A decade away from her hometown was long enough for Mary M. Fay. The East Hartford native said she is glad to be back in Greater Hartford. “I love Hartford,” said Fay, who has joined Actuarial Strategies Inc. in Bloomfield as its executive vice president.
These last 10 years, she has hopped around the country from Richmond, Va., to Dallas, Texas, to Wellesley Hills, Mass., with increasing responsibilities in the financial services industry. Her most recent position was senior vice president and general manager of the annuities business with Sun Life Financial.
What has made the multiple moves tolerable is the practice of planting roots wherever she made her home. “I always get involved in the community I live in,” she said. “I want to do that now that I’m back home. I would love to be more involved in the community.”
Fay praised her previous employer for its community involvement. “Sun Life had a very strong culture of senior executives giving back to the community … so I hope to do that here, too,” she said.
Her move to the privately owned Actuarial Strategies can be viewed as a career divergence. “I’ve always worked for very large Fortune 100 and Fortune 250 companies. ASI is very entrepreneurial. We want to grow,” Fay, 47, said. “This is a chance for me to get out there and use the skills I’ve developed on a consultative basis.”
In her new role, she will focus on expanding the company’s penetration of the retirement market sector. She will also lead ASI’s marketing and strategy development and operations, as well as contribute to product and business development efforts.
She candidly admits that she didn’t grow up as a little girl in East Hartford dreaming of a career in the insurance industry. “I’m the first person in my family to even go into insurance and still the only person in my family in it,” she said.
After graduating Skidmore College in 1983 with a degree in accounting, she considered careers in either banking or insurance. “I stumbled my way into an insurance company,” she said.
There’s an underlying passion for her career path in Fay’s voice. “Insurance is an important product that really does help people individually manage their risk,” she said.
