it was different from what she was used to, she enjoyed the ability to see different perspectives and sides of the insurance industry.
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“In life, there are times when you have the opportunity to pivot. The key thing is having an appetite to learn and keeping an open mind,” she says. “And don't get bogged down with the traditional definition of a promotion–sideways progression is equally valid and extremely rewarding for people, especially considering that many of us will work for a very long time. It is important that we enjoy what we do.”
What’s important in this job is the collaborative aspect of leadership, making sure that you listen to people and assimilate their different views and opinions and bring it all together.
A long-time volunteer serving on the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) council for six years, Kartina's focus is on the sustainability of the profession. Atypical of her industry’s reputation for being solid and staid, she hopes to foster greater levels of confidence, enthusiasm and boldness in the next generation of actuaries to tackle societal challenges and make a bigger impact.
Come June 2024, she will be in a better position to help enact these positive changes as president of the IFoA, which has around 32,000 members globally. Having the added experience of being senior director at Willis Towers Watson (one of the biggest insurance consultancies in the world) ensures invaluable insights on the evolving needs and expectations of IFoA members, she says.
“It’s exciting and humbling as well. The best thing is I have so much support from a strong and diverse council, people who have volunteered their time to do the right thing. I’m looking forward to making a difference alongside them."
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Photography: Daniel Adams
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Previously contributing to Esquire Malaysia, Expat Lifestyle and Newsweek, Tania oversees digital stories across Tatler’s key content pillars, also leading the Front & Female platform exploring issues and topics affecting women today.
