Leadership Team

+ - President/Director - John Robinson, FSA, MAAA

John is Chief Actuary at Capital Region BOCES in Albany, NY. This non-profit provides various educational and management services to several school districts in a four-county area. The actuarial unit provides valuations related to post-retirement benefits, other than pensions, for the districts' teachers, administrators and support staff. Prior to joining the BOCES, John spent over twenty three years in the life insurance industry, twenty of which were spent at Nationwide Financial in Columbus, OH. John volunteers regularly as an exam grader for the Society of Actuaries. He holds a B.Sc. (Special) in Mathematics from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, and an M.S. in Statistics from the Florida State University.

+ - Foundation President - Jennifer Middough, FCAS, MAAA

Jennifer is a Vice President, Actuarial Pricing Specialist with Partner Reinsurance Company in Greenwich, CT. Her current responsibilities include pricing lines of business such as professional liability, workers compensation, D&O, and umbrella. She is also involved in projects such as capital allocation and corporate planning.Â Prior to that she has held various positions with Insurance Regulatory Consultants, William M. Mercer, CNA Insurance Companies and St. Paul Reinsurance. Jennifer graduated cum laude from New York University with a BA in Mathematics. She is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Jennifer is also a past Secretary of IABA. In her spare time she enjoys reading, shopping, going to concerts and learning to play golf.

+ - Vice President/Director - Monique Hacker, FSA, MAAA

Monique is an Associate Actuary at New York Life Insurance Company in Tampa, FL. She currently works in the Pricing and Product Development area. Ms. Hacker graduated from Binghamton University in 2000 with a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and Economics.

+ - Foundation Vice President - Veronica Fontama, ASA, MAAA

Veronica recently joined Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, WA as a benefits actuary. She is the coordinator of pricing and reserving projects for a variety Microsoft's benefits. She reviews reports submitted by external actuarial firms and communicates key results to internal stakeholders.Â Prior to joining Microsoft, she was an assistant Actuary with Regence BlueCross BlueShield, the largest blue plan in the Pacific Northwest. Her experience invloved Pricing and Rate Filings for Small Group and Medicare lines of businesses. Veronica graduated with a Masters Degree in Actuarial Science in December 2006 from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. At Temple, she was a proud recipient of the IABA scholarship and interned with Guardian Life in New York. Prior to pursuing an actuarial career, Veronica worked as post-doctoral researcher at the University of Reading, UK and later as a software engineer for a telecommunication start-up service provider in Cambridge, UK. Veronica was born in Cameroon and lives in Seattle with her husband and two children. She is also the insurance coordinator for the Cameroonian Association of Washington State, a nonprofit community group.

+ - Treasurer/Director - Grace Senat, FSA, MAAA

Grace is an Actuary responsible for Life Retirement Product Development at Genworth Financial in Richmond, VA. Ms. Maina graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2004 with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Mathematics, Computer Science and Economics.

+ - Secretary - Sayi Liggonah, FSA, MAAA

Sayi is a Senior Associate at Mercer in Richmond, VA working as an actuarial consultant for small and large clients. Prior to that she spent several years at Cigna working in Healthcare Pricing and Life/Disability Reserving. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University where she earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Mathematics with a concentration in Actuarial Science.

+ - Student Liaison - Tenesia McGruder

Tenesia is an Actuarial Analyst in the Retirement practice at Towers Watson in Washington, DC. Her roles primarily include assisting with pension plan design, benefit administration, and preparing pension valuations and disclosures. Ms. McGruder graduated from Georgia State University in 2009 with a Bachelors of Business Administration in Actuarial Science. While at Georgia State, she interned for two years at Watson Wyatt in Atlanta. Tenesia also served as the Atlanta Affiliate co-leader of IABA.

+ - Director - Ollie Sherman, FCAS, MAAA

After a 25 year consulting career, Ollie retired in 2010 from Towers Watson in Arlington, VA. Prior to entering the consulting world, Mr. Sherman was employed by the Travelers Insurance Companies for 10 years. His varied roles included overall responsibility for countrywide workers compensation pricing, pricing automobile and homeowners coverage, and reserving for both personal and commercial lines. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, with a degree in Applied Math and Computer Science.Â Mr. Sherman is also the first African-American to obtain a fellowship in the Casualty Actuarial Society.

