The industry Advisory Board provides guidance and advise on various program improvement issues such as curriculum revisions, student recruitment and outreach, co-op and internship programs, scholarships and fundraising, etc. Current members of the board are:

Kelly S. Backes, FSA, MAAA
Kelly Backes
Kelly Backes

Milliman

Principal and Consulting Actuary

Kelly joined Milliman in 2014. https://us.milliman.com/en/consultants/Backes-Kelly

Fred Brautigam, M.A
Fred Brautigam profile picture
Fred Brautigam

Fred Brautigam, M.A., is an actuarial education product developer with over 15 years of experience. With a Master of Arts degree in English and six years in the actuarial profession, Fred is responsible for creating and editing content for manuals, questions, and videos, as well as providing discussion forum support for exams FM and FAM. He previously was a Coach for exams MFE and IFM. 

Fred is passionate about the actuarial profession and enjoys making creative contributions to help future actuaries better understand actuarial concepts. His diverse background includes teaching university classes, guest lecturing in math classes, and modernizing the structure, services, and technology at his previous employer as the assistant director of academic support. He currently serves as a volunteer tutor in the Actuarial Foundation’s Math Motivators program.

A professional writing graduate of UWM, Fred’s master’s thesis focused on using statistics to evaluate the effectiveness of technical documentation. He is known among Coaching Actuaries’ social media followers for his feature videos titled “Fun Facts with Fred,” in which he shares amusing facts related to math and actuarial science.

Taylor Gehrke, FSA, CERA, MAAA
Taylor Gehrke

Oliver Wyman

Actuarial Consultant

Charles Johnson, FSA, CERA
Charles Johnson
Charles Johnson

Northwestern Mutual

Actuarial Consultant

Michelle Klein, FSA, MAAA
Michelle Klein
Michelle Klein

Milliman

Actuary

Michelle is an actuary with the Chicago-Milwaukee office of Milliman. She joined the firm in 2013. https://us.milliman.com/en/consultants/klein-michelle

Jason Leurquin, ASA
Jason Leurquin profile pic
Jason Leurquin

Milliman

Senior Actuarial Analyst

Jason Leurquin joined Milliman in 2019 as an Actuarial Analyst, and he was promoted to Senior Actuarial Analyst in January 2022.

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee in 2019. Jason earned a Bachelor of Science degree with actuarial sciences and mathematics majors and an economics minor. He also earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with a finance major.

Jason is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries.

In his free time, he enjoys travel, reading, and spending time with his dog.

Drake Menzia, President of Advisory Board
Drake Menzla
Drake Menzla

National General

Actuarial Manager, Individual Products

Drake Menzia is a UWM alumnus and is currently working as a health pricing actuary at National General, an Allstate Company. He joined the company in 2012.

Marlee Nichols, ASA
Marlee Nichols

Northwestern Mutual

Actuarial Senior Specialist

Marlee graduated from UW-Madison in 2017 with a degree in Actuarial Science after transferring from UWM after her Junior year. She is now part of the Actuarial Leadership Development Program at Northwestern Mutual and is currently on rotation to the Risk Selection Strategy Department. She recently passed her final FSA exam and is finishing up modules before receiving her FSA.

Kelsey Reinhard, ASA, MAAA
Kelsey Reinhard
Kelsey Reinhard

Ascension

Actuarial Services Manager

Jason K. Sciborski, FSA, MAAA
Jason K. Sciborski
Jason K. Sciborski

Milliman

Principal and Consulting Actuary

Jason joined the Milwaukee office of Milliman in 2006.

Prior to joining Milliman, Jason worked at a large insurance company specializing in dental, life, and short-term disability products.

Jason’s areas of expertise are managed care, Medicare Advantage, supplemental benefits products, and strategic consulting. He has assisted clients with rating and underwriting, experience analyses, reserve and liability estimates, product design, risk sharing arrangements, healthcare reform analysis, risk adjustment, and other actuarial projections. His clients include professional associations/trusts, employers, provider-owned health plans, and insurance companies, both in the commercial and retiree markets.

Krystal Smuda, ACAS
Krystal Smuda
Krystal Smuda

Allstate

Data Scientist

Krystal started out as a property/casualty actuary at Allstate, joining the company in 2015 after graduating from UW-Milwaukee. Currently she is a data scientist at Allstate.

Brooke Stadel, FSA from NM

No info