Erin Campbell, a 2012 Calvin graduate from Olivet, Michigan, knew she wanted to be an actuary before she knew the career existed. “I knew in eighth or ninth grade that I wanted to do something with math for my career. At that point, I hadn’t heard of actuarial work. I was thinking of being an accountant or something like that,” she said. “I first heard of actuarial science in high school and it was intriguing, the idea of trying to calculate risk and price for it.”

As she continued taking math courses and cultivating her passions at Calvin, Campbell pursued her interest in actuarial science on the Chicago semester as an intern for CNA Insurance during her senior year. Less than two years later, in February 2014, she would return to CNA Insurance as an employee.

After taking eight exams over the course of the past four years, Campbell achieved the Associate of Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS) title in February, which she described as the “master’s degree” for actuaries. This means she has the authority to sign off on statements of actuarial opinion, affirming that the analysis is accurate to the best of her knowledge.

She hopes to take three more exams to reach the highest credential, or to Campbell, the “PhD” of actuaries: a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society (FCAS).

“It’s complicated with insurance because you’re selling a promise to help somebody when something bad happens to them. It’s all about using statistics to project the future, and then build in some profit,” she said. Varying factors within weather patterns and geographic regions can cause complications for calculations, which Campbell actually finds challenging and fun in the process of risk classification.

Having a liberal arts education isn’t common amongst Campbell’s coworkers, which she believes sets her a notch ahead of the other young people working with her. “Most people went to a larger state school with an actual actuary science major. I feel like it was really great for me to go to Calvin because my writing and speaking skills are so strong. I took Honors Oral Rhetoric and didn’t think much of it, but my manager kept saying, ‘I can’t believe how comfortable you are speaking in front of people!’ If you spend all your time crunching numbers but can’t explain it to people, and you can’t sell your work, then it’s all worthless.”

Campbell pursues other passions outside the office building, too. “When people ask what I do, I say I’m an actuary during the day and a musician at night,” she said. “I play French horn in a few different ensembles here in Chicago: a brass quintet and a symphonic band of 100 people. I love it! In every part of this job and in my music as well, I try to do everything with integrity and make sure people know that I appreciate them, not taking the wonderful parts of life for granted.”

Campbell is content with her current CNA Insurance position, but she hopes to be a director one day where she can manage and mentor others.