+ - Director - Sharon Robinson, FCAS, MAAA

Sharon is a Vice-President with the Zurich North America Insurance Company. Responsibilities include providing pricing leadership for Zurich's Middle Market Commercial businesses. Prior employment includes CNA Insurance Companies and the St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company. Ms. Robinson's professional experience spans the areas of Commercial Lines pricing and Medical Professional Liability with an emphasis on Large Account Pricing. Ms. Robinson graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Actuarial Science and is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

+ - Director - Jamala Murray, FSA, MAAA

Jamala is currently a Director and Richmond co-affiliate leader. She has been at Genworth for 6 years, spending most of that time in Variable Annuity pricing. Prior to coming to Genworth, she worked at Ernst & Young LLP and New York Life Insurance Company in New York, NY. Jamala graduated from the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada in 2003 with a Bachelor of Mathematics in Actuarial Science and Statistics. She got her FSA designation in 2008. She has served as Treasurer and Secretary of the International Association of Black Actuaries and is an actuarial examination grader with the Society of Actuaries. Jamala enjoys playing sports (including tennis, softball and football) and is a volunteer at the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

+ - Director - Linda Shepherd, FCAS, MAAA

Linda is Vice President and Chief Actuary, Personal Insurance for Fireman's Fund Insurance Company in Novato, CA. Linda began her career at Aetna, Inc. (formerly Aetna Life and Casualty), and gained her fellowship in the Casualty Actuarial Society in 1988, the first African-American female to do so. She then became Vice President of Ulico Casualty Company in Washington, D.C., where she oversaw the Property and Casualty operations for ULLICO, Inc. Linda served as Chief Actuary for Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Company from 1994-2002 and for the Personal Insurance division of Safeco Insurance Company from 2002-2009 prior to joining Fireman's Fund in February 2009. Linda graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics, with a major concentration in Actuarial Science. Linda is a past president of IABA (1996-97), and served as its Membership Committee Chair from 1997 to 2002.

+ - Director - Jeffrey Johnson, FSA, MAAA

Jeff is Assistant Vice President and Actuary - Actuarial Policy, US Finance with John Hancock Financial Services. Responsibilities include developing and monitoring US Statutory and Tax valuation policies, overseeing the Company's US Statutory and Tax valuation assumption and methodology review, and Actuarial policy framework design. Prior to this role Mr. Johnson worked for several large life insurance company's including The Hartford, Allstate, Mutual of New York and Massachusetts Mutual. Mr. Johnson has a strong pricing, valuation and risk management background. His product knowledge includes life insurance, disability, annuity, and asset accumulation vehicles. He earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in mathematics from Western New England College and a Master of Science degree in Numerical Analysis from Syracuse University. He is a two time past president of IABA (1997-1998, 2007-2009), and co-chair of IABA's Corporate Advisory Council.

+ - Director - Acheampong Boamah, ASA, MAAA

Ache is an Actuarial Consultant at Nationwide Financial. He has worked in Life Product Development, for the past 14 years with key roles in fixed and variable life product implementation, reinsurance and retention management. Ache serves on the Diversity and Inclusion Business Council at Nationwide Financial. He is also the Ohio Affiliate Leader of the International Association of Black Actuaries (IABA), Ache's volunteer experiences include building experience Mortality Tables for the Social Security Scheme in Ghana and enabling the annual Onegoal Family Picnic, a health and wellness event in Columbus, Ohio. Ache holds a Master degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Connecticut and a Bachelors degree in Statistics and Economics from the University of Ghana. Ache is an associate of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

+ - Executive Director - Kate Weaver

Kate brings over 10 years of project management and marketing experience to IABA. Kate graduated with a double major in Marketing and Management from Fairfield University in Connecticut. Upon exiting a career in Sports Marketing and Event Management, Kate returned to school to receive her Master's in Education. She taught Marketing and Career Training in Connecticut public high schools for 5 years. She is excited to assist the IABA in outreach, education and development initiatives.