Alejandro (“Alex”) Morales
Chief Actuary
Crum & Forster
“I have been really lucky to have had several strong managers over the years who helped me develop, and I have tried to replicate this on my own team.” A huge part of his new corporate role, he says is speaking to non-technical audiences, so he tries to lead by example. “I had one particular manager who was very good with one-to-one people skills and taught me the importance of face-to-face communications for delivering and explaining information, especially when it’s extremely technical.”
Alex Morales was the kid in class who viewed math as fun puzzles, and the one who read books and always did a little extra work. That’s called “self-study” now, or professional development. And this discipline has led him to his role as Crum & Forster Chief Actuary.
How has focusing on Professional Development and “owning” his career helped his success?
One of the simplest things I did is to express interest in future roles. Once that was put out there, I was lucky enough to have leaders who gave me opportunities to take on side projects or put me in front of higher-level leadership, and I took advantage of that whenever I could. I also made it a point to suggest projects on my own that I thought would either help my direct manager or the company at large and took that on in addition to my regular work.
Was your career progression thoughtful, intentional or accidental?
I studied math because it was fun, but I began to see how you could make a company more profitable, lower prices, make a difference for people. Insurance made it all more tangible and real. I definitely didn’t expect this current role coming to C&F! I thought I would follow the path that is arguably more common for what I was doing – namely moving from a pricing actuary into underwriting and eventually leading a business unit. I’m thrilled to have gotten this opportunity.”
‘I’ve been lucky enough to have leaders who gave me opportunities to take on projects or put me in front of higher-level leadership and I took advantage whenever I could.’ –Alex Morales, Chief Actuary