Jan Marthinus Blomerus
Work Address
W106, West Block University of the Free State Bloemfontein, 9300
(051) 401-9610
OBJECTIVE
I am a valuations actuary and excel in the optimisation of inputs, methods and outputs of valuation models. My experience lies with Prophet, Moses, data management, reporting and people management inside the valuations work stream.
I have a keen eye for ensuring valuation results are adequate, reasonable and sensible to com- municate and audit. I have a solid track record of creating automated processes, reporting benchmarks and delivering accurate valuation results to various audiences, and never missed reporting deadlines even under sometimes impossible circumstances.
EDUCATION
Master of Science, Actuarial Science
University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa 2015 Analysis of the correlation between Embedded Value reporting and Market Capitalisation of Life Insurance Companies
*Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa, Actuarial Science Actuarial Society of South Africa, South Africa
2007
Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, Actuarial Science Institute of Actuaries, London, UK
2007
Diploma in Business Analysis, Business Analysis Faculty Training Institute, Cape Town, South Africa
2005
Bachelor of Science, Actuarial Science
Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
1999
(*I also passed the Life Practice modules F212 and F210.)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
University of the Free State, South Africa January 2014 – Current Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science Snr Lecturer and Actuary
• I am/was the full-time lecturer for Actuarial subjects: A103 (CT2), A211 (CT1), A212 (CS2), A301 (CA1) and F102 (ST2), and external moderator of the University of Pretoria, South Africa, for A201 (CT1).
• Study leader of Masters and Honours students.
• ASSA and SASA committee work.
• Development of the course framework of an undergraduate actuarial programming course and support to the department’s statistical consultation unit: calculations on various commercial projects and doctoral research theses.
• Various reconciliations in SQL for internal department purposes.
Munich Re, Johannesburg, South Africa July 2013 – December 2013 Valuations department Consulting Actuary
• Assisted with the annual valuation of Munich Re South Africa.
• Provided dedicated on-site training to the valuations team, on valuation techniques and using Moses and SQL to perform calculations, automation and report results coherently.
• Designed a more streamlined valuation process.
MMI, Bellville, South Africa April 2010 – March 2013 MMI International Corporate Valuations Team Leader
• I was the 2IC to the Statutory Actuary for four predominantly Life Insurance companies of MMI located in Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland.
• My main responsibility was the delivery and eventual sign-of of the half-yearly Com- pany and Group valuation and EV reports, which I co-signed with the Statutory Ac- tuary. I also reported quarterly Value of New Business on Company and Group levels.
• These valuations were based on IFRS, MCEV and South African Capital Adequacy requirements (SAP 104 and SAP 107), and were presented to Company Boards and sent to various regulatory bodies and stock exchanges. (Similar to the work in Prophet at Sanlam below.)
• As team leader I distributed tasks, set deadlines, lead team meetings and managed employee performance.
• Assisted with the declaration of bonus rates on savings business, including various solvency exercises on specific lines of business.
• Made recommendations on new product specification, capital requirements and pro- duct re-pricing.
• Performed Moses modelling and managed the automation summary thereof in SQL server, including the design of various reports on profi y projections.
• Frequently interacted with various MMI divisions, Boards and members, executive management and auditors.
Sanlam Personal Finance 2007 – March 2010 Valuations Department Valuations Actuary
• Performed actuarial modelling and valuations of the entire unit-linked individual life product range called Universal Life, using applicable product level and summary level Prophet libraries, including the data work preceding model input and the automation of results in a SQL server environment.
• Co-signed actuarial valuation bases and models which were subject to external auditor scrutiny.
• Presented valuation results to Sanlam’s Chief Statutory Actuary.
• Performed analysis of surplus, analysis of change in embedded value, sensitivity analysis and capital adequacy reserves calculations.
• I was also the Head Administrator of Sanlam’s Prophet modelling, setting strategy and facilitating meetings with SunGard (UK company) and key staff members.
• Performed Prophet modelling, product development and model optimisation and au- tomation, over all of Sanlam’s diff t life products’ models.
• Frequently interacted with various internal Sanlam divisions and external auditors.
Sanlam Personal Finance 2006 – 2007
New Business Department Senior Actuarial Consultant
• Documented the actuarial back-end calculations into programming formulas required for the development of Sanlam’s internet-based product offering.
• Designed case studies and reporting outputs for automatic auditing of calculations performed to front-end.
• Attended daily meetings with product managers, system designers and other internal parties.
Sanlam Employee Benefits January 2000 – 2006 Valuations Department Actuarial Consultant
• Performed pension fund valuations for both Defined Contribution (DC) and Defined Benefit (DB) Funds.
• Performed distribution of surplus calculations including DB to DC conversions.
• Compiled valuation and other reports which were presented to pension fund trustees.
• Performed various reasonability checks and actuarial build-ups.
• Designed and distributed business wide Visual Basic automated valuations package.
AS STUDY LEADER
Masters theses submitted 2023
University of the Free State
• Bitcoin price prediction from market indicators using neural networks.
Masters theses submitted 2020
University of the Free State
• Statistical Modeling of Grain Crops Yield in Free-State Province with Reference to El Nino and La Nina Periods: Applications of Multivariate Methods and Diagnostics.
• The impact of Credit Risk on the Profitability of Commercial banks in South Africa.
Selective Honours projects 2014 – 2023
University of the Free State
• Unsupervised Machine Learning in Insurance Space.
• National Health Insurance: Is it the solution to achieving Universal Health Cover in South Africa?
• A study on the introduction of a reduced speed limit in South Africa.
CORE COMPETENCIES
• Excellent problem identification and problem solving skills.
• High detail, quality orientation.
• Excellent planning skills.
• Energetic, driven personality with the ability to deliver under pressure.
• Good interpersonal and coordination skills.
• Strong managerial skills with the ability to motivate staff.
• The ability to communicate effectively to audiences of various backgrounds.
• Excellent presentation skills.
Expert
COMPUTER SKILLS
• Prophet (including DCS) and Moses
• SQL (including SQL Server Management Studio)
• Microsoft Office (including Excel, Access, Word, Powerpoint)
• R, Julia
Advanced
• Adobe Pro
• Visual Basic
• Latex
Other: Matlab, SAS, html, Android Applications
PART-TIME WORK AND STUDIES
Actuarial Consulting 2015 – 2020
• Member of Solve Actuarial Consulting, performing various claim type calculations - see https://solve.co.za/solve/ for more details.
• Training on Prophet and life products in Nigeria.
• Consulting on year-end valuation for Alexander Forbes.
Education 2010 – 2020
• South African Mathematics Olympiads trainer.
• UK CA1 guinea pig.
• Completed the following Honours mathematical subjects in 2018 and 2019:
– Optimisation,
– Measure and Integration Theory and
– Financial Mathematics.
Research 2012 – Current
• South African genealogy - member of various organisations and groups.
• Designing and creating an artificial intelligence valuation system in Julia (PhD Candidate)
MEMBERSHIPS
Actuarial Society of South Africa Statistical Association of South Africa
COMMITTEE WORK
Current member of the ASSA Data Analytics Team
Previous member of the ASSA Annual Congress 2020 Budget committee
Previous member of the ASSA Open Source Workgroup
Previous member of the SASA Annual Congress committee
INTERESTS
Machine learning, mortality studies, sport, mathematics, statistics.