Meet The 2020-2021 Executives
Liddie-Beth Palmers, President
Liddie-Beth is a fourth-year student at the University of Waterloo majoring in Actuarial Science and Statistics. Within ANÉA-ASNA, she has served as the President-Elect for the 2019/2020 term and prior to that as the Director of Marketing on the 2019 Convention Committee and as Head Delegate for the University of Waterloo. She has passed 5 SOA preliminary exams and has actuarial internship experience at Ernst & Young, Willis Towers Watson and Canada Life Insurance. As this year’s President, her goal is to help make the annual convention another great success and to expand the outreach of ANÉA-ASNA so that as many students as possible get to experience the fantastic benefits that the organization has to offer.
Nikhil Kakadiya, President-Elect
Nikhil is a Third-year Economics student at the University of Waterloo with a great passion for the insurance industry and an actuarial career path. After handling the position of Convention Chair at ASNA 2020, Director of Logistics and Finance at ASNA 2019 and Director of Sales at ASNA 2018, he looks forward to leading the future team and learn a lot more as the President-Elect.
He has attended 4 ASNA conventions, starting from 2017 to 2020. This year, he strives to bring all the enthusiasm he has for the actuarial community in working with a talented team to grow ASNA. As this year’s President-Elect, he is excited to work on growing ANÉA-ASNA’s mentorship program, as well as increasing the presence of the organization throughout the country so that as many students as possible get to experience the many benefits that ANÉA-ASNA has to offer.
Nicolaus Wong , Vice President Business Relations & operations
Nicolaus Wong is a fourth-year student at Western University pursuing an Honours Specialization in Data Science and Actuarial Science. He recently switched from Carleton University where he founded the Carleton University Actuarial Science Club and served as it’s President and Vice-President. At Western, he is continuing his passion with the Actuarial and Statistical Undergraduate Association where he also serves as an executive. After his first internship at Chubb, he is focused on expanding his financial and data science acumen and has been with the Analytics team at Deloitte since early 2019. This year, Nicolaus holds the position of Vice-President of Business Relations for ASNA. He is focused on helping the community more this year by working on student initiatives with the SOA, CAS, and CIA this year. Besides his time with ASNA, he is also very friendly and loves to meet other people. Feel free to say hi if you see him around.
Dante Buratto, Vice President Finance
Dante is in his third year of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Windsor. He has passed Exams P and FM, and is preparing to write his next SOA exam in summer 2020. He has completed an internship at HUB International and is currently an Actuarial Student at Canada Life in London, Ontario. Dante is a very ambitious student that strives to make a difference on every project he undertakes. Actuarial science is his passion as he is the founder and president of Windsor’s actuarial club. In 2019/2020, he was also the inaugural Head Delegate for the University of Windsor on ANÉA-ASNA. He is looking forward to growing ASNA’s , already strong, national reputation this year through the Vice-President of Finance position. Feel free to contact him via LinkedIn.
Farzaan Nathoo-Khedri, Vice President Communications
Farzaan is a third-year Actuarial Science student at the University of Waterloo. He has passed Exams P, FM, and IFM, and is planning on writing Exam MAS-I later this year. He has internship experience as an actuarial analyst at RSA, a P&C insurance company, and RGA, a life reinsurance company, and will be an intern at Intact Insurance later this year.
Farzaan has a passion for community engagement, which has led him to taking on roles as a Student Ambassador for the University of Waterloo, VP Communications of the UW ActSci Club, Math Orientation Leader, and now VP Communications of ANÉA-ASNA. He is very excited to be part of the executive team this year after having volunteered at the 2020 convention. Besides his passion for actuarial science, Farzaan is also a huge fan of sports, comedy, and hip-hop. He also loves meeting new people, so be sure to say hi if you see him around!
Tiana Zhao, Vice President Case Competition
Tiana is a second-year Actuarial Science and Statistics student at the University of Waterloo. She has passed 4 SOA preliminary exams and is currently working at Sun Life as an actuarial co-op analyst, with previous work experience at Sun Life’s Client Solutions Pricing team.
