We’re celebrating Volunteers’ Week 2024 with a new story to mark each day. For our third interview, Matthew Byrne discusses what volunteering has meant for him.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a volunteer?
I always look for things that will help me learn but specifically things I know I can bring back into my job. My all-time favourite role was being involved in the German Insurance Actuarial Function working party. I was confident to be the actuarial function holder for my organisation because my name was on the industry practice.
What advice do you have for someone new to volunteering?
Volunteering is a way to build confidence and skills presenting and articulating your points, writing reports, running meetings, and project managing. It’s also key for building networks around the industry and increasingly globally. People also start to invite you to take part. For example, off the back of volunteering with the regulatory board on data science ethics guidance, I then went on to do presentations on data science ethics in South Africa, Zurich, Switzerland, across to East Asia, and then back to London.
Matthew Byrne is an actuary with over 20 years’ experience in general insurance. In his current role with NFU Mutual as Head of Actuarial Function he leads a team delivering second line risk assurance across a wide range of business areas. He has been an active member of many IFoA working parties, and currently chairs the ethics workstream of the IFoA Data Science Community.
From the lesser-known benefits to the impact you can have as a volunteer, delve into more stories in the series. We are publishing each day of Volunteers’ Week 2024.
