Margaret de Valois. Career model

Margaret de Valois FIA/FFA: FIA 2007 Company Schroder Investment Management Limited Role: Client Director Other actuaries: There are currently six other qualified actuaries working at Schroders

First job

Intern at Mercury Asset Management 

Career history

Despite initial plans to become a fund manager, and having an early taste of the world of fund management as an intern with Mercury, I decided to become an actuary and joined Coopers and Lybrand shortly before their merger with Price Waterhouse. My career then focussed on corporate consultancy before I took a two year career break to run a classical music company. Following this I returned to the pensions industry and, being keen to keep some aspect of my life in the media world, became editor of The Actuary magazine.

Key stops between first job and current one

My two years outside the Actuarial Profession gave me the time and freedom to discover what I really enjoy about working, and what I am really good at. This gave me the focus and confidence to move out of traditional fields and shape my actuarial career to fit my own skills and needs. My current role, which involves a mixture of communicating difficult concepts to clients and juggling the often quite intense demands of fund management, is a perfect combination for me.

Current work

My current role involves liaising with all parts of Schroders to ensure clients receive the service and products they require. In practise this can cover almost everything from negotiating investment management agreements and fees to explaining to a finance director how we use derivatives in their pension schemes’ LDI portfolio.

Hurdles to surmount

Returning to work after taking a career break was tough as I had to convince employers that my time had been well spent and that the skills I had acquired in the media industry would be useful in an actuarial role.

Original reason for becoming an actuary

I was good at maths and the earning potential as an actuary was better than that of a classical musician.

Other comments

Due to the breadth and extent of our examination process actuaries have an enormous amount of expertise to share and are well rounded business professionals. I believe that there are many opportunities for actuaries to add value outside of the traditional fields; however it is down to the individual to seek out and shape roles that require our skills. If enough of us branch out then wider fields may even become the norm in a few years’ time.