Within ANÉA-ASNA, Tiana has served as the Director of Sales on the 2020 Convention Committee and as a volunteer. As this year’s VP Case Competition, Tiana is focusing on increasing interest and engagement of the case competition and improving participants’ experience.
Himanshi Sehgal, Vice President Administration
Himanshi is a third year student at the University of Toronto double majoring in actuarial science and economics. At UofT, she spends time working with several student groups and as a mentor to a community of first year students interested in the actuarial science major. She has passed exam P and exam FM and will be sitting for exam IFM soon.She has worked with consulting as well as insurance companies and hopes to further develop her experience in the industry.
Having attended 3 ASNA conventions so far and working as a volunteer with the group, Himanshi is thrilled to take on the role of VP Administration this year. She is passionate about the success of the convention and is excited to meet all the attendees this year!
Harry Qu, Vice President Ontario
Harry is a third-year Actuarial Science/Finance and Statistics student at the University of Waterloo. He has passed 2 preliminary exams and has worked at EY and Manulife.
Harry has served previously as the Director of Accommodation, and he is looking forward to working with the Ontario member universities over the upcoming year. When he is not going to actuarial events, Harry likes to play board games and watch cat videos on the internet. He looks forward to meeting you all at the ASNA’s 2021 convention.
Marc Abou Jaoude, Vice President Quebec
Marc Abou Jaoude is in his third year at Concordia University in Actuarial Mathematics. He has passed three actuarial exams and is planning on writing a few more this year. He has interned at The Co-operators and IA Financial Group and will be interning at Sun Life during the summer. The 2021 Convention will be the third one he is attending, his second as Vice-President Quebec. This year being his 2nd year as an executive, Marc wants to promote the convention in an even more effective way and wants to focus on Quebec Universities where participation was lower. Marc loves meeting new people so do not hesitate to say hi if you see him around.
Coral McCuen, Vice President West
Coral McCuen is a fourth year Actuarial Science student at the University of Manitoba. She is currently working at Willis Towers Watson in Toronto and her past work term was at RSA. She has passed Exam P and Exam FM. She was the previous Head Delegate for the University of Manitoba and looks forward to giving back to the actuarial student community again this year.
Matt Connolly, Co-Vice President Atlantic
Matt Connolly is a fourth-year Actuarial Science student at the University of Prince Edward Island. He has joined ASNA in 2019 as both the VP East and UPEI’s Head Delegate. He will be working as a summer student with Canada Life this year. Matt has passed SOA exam FM.
This year Matt plans to help grow ASNA in the Atlantic provinces. He hopes to encourage members of the Actuarial Science community at UPEI to become more involved and take advantage of what ASNA has to offer.
Madison Burke, Co-Vice President Atlantic
Madison is a fifth-year student at St. Francis Xavier University who completed a BBA in Management and Leadership in 2020 and is now in her final year of a B.Sc Math undergraduate in Actuarial Science. Madison has worked as a sales agent for Desjardins throughout her summers and will now be working in their actuarial department as an intern.
Madison attended her first ASNA convention as a volunteer in 2020 as the St. Francis Xavier head delegate in their first year involved with ASNA. In this role, she worked alongside her professors to grow the actuarial science department at her school through the introduction of an actuarial certificate to appeal to a wider range of students.
Her hobbies include playing ringette and lacrosse for her school and she has taken part in multiple exchanges including in Hawaii, Prague, and Asia. She loves meeting new people so don’t be shy! Icebreaking tip: Ask her about The Wheel
Meet The Convention Committee
Harsh Rughani, Convention chair
Harsh is a third-year student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a double major in Actuarial Science and Economics, alongside a minor in French. He will be interning at Swiss Re this coming summer and has previously interned at Munich Re. He has passed 2 actuarial exams, P and FM.
