Venerable

Life insurance serves a meaningful purpose by providing protection for families, strengthening communities, and caring for others. This week at the American Council of Life Insurers - ACLI Compliance, Legal and Fraud Prevention Conference, we took a break from learning and collaboration to put our industry's purpose into action. Through Blessings in a Backpack, we packed bags of food for school-aged children in the Chicago community who might otherwise go hungry on weekends. Much gratitude to Thrivent and Venerable for sponsoring this event. Thank you, Teresa (Terry) Rasmussen, for your support, and to Kristi Harding, Kelsey (Peterson) Midthun, and Kayleigh Evans for partnering with me to plan and carry out this effort. It is a blessing to take a moment and remember why our industry continues to provide hope and meet critical needs in our communities.

The Compliance, Legal, and Fraud Prevention Conference 2026, co-hosted for the first time by American Council of Life Insurers - ACLI, LIMRA, and LOMA is right around the corner. If you are joining us, I invite you to attend a discussion with my colleagues and me on How to Succeed as an In-House Counsel. We’re also thrilled to announce a charitable initiative sponsored by Thrivent and Venerable: Blessings in a Backpack, an organization that provides weekend meals for school-age children across America who might otherwise go hungry. Join us on Tuesday, July 14, from 4:00–5:30 PM as we assemble bags of food and write notes of support. Hope to see you at these first-time events!

One year ago, I threw my cap in the air on Lehigh's field, not entirely sure what came next. Today, I'm celebrating one year at Venerable and looking back, it's been a masterclass in growth I didn't know I needed. 🎓➡️💼 I joined as a Quantitative Researcher and Developer on the Hedge & Liability Analytics and Attributions team, and this year has been anything but one-dimensional. I've gotten my hands dirty managing and maintaining databases, working through massive data pipelines, and learning firsthand what "garbage in, garbage out" really means when you're designing a bitemporal database and building a modular financial system from the ground up. Along the way, I've had to think hard about scalable infrastructure, not just what works today, but what holds up as the business grows while trying to actually practice the coding best practices I used to just nod along to. I've built up a real working knowledge of the derivatives, liabilities, and investments that make up our portfolio, owned products end-to-end, and worked across teams that don't always speak the same technical language (a skill in itself). But honestly, the technical growth isn't even the part I'm most grateful for. What's made the biggest difference is the environment one where asking questions is encouraged, not tolerated, and where there's real wiggle room to learn, get things wrong, and try again. That kind of psychological safety is rare, and it's the reason I've been able to take on research, ad-hoc analysis, and reporting work I would've been intimidated by a year ago. A huge thank you to Christopher McKinney, CFA and Michael F., who took the time to actually teach, whether it was the philosophy behind clean data, the reasoning behind our database design, or just pushing me to think outside the box instead of handing me the answer. And a special thanks to Mike Harris, who has made sure I had opportunities to learn and grow. Here's to year two and to getting to keep building alongside J. Ferd Convery and the rest of the team. We are curious. We are courageous. We are connected. 🧭 #Venerable #QuantitativeResearch #WeAreVenerable #GrowthMindset #SoftwareEngineering #DataEngineering #Finance #Growth #Grateful #CareerJourney #Quant #FinTech #DataEngineering #QuantDeveloper #WorkAnniversary