As the first chief actuary of the Insurance Information Institute – an organization designed to help everyone understand insurance better – I was keenly interested in having I.I.I.’s Pinterest board celebrating Women in Insurance Month include perhaps the most famous female actuary, Ruth Salzmann, FCAS.

Ruth Salzmann, FCAS. became a member of the American Academy of Actuaries in 1965, was named Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business in 1984 and named one of the “100 Leading Women” by Business Insurance in 2000.

Ms. Salzmann’s actuarial career began in the 1940s. She was the first female officer at Insurance Company of North America (INA), a company whose founding preceded the American Revolution. INA was the forerunner of CIGNA, and its property-casualty operations live on at Ace Insurance.

In Ms. Salzmann’s early days, the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) held its meetings at Union Leagues, some of which lacked any accommodations for ladies, even a restroom. She became the first female president of any North American actuarial association when she took the helm of the CAS in 1978. Read more about Ms. Salzmann’s illustrious actuarial career in the feature article in the May 2005 issue of the Actuarial Review.

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Women in Insurance

More interesting facts about Ms. Salzmann’s

• Ruth attended Oshkosh State Teacher’s College for two years and transferred to the University of Wisconsin at Madison where she graduated in 1940 with a double major in accounting and statistics and a minor in math.
• Immediately following graduation she was employed by Hardware Mutual Casualty Company in Stevens Point as an actuarial research assistant. In 1944 she worked out of Hardware’s Chicago office as a payroll auditor, returning to the home office in 1945 as an assistant actuary.
• Ruth passed her associate actuary exams in 1946 and her fellow exams in 1947 to become the first woman in the Casualty Actuarial Society to be designated an actuarial fellow by exam.
• In 1959 she moved to Philadelphia to take a position with the Insurance Company of North America, INA, which is now part of CIGNA. In 1962 she became the company’s first woman officer holding the positions of associate actuary, group actuary and secretary of underwriting before returning to Stevens Point in 1968 to rejoin what is now Sentry Insurance.
• Assuming the position of vice president and actuary, Ruth became the first woman vice president of the company. Later she became the first woman to serve on the Sentry Board of Directors. She retired in 1984 with the title of executive vice president and actuary.
• Ruth was active in her profession becoming the first woman president of the Casualty Actuarial Society in 1978. She developed mathematical tables — the Salzmann curves — that were a primary basis for pricing property insurance for 40 years. Her 1963 paper, Rating by Layer of Insurance, was required reading for actuarial students into the 21st century.
• Following her retirement she wrote a book, “Estimated Liabilities for Loss & Loss Adjustment Expense” and was an actuarial consultant and expert witness for several court cases. She also served on the boards of the John Hancock Fire and Casualty subsidiary; the John Deere Fire and Casualty subsidiary (now owned by Sentry) and Neuberger and Berman Advisers Management Trust.
• She became a member of the American Academy of Actuaries in 1965, was named Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business in 1984 and named one of the “100 Leading Women” by Business Insurance in 2000.

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