Harsh is excited to serve as the Convention Chair this year and looks forward to working with the talented Convention Committee to oversee the preparations for the convention and work towards providing the best possible experience for all attendees and sponsors.
When not busy with ANÉA-ASNA or studying, Harsh enjoys playing badminton, watching soccer, learning new languages (he took a Sanskrit class in first year!) and taking on adventure sports such as Scuba Diving and Paragliding. Harsh is most excited to see all the planning for the ANÉA-ASNA 2021 convention unfold and interact with attendees, volunteers and sponsors!
Dawn Zhou, Director of Sponsorship
Dawn Zhou is a third-year student majoring in Actuarial Science at Western University. As a curious and driven individual, she seizes every learning opportunity there is to expand her horizons by being actively involved on campus and holding executive positions.
Dawn values a position that is challenging and pushes her to her limit. She attended her first convention in 2019 where she also volunteered, and worked as the Director of Logistics and Finance in 2020. This year she is excited to serve as the Director of Sponsorship on the Convention committee. As the Director of Sponsorship for 2020-2021, Dawn strives to utilize her relevant skills and experience to fulfill her responsibility and aims to provide companies with an invaluable sponsorship experience.
Amine Ben Arous, Director of Logistics and Finance
Amine Ben Arous is a Third year actuarial student at Concordia University. He has completed internships at National Bank Insurance and Sun Life and he is looking forward to joining Manulife and Munich Re later in 2020 for other internships.
Amine is also doing a research project entitled “Insurance strategies by derivative financial instruments: an approach by the artificial intelligence method”. Back in Concordia, Amine also serves as the president of MASSA, the actuarial student association.
After really enjoying his experience being part of the convention committee as the Future Actuary in 2019-2020, he decided to join again as the Director of Logistics and Finance where he will be in charge of coordinating with the hotel the logistical aspects of the convention, as well as managing the budget of the convention alongside the VP Finance. He really enjoys meeting new people so feel free to say hi to him if he is around!
Tanya Goliya, Director of Marketing
Tanya is a fourth-year student at the University of Waterloo majoring in Actuarial Science and Statistics. She is currently working at Willis Towers Watson in Toronto and is excited about working at Sun Life Financial in the Fall. She has passed FM and will be writing P and IFM this year. She has been attending ANÉA-ASNA since 2017 and is looking forward to being part of the team this year.
As the Director of Marketing, she hopes to expand ANÉA-ASNA’s presence across North America and share the opportunities it brings about to future actuaries using effective social media strategies. She believes that ANÉA-ASNA has not only played a huge part in helping her grow and connect with others in the actuarial industry but has also been a fun experience in preparation for what is to come next for actuaries all over the world. With this, she hopes for students to be able to network and gain actuarial knowledge and for everyone to have something to take back with them from this experience.
Sarah Han, Director of Events
Sarah is a third-year student studying a double major in Actuarial Science and Mathematics at the University of Toronto. She has previously served as a volunteer for ASNA 2020 and is thrilled to be serving as the Director of Events for ASNA 2021. Sarah will be sitting for Exam P, FM, and IFM in the coming months.
In her spare time, Sarah enjoys running, playing soccer, and hiding behind a pillow while watching Buzzfeed Unsolved. She cannot wait for delegates to experience the exciting and engaging events that she has planned for ASNA 2021!
Kaylee Cohen, Director of Operations
Kaylee is a third year Concordia University student majoring in Actuarial Mathematics. She was President of MASSA for the past year, the Mathematics Actuarial and Statistics Student Association at Concordia. She also passed FM/2 and P/1 and hopes to pass IFM/3 in July. After being part of the convention committee last year, Kaylee immediately knew she wanted to be involved again this year.
As Director of Operations, Kaylee’s main responsibility will be managing the volunteers at the 2021 Convention. She is looking forward to meeting all of you at the 2021 Convention. Kaylee loves to socialize and make new friends so don’t hesitate to add her on LinkedIn, Facebook or say hi if ever you see her around.
