Meet Mark
Mark is a consulting actuary and owner of the firm. He’s known for his teaching skills, and loves helping others understand and solve tough problems. He keeps us up to date on new developments in the pension and retiree medical fields, blogs on national pension issues, and speaks frequently at retirement conferences. His latest quest is to develop new ideas for modernizing our nation’s public sector pension systems.
Mark joined the firm in 2009 after almost 10 years at the national chains. We sought him out for his enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit.
Personal
Mark and his wife Sarah live in the Twin Cities with their two delightful daughters. He’s an avid cross-country skier, gardener, and cross-fitter who can do an impossible number of pullups.
Credentials
Mark is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), an Enrolled Actuary (EA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). He earned a B.A. in math, summa cum laude, from St. Olaf College.
Meet Pete
Pete is a consulting actuary known for his diligence and technical expertise. He enjoys developing creative solutions and helping his clients to optimize their retirement plans. When he talks we all listen, because he’ll bring a thoughtful new perspective to the discussion.
Pete joined the firm in 2001, a first round pick in the college draft. He joined us, in part, for the flexibility: he could both work here and coach the University of St. Thomas football team, which he did for a couple years.
Personal
Pete and his wife Lindsey live in the Twin Cities and home school their six kids. As you might guess, family is a major priority for Pete. They are very involved in the home school community and youth education in their church.
As an outlet for his busy home and work life, Pete started a family Ultimate Frisbee league and plays twice a week. He also loves hiking and losing to his wife at ping pong.
Credentials
Pete is an Enrolled Actuary (EA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). He earned a B.A. in math, summa cum laude, from the University of St. Thomas.
Meet Gina
Gina is a consulting actuary known for her professionalism and passion for quality. She keeps us all focused on producing an accurate and elegant work product.
Gina joined the firm in 2006, after being honored as the outstanding graduate of her college’s math & statistics department. Gina lives in Los Angeles, and we’re proud to have her represent us to our California clients.
Personal
Gina loves to travel, and we all enjoy her tales of places we hadn’t even heard of before.
Credentials
Gina is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA), an Enrolled Actuary (EA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). She double majored in mathematics and statistics, earning a B.S., summa cum laude, from Winona State University.
Meet Brenda
Brenda is a consulting actuary known for her focus and business acumen. She led our firm into public sector retiree medical work, years before GASB issued its first statements, and she specializes in large employers’ financial reporting.
Brenda joined the firm in 2000, after many years of experience in insurance and managing the Twin Cities retirement practice for one of the national chains.
Personal
Brenda and her husband Jim live in St. Paul with their two very athletic yet academic sons. They can often be found at hockey and baseball practices and games.
Credentials
Brenda is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA), an Enrolled Actuary (EA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). She earned a B.S. in math, summa cum laude, from Winona State University.
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Meet Emily
Emily is a consulting actuary known for fast turnaround and quality work. She supervises the development of our “latest and greatest” actuarial templates, and she’s had a hand in just about all of our reports.
Emily joined the firm in 2001, a first round pick in the college draft.
Personal
Emily and her husband Bosco live in the Twin Cities with their two active and inquisitive young sons. She’s home every Friday to be with the boys as they grow up.
Credentials
Emily is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), an Enrolled Actuary (EA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). She earned a B.A. in math and actuarial science from the University of Minnesota.
Meet Scott
Scott is a consulting actuary who is always looking for the next challenge. His actuarial experience has centered on private pension and OPEB valuation, administration, risk management, and pension risk transfer. He is building on that experience in public sector retirement plans.
Scott joined the firm in 2020, after nearly 18 years with one of the large actuarial firms.
Personal
Scott is an Iowan at heart, but he committed to a life in Minnesota when he fell for a Twin Cities girl. He and his wife Miranda added three beautiful and energetic children to their family in 2015, 2017, and 2018. Pre-pandemic, they enjoyed travel and seeking out great food. Scott’s personal interests include running and obsessing over his training plans, pizza-making, and (secretly) competing against the other gardeners in his extended family in growing the best vegetables.
Credentials
Scott is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), an Enrolled Actuary (EA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). He earned a B.A. in mathematics/statistics, magna cum laude, from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
Meet Claire
Claire wears many hats in our organization. As operations and business manager, she optimizes internal processes and greases the wheels that keep our business running. She also serves as an actuarial manager, overseeing the staffing of client projects and sharing technical resources with our junior staff.
Claire joined us in 2021, bringing her corporate experience serving private and public sector pension and OPEB clients, with an eye toward plan de-risking.
Personal
Claire lives in Twin Cities with her partner James and their dog Ripley. In her spare time, she enjoys doing puzzles of all sorts, playing pinball, baking overly complicated recipes, and riding her bicycle around the lakes.
Credentials
Claire earned a B.S. in mathematics with a specialization in actuarial science from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Meet Melanie
Melanie is an actuarial manager known for her efficiency, process improvements and sense of humor.
Melanie joined the firm in 2020 with over 20 years of experience in retirement benefits consulting. She has worked on pension plans and retiree healthcare plans for employers, large and small, public and private, doing actuarial work, benefits administration and project management.
Personal
Melanie lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two kids. They enjoy camping as much as possible in the spring, summer and fall.
Credentials
Melanie earned a B.S. in mathematics, cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.
Meet Emily
Emily is an actuarial manager known for her efficiency, amazing memory and health insurance knowledge. She has updated our health claim analysis tools to be the best they’ve ever been.
