Jennifer Lang has been named Actuary of the Year after taking a lead role in the profession’s response in assisting understanding of COVID-19 pandemic impacts.

The Actuaries Institute award is presented each year to a member who has made a notable contribution to the community and has brought credit to the profession.

Ms Lang has led the institute’s COVID-19 Working Group, which has brought together more than 80 actuaries, as volunteers, to assess the potential effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

A Pandemic Resource Centre was established to help actuaries support their companies in managing and mitigating the impacts, including in areas such as general insurance and workers' compensation and life insurance.

“The work of the COVID-19 group under Jennifer’s leadership is making a significant contribution,” Actuaries Institute CEO Elayne Grace said.

“The group has provided strong guidance to the profession in unprecedented times, across a very broad range of practice areas. It has resulted in 17 pandemic briefings and more than 70 articles.”

President Hoa Bui says Ms Lang’s work highlights the relevance of actuarial skills to policymaking and real-time national events.

Ms Lang has worked in the UK and Australia, in insurance and as a Chief Actuary, CFO and as a consultant. The institute says she has also been noted for her role as a mentor to younger professionals and for her blog Actuarial Eye.

“As a group, we spent a lot of time this year helping members and the community make sense of the pandemic and the economic crisis that has followed,” she said. “We bring data-driven thinking; we follow evidence to help determine a course of action.”