12 December 2018
Last month saw the launch of the second year of the AMP. Over 100 people attend the launch event at the Pension Insurance Corporation offices in London, which included a Masterclass and panel discussion hosted by Sarah Winckless MBE.
Catherine Thain shared her story about how she’d returned to work as a first-time mum and wasn’t really settling back well. She saw an advert for AMP in The Actuary Magazine and applied for one of the 10 special/individual places as a returner.
Catherine was very passionate about the impact the programme had on her career and life: “I started off by bringing my whole self to the mentoring experience and being really open about what I wanted from my mentoring relationship. Mentoring is so important because it helps you vocalise what you really want from your career.”
Not long before finishing AMP Catherine was promoted and won the award for committed mentee of the year.
The scheme has gone from strength to strength, with an 80% increase in participating organisations in its second year of operation. The employers that have re-committed to AMP include:
- Aviva
- The Government Actuary’s Department
- Lane Clark & Peacock
- Phoenix Group
- The Prudential Regulation Authority
- XPS Group
The organisations that have joined for the first time are:
- Axis Capital
- Bupa
- Hodge
- Just Group PLC
- KPMG
- LV=
- Lloyds Banking Group
- Spence and Partners
- Zurich
Chika Aghadiuno, Chair of the IFoA’s Diversity Advisory Group, gave the closing speech at the launch event: “This programme has gone from strength to strength since it began last year. We’ve had tremendous interest and backing for AMP within the industry. As the scheme enters its second year, it’s clear that there is a demand for this kind of support as female actuaries navigate their career path. We know that both mentors and mentees benefit from this process and we are excited to see the progress of all those taking part in this year’s AMP. The IFoA seeks to provide opportunities to help its members and all actuaries fulfill their potential and programmes like these helps to support that aim.”
The AMP is a mentoring scheme designed to improve diversity at senior levels of the profession by helping retain female actuaries for longer.
Senior male and female mentors are matched with recently and nearly qualified female actuaries. All matches are cross-functional and inter-disciplinary. The programme guides matches through a process designed to retain talent within the profession.
Launched in 2017, the pioneering mentoring scheme is supported by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), sponsored by PIC and is managed by specialist mentoring, diversity and inclusion organisation, Moving Ahead.