Emily joined the firm in 2015 after several years with a health insurance company. She’s applying her knowledge in our consulting environment.
Personal
Emily lives in Minneapolis with her partner Toby and their golden retriever Zoe. Like true Minnesotans, they love being outdoors. Their idea of a great vacation is finding a new area to camp and explore.
Credentials
Emily double majored in mathematics and statistics, earning a B.S., cum laude, from North Dakota State University.
Meet Aaron
Aaron is a senior actuarial analyst known for his problem solving skills and can-do spirit. He’s the internal tech guy who keeps our systems running.
Aaron joined the firm in 2013 after a stint as a bartender. He’s the kind of solid dude you’d want to tell your troubles to.
Personal
Aaron lives in Minneapolis and loves the outdoors. He recently fly fished his way to the Pacific Northwest.
Credentials
Aaron earned a B.S. in mathematics from North Dakota State University.
Meet Ben
Ben is a senior actuarial analyst known for his ability to learn quickly with a positive attitude. He is applying his skills on public pension and retiree medical plans.
Ben joined the firm in 2017 after a college internship.
Personal
Ben lives in New York and when he isn’t working or studying for actuarial exams, he teaches group fitness classes.
Credentials
Ben is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). He earned a B.S. in actuarial science from the University of Minnesota with a minor in finance and risk management from the Carlson School of Business.
Meet Dane
Dane is a senior actuarial analyst known for his diligence and efficiency. He’s our go-to analyst for public pension plans.
Dane joined the firm in 2015; we were lucky enough to have him intern with us his senior year so he avoided the college draft altogether. He’s enjoying his time out of the pool after four years on the varsity swim team.
Personal
Dane and his wife Meg live in downtown Minneapolis with their rescued Bernese Mountain Dog mix, Elsie.
Credentials
Dane earned a B.S. in actuarial science from the University of St. Thomas.
Meet Sydney
Sydney is an actuarial analyst known for her enthusiasm and technical skills. She led the U of MN actuarial club, and in internships with Optum Health and Willis Towers Watson she designed a dashboard to compare health reserving factors and developed tools to ensure pension payment accuracy. She joined the firm in 2019.
Personal
Sydney lives in Minneapolis with her Australian Shepherd, Rebel. She is a diehard Minnesota Gophers fan and is studying Krav Maga martial arts.
Credentials
Sydney graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics and Actuarial Science from the University of Minnesota.
Meet Connor
Connor is an actuarial analyst known for his willingness to take on new challenges and ability to catch on quickly. He’s focusing on our actuarial valuation processes and health claims analysis.
Connor joined the firm in 2018 with experience in pension plans and financial analysis.
Personal
Connor lives in St. Louis Park. You can find him at the cabin in the summer, watching football in the fall, and skiing in the winter. He enjoys traveling any chance he can get.
Credentials
Connor earned a B.A. in mathematics from Saint John’s University.
Meet Linda
Linda is an actuarial analyst known for her creativity and problem solving skills. She is proficient in several programming languages, and in internships with Mayo Clinic and Optum Health she created tools to analyze health claims and pricing changes. She joined the firm in 2019.
Personal
Linda lives in Minneapolis with friends. She’s a music lover who is learning the guitar and loves listening to new songs and artists, making playlists, and going to concerts.
Credentials
Linda graduated with a B.S. cum laude from the University of Minnesota, with a major in actuarial science and minors in Statistics and Risk Management & Insurance.
Meet Anh
Anh grew up in Viet Nam and went to college in California where she planned to pursue an English degree and return home to teach English. That was before she found her passion in mathematics and moved to Minnesota to study actuarial science.
Anh joined the firm in 2020 after a year of teaching math in a community college in California and a short internship with a health reinsurance company.
Personal
Anh loves all types of traveling, from adventurous road trips to luxury cruises, and taking her time to learn about the people and cultures (especially food) wherever she goes. When she is not traveling, she enjoys reading, journaling and doing food reviews.
Credentials
Anh double majored in actuarial science and statistics, earning a B.S., magna cum laude, from the University of St. Thomas.
Meet Carla
Carla is our office administrator. She takes care of all of us, and effortlessly handles the administrative details so we can focus on our clients.
Carla joined the firm in 2000, bringing with her years of experience with another actuarial firm.
Personal
Carla and her husband David live in the Twin Cities. They’ve raised a daughter and two sons, all out on their own. They are taking full advantage of their empty nest; there aren’t many movies that Carla and David haven’t seen or restaurants they haven’t enjoyed.
Jim van Iwaarden
Consulting Actuary
Emeritus: Jim van Iwaarden
Jim is a consulting actuary known for explaining technical topics in a way that’s clear and…wait for it…fun. He’s pretty extroverted, for an actuary.
Jim started the firm in 1991 and retired in 2021. Our firm reflects his positive can-do outlook.
Sandi Bruns
Consulting Actuary
Emeritus: Sandi Bruns
Sandi is a consulting actuary known for producing an incredible amount of quality work. We never quite figured out how she does it.
Sandi joined the firm in 2002 after many years of insurance company experience, reinvented herself to work on pensions and OPEB, and retired in 2020.
Sean Todd
Senior Actuarial Analyst
In memoriam: Sean Todd
Sean first joined the firm in the 1990s, moved to California and, luckily for us, returned in 2013. In early 2018 he was out for some cancer treatment we all thought would be fairly minor. But the cancer wouldn’t respond to treatment and he passed away in March 2019. We miss him every day.