Every year, graduates from the College of Letters & Science enter the workforce and begin to contribute thousands of dollars to their local, state, and national economies. They bring the skills and knowledge they gained at UW-Milwaukee to their jobs, along with their ambitions and fresh perspectives.
In this new article series, we will highlight some of the recent Letters & Science alumni who have found fulfilling roles in their chosen fields.
Name: Jonathan (Jack) Browne
Major: Actuarial Science
Grad Year: 2024
Job: Actuarial Analyst at State Farm
Like a good neighbor… You know the rest.
State Farm is one of the most well-known names in the insurance industry. The company provides home, life, and auto insurance in all 50 states and some Canadian provinces, and you can’t sit through a sports broadcast without seeing at least one of their commercials.
It’s a perfect place for a new graduate like Jack Browne to start his journey to being a licensed actuary.
As an actuarial analyst on State Farm’s pricing team, Browne is responsible for reviewing pricing manuals, verifying data accuracy, completing special projects for his managers, and monitoring insurance trends in various areas that could impact rates.
“State Farm provides many different lines of insurance. Lines I work in include renters and personal liability umbrella coverage, and their rules and rates are often changing,” he explained. “A lot of my job is providing the different states’ Departments of Insurance with support and data for our reasoning for lowering or increasing rates.”
While he’s working at State Farm, Browne is also working on completing his actuarial exams. Prospective actuaries must pass a series of exams administered by the Society of Actuaries or the Casualty Actuarial Society that test peoples’ knowledge in probability, financial mathematics, statistics, and more, before they can become an “associate” in the profession. He just passed another exam in May, but he began sitting for his tests when he was still a student at UWM.
Browne grew up in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He started his college career at the University of Minnesota, but soon transferred to UWM to join the track and field team. He had always been interested in math and initially considered being a math teacher, but quickly decided to major in actuarial science – a great choice, since UWM is one of 22 Centers of Actuarial Excellence and is among the top actuarial science programs in the United States.
He liked the structured focus of the classes and thought it might open the door to a stable career. He especially appreciated the help from UWM’s faculty.
“Jessica Gartner is the head of actuarial science. … She was a really big help in laying out my schedule, what my plan needed to be, what classes I needed to take,” Browne said. “She’s also a fully licensed actuary, so she went through all of the exams, and we were able to relate on exam-taking.”
In addition, he said, UWM also helped him prepare, and pay, for the first of his actuarial science exams.
If he could offer one piece of advice for current actuarial science majors, it would be to find an internship.
“Even if it’s a really small local business, as long as it’s something. That opens the door. Exams are nice, but (job recruiters) would rather have you pass one exam with an internship than pass three or four exams (without),” he said.
An internship that Browne completed after graduating in 2024 provided him with experience that made him an attractive candidate when he applied to State Farm’s national office in Bloomington, Illinois. After several rounds of interviews, he had an offer in hand and a place to gain experience as he prepares to complete the rest of his actuarial exams.
Now, Browne gets to be a good neighbor and a great actuarial analyst.
Are you a recent graduate who found a job in a field related to your major? Let us know and you might be featured in an upcoming edition of the In Focus newsletter. Email svickery@uwm.edu for more information.
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science