Michael Köhler holds a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in mathematics and a second Ph.D. in operations research. As a professor for Insurance Science he has taught for many years insurance and finance theory at the University of Zurich.
He has spent most of his professional career as Chief Actuary and Head of Value and Risk Management for the entire life business of the Winterthur Group. In this role he was involved in all actuarial areas, including product development, reserving, performance measurement, capital management and US GAAP accounting. Armed with this experience he built up the Swiss actuarial unit of PwC, which provided both actuarial consulting and actuarial audit support in the framework of various accounting standards.
He is a fully qualified member of the German and Swiss Association of Actuaries (DAV and SAV), which he has served on numerous Committees, and he is currently serving on the Board of Directors of PRS.
Relevant Qualification and Academic Background
Actuary SAV & DAV
Prof. – Insurance Science – University Zurich Ph.D. – Operations Research – University Zurich Ph.D. – Mathematics – University Zurich M.Sc. – Mathematics – University Hamburg
Relevant Professional Experience
Actuarial engineering (insurance & reinsurance)
-
Product development
-
Pricing
-
Reserving, according to different accounting standards
-
Reinsurance
-
Implementing embedded value
-
Value and risk & capital management
Mathematical modelling and simulation of economic systems
Model validation
Actuarial training
Relevant Career Development
2011 – present PRS: Consulting Actuary
2002 – 2011 PwC: Head of Actuarial Services Switzerland
1978 – 2002 Winterthur: Chief Actuary and Head of Value & Risk Management of Life Business
1971 – 1978 Academia: Assistant University Zurich, Institute of Operations Research
Relevant Memberships in Professional Organisations
SAV Full member of the Swiss Association of Actuaries
DAV Full member of the German Association of Actuaries
IT and Programming Skills
Microsoft Office
MathCad
Language Skills
Native: German
Proficient: English
Basic: French