Employer Biographies
(Click HERE to see bios from previous employer presentations)
Faculty Presentation - 10/3
Stuart Craig
Stuart Craig joins the Wisconsin School of Business in August 2023 as an Assistant Professor in the Risk & Insurance Department, after completing postdoctoral work at the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale University.
Professor Craig studies the causes and consequences of rising healthcare spending in the U.S., with a focus on competition and price setting in business-to-business healthcare markets.
Professor Craig earned his B.S. from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.
Mercer - 10/4
Kaylee Cunningham
Kaylee is an Associate with Mercer’s Health & Benefits practice in Chicago. Kaylee interned at Mercer and then joined full-time in January of 2021 after graduating from University of Wisconsin – Madison. Roll Badge!
Kaylee supports a book of clients and helps provide claims projections, rate setting, employee contribution strategies, plan design modeling, and reserve estimates. In addition to client work, Kaylee also supports the Stop Loss Center of Excellence, and the Mercer Rx Actuarial Team. She is currently working towards her ASA.
Kaylee also enjoys getting involved in a variety of other groups at Mercer including helping with recruitment, serving as co-chair of Mercer Cares, the volunteer business resource group (BRG), supporting the Rising Professions Network BRG, as well as helping to start Chicago’s Veterans BRG.
Giana Wilk, ASA, MAAA
Giana is a Senior Associate with Mercer’s Health & Benefits practice in Chicago. Giana joined Mercer in June of 2015 after graduating from Butler University.
Giana develops financial analyses for her clients including self-funded claims projections, rate setting, employee contribution strategies, plan design modeling, and reserve estimates. Her consulting experience covers mid-market to large employers within a broad range of industries, including education, healthcare, technology, and manufacturing. Giana also provides consulting services to her clients through marketing projects, project management and negotiations of renewals, and mergers and acquisitions due diligence analyses. As a member of the network evaluations team, Giana evaluates the financial impact of the medical and dental networks offered by various insurance companies and third party administrators. In her work with the Stop Loss Center of Excellence, she completes marketing projects, contract term reviews, and implementations of new coverage placement. Aside from client work, Giana takes part in recruiting and is a people manager.
Giana is an Associate in the Society of Actuaries (ASA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Butler University with a major in Actuarial Science.
Nationwide - 10/11
Lindsey Shim
Lindsey Shim is the lead pricing actuary for the construction vertical in Nationwide Brokerage IR with 10 years of actuarial experience. She started her actuarial career at AIG in Manhattan in 2013 after graduating from the actuarial science program at Columbia University in the city of New York. She grew up in Korea and Singapore prior to moving to the US and currently lives in Winnetka, IL with her family (Dan, Justin, and Adeline). She enjoys going to concerts, operas, and traveling.
Joe Farchione
Joe Farchione joined Nationwide’s student rotation program in 2018 after studying Math and Philosophy at The Ohio State University. He currently works on modeling and hedging indexed-linked insurance products. Having moved to Madison in 2019, he spends a lot of time camping and skiing in the Upper Peninsula.