Neil Zhang, Director of Sales
Neil Zhang is a third-year student majoring in Financial Analysis and Risk Management at the University of Waterloo. Neil has served previously as VP Case Competition, and he is looking forward to working again with the convention committee again to serve all aspired actuarial across Canada. During his spare time, he is a huge fan of Switch Games. He would love to meet you all at next year’s convention.
Eva Huang, Director of Design
Eva is a third-year student at University of Toronto who is pursuing a double major in Actuarial Science and Statistics along with a minor in Economics. She has passed Exam P and is pursuing Exam FM over the summer. Eva is an active participant within the University of Toronto. She was a member of Ascend|UofT and an assistant to the Financial Officer of the Psychology Department at UofT Scarborough. In 2020, Eva hopes to extend her experience outside the UofT community and into the Actuarial Science student community. She has attended the 2019 ASNA convention as a volunteer photographer. Being the Director of Design, Eva will contribute to ASNA with her unique skills and experiences in graphic design to make attractive and handy pamphlets and props for the Actuarial Science Student National Convention.
Abdullah Aziz, Director of Accommodations
Abdullah is a second year student at Western university pursuing double majors in Actuarial Science and Economics. He has worked in the past as a marketing consultant for Knewsales Group and will be pursuing another internship this summer. As an international student, Abdullah’s very first ASNA convention was in his first year in Canada as well as a volunteer. He was Western’s delegate in ASNA 2020 where he continued to showcase his passion for the actuarial department by representing the student voice. This year he looks forward handle Accommodations for ASNA 2021 and all its logistics that it partakes.
Abdullah is a huge sports fanatic, both as a player and watcher of many games. He loves board games and simply likes to converse for anything at anytime, so be sure to connect with him anyhow you like!
Yassine Ghalem, Webmaster
Yassine is a second-year student majoring in Actuarial Science at Concordia University in Montreal. For the past three years, he ran his own web development agency, where he consulted for various small businesses. He is currently completing his first actuarial internship at Sun Life Financial in Waterloo. His second internship will also be with Sun Life Financial during the summer of 2020. He has passed Exam P and Exam FM, and will be sitting for two other exams this year.
As the webmaster, Yassine will bring his web development expertise to ASNA with the goal to serve and give back to the actuarial community. His aim for the current year is to consolidate the ASNA brand with a solid digital presence. He looks forward to meeting you all at the 2021 ASNA Convention.
Linga Mokgatlhane, Future Actuary
Linga is a third-year Actuarial Science student at the University of Waterloo and has previously interned at Manulife. Her experience as a volunteer at the 2020 ANÉA-ASNA convention, along with her great interest in the industry, has led her to her role as this years’ Future Actuary. She looks forward to the upcoming convention and can not wait to meet you, so please feel free to say hello.
Meet The Board of Directors
Angel Yang , Executive Director
Angel Yang is a fourth-year Actuarial Science and Statistics student at the University of Waterloo, and has passed 4 preliminary exams by her third year of study. Currently, Angel is interning at Munich Re, and in the past she had also worked at Sun Life, Northbridge, and Desjardins. After Angel’s past roles as the VP Case Competition and President-elect, Angel is thrilled to further enrich students’ ASNA experience this year.
Abina Premachandran, Convention Director
Abina is a graduate of the BMath/BBA Double Degree program offered jointly by the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. As the Convention Chair for Montreal 2019, which was the biggest ASNA Convention thus far and has broken every record to date, she looks forward to sharing her experiences when advising the current ASNA 2020 team.
Abina has successfully obtained 5 SOA exams and is an actuarial analyst in the Health & Benefits consulting practice at Willis Towers Watson.
Haider Imam, Strategic Director
Haider was the previous President of the Actuarial Student National Association for the 2018/19 term. He is a student at York University and will be graduating in Fall 2019, after which he will be working at Desjardins General Insurance Group as an Actuarial Analyst. During his free time, Haider enjoys bouldering and giving back to the actuarial student community.
