Everyone has dealt with the excitement of celebrating a milestone birthday. Sixteen, 18, 21, those pesky ones that end in zeroes…

Well, 20 feels like an important milestone birthday for a business. So as Pinnacle celebrates our 20^th, a look back at some of our accomplishments might be apropos. You can read my business partner and friend, Joe Herbers’ tremendous piece on our history and growth over the last 20 years. But I thought I would take a slightly different tack—albeit one that is completely on brand for an actuary—and take a look at Pinnacle by the numbers.

Pinnacle’s People

Let’s start where Pinnacle always starts: With our people.

Over the years, more than 70 skilled accounting, administrative, communications, finance, human resources, marketing, operations and IT professionals have supported Pinnacle’s consulting operations. Pinnacle simply could not accomplish everything we do without these talented individuals.

Over 140 actuarial analysts and interns have worked at Pinnacle in the last 20 years. Many of them have progressed through the actuarial examinations and become credentialled actuaries. Similarly, 79 credentialled actuaries have worked at Pinnacle over the last two decades. Thirty-seven of these consultants have been account executives. Finally, beyond Pinnacle’s founding principal team, seven additional consultants have been invited to be partners in the firm over the last 20 years.

Another noteworthy number is the 100 college students that have participated in our Pinnacle University program in the last decade. “Pinnacle U” pairs students with our analysts to research and present content to a panel of accomplished actuaries. Many Pinnacle U participants have become interns and full-time staff with us, while others have gone on to great actuarial careers elsewhere.

As I look back on the last 20 years, I realize that not only have so many of our employees achieved great success at Pinnacle, but many of our alumni have gone on to do amazing things throughout the insurance industry and the actuarial profession.

Pinnacle’s Customers

How about our customers? Well, over the course of the past two decades, Pinnacle, our consultants and staff have served more than 1,300 clients including:

• Hundreds of captive insurance companies with thousands of owners
• Hundreds of admitted insurers, reinsurers, risk retention groups, single-parent, group and cell captive insurance companies in the role of appointed actuary or loss reserve specialist
• 200 admitted insurance companies for ratemaking and predictive analytics
• 120 group captive and risk retention groups, including more than half of the largest member-owned group captives
• 100 corporate self-insureds
• 100 individual and group public entity insurance programs
• 25 state insurance departments
• 30 law firms in a wide variety of state and federal venues
• 20 medium and large audit firms
• 50 agents, brokers and managing general agents

We are particularly proud of our dedication to our clients. Pinnacle has served 60 of our customers steadily for our entire 20 years (and some even longer). Our annual customer service surveys have indicated that at least 97% of our customers are “likely or very likely” to recommend Pinnacle. It is that kind of customer loyalty, borne out of our commitment to them, and the core values we live and execute every day, that underscores the fundamental nature of who and what we are as a firm.

Pinnacle and the Profession

As those who know Pinnacle understand, giving back to the actuarial profession is a huge part of our culture. All of Pinnacle’s credentialled actuaries volunteer in the Academy of Actuaries (AAA), Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), and other professional bodies, right up to current CAS President and Pinnacle Principal Roosevelt Mosley. But did you know that over the last 20 years, Pinnacle’s actuaries, including our valued alumni, have served as presidents of the AAA, CAS and the International Association of Black Actuaries (IABA)?

We are also proud to claim four vice presidents and seven members of the Boards of Directors of these actuarial societies. Finally, we have served as the chairs of 36 professional committees and task forces. This number is a real tribute to the Pinnacle actuaries who have stepped into these significant leadership roles. Beyond those leadership roles, we have volunteered on scores of CAS, AAA and Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) committees, task forces and working groups.

Pinnacle’s Thought Leadership

Pinnacle’s thought leadership is well recognized in the actuarial community, as well as the captive insurance and traditional insurance markets. Our consultants make 30 to 50 podium presentations annually. This is in addition to our own monthly APEX Discussion Series which has been providing monthly, free continuing educational content for more than 17 years.

Our people are also prolific writers. Beyond our steady flow of blog posts, monographs and industry benchmarking studies, Pinnacle staff have authored dozens of papers for publication. In recent years, Pinnacle authors published scores of articles in over 14 different publications, including:

• Actuarial outlets such as the CAS Forum, Variance, and Contingencies
• Captive publications such as Captive.com, Captive Insurance Company Reports, Captive Review, Risk Retention Reporter, The Self Insurer (SIIA)
• Insurance publications and outlets including Best’s Review, IN Magazine (NAMIC), Inside Medical Liability (MPLA), Insurance Accounting and Systems Association (IASA), Risk & Insurance, Public Risk Magazine (PRIMA), SAS Global Forum

Pinnacle’s Commitment to Community

I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on Pinnacle’s focus on being charitable. Here, it is easy to focus on the numbers. Since 2009, Pinnacle has given almost $220,000 to outstanding charities that our people are passionate about– American Red Cross, Feeding America, Trevor Project, NAACP, Meals on Wheels, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, The Innocence Project and so many others. But this is one part of Pinnacle’s birthday that is so much more than numbers. Our people commit their time to numerous charitable activities every year.

It’s easy at a milestone birthday to become nostalgic. And when you’re an actuary, your numbers are the source of your nostalgia. And for Pinnacle, the numbers of our future are even more exciting than the numbers from of our past.

Practically every day, we welcome new analysts, consultants and leaders to our firm. We remain committed to helping new and existing clients make Better Business Decisions. We forge important relationships throughout our profession. We continue to be looked at as a source of leading-edge ideas, innovation and thought leadership. We continue to develop our people as we expand our commitment to the community. It’s all about the numbers. The numbers, as they say, tell the story. It’s a story we’re proud to tell.