Two consultants blazed a trail for women at Milliman

Peggy Pearson and Lorraine Mayne made history as the first female equity principal and first female practice director.

When Peggy Pearson attended college at Purdue University in 1959, she never dreamed she’d become an actuary. After all, she was majoring in home economics with plans to be a teacher.

But a dare from her husband Jack propelled her to take the actuarial exams.

“My very first job after I got out of Purdue was teaching home economics at Frost Junior High School in Livonia, Michigan, and then I did what was typical at that time,” she said. “I had a baby the first year I was married and was essentially a housewife for five years.”

When her daughter started school, Peggy convinced her husband that she needed to go back to work. But she couldn’t find a teaching job in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they were living.

Peggy’s husband, an actuary, told her, ‘Well, if you think you’re so smart, why don’t you just go take the actuarial exams?’

He thought that would shut me up, and I wouldn’t quibble about not working anymore, and I just thought, ‘Well, I’ll show you.’”

Jack, a math genius, Peggy says, had studied actuarial science and was a fellow of the Society of Actuaries by the time he was 24 years old.

“I got down his old calculus books and I studied them, and I went and took the first actuarial exam, and I got a better grade than he did,” Peggy said. After taking a statistics class, she took the exam. “And again, I got a better grade than my husband.”

When her husband took a job in Salt Lake City in 1973, Peggy joined Milliman’s office there as the firm’s second female consulting actuary, staying until the office moved to Denver.

In 1979, her husband was accepted into a Ph.D program in Portland, Oregon. Peggy joined Milliman’s practice there, and in 1982, she became the firm’s first female equity principal. She retired in 1986.

“Peggy was a real trailblazer,” said Lorraine Mayne, who retired in 2020.

Salt Lake City office reopens

Lorraine joined Milliman in 1991 in Salt Lake City, along with several other consultants in Life and Employee Benefits.

“Peggy came out of retirement to help us reopen the Salt Lake City office,” Lorraine said. “And she was my most important mentor at that time in my career.”

Peggy and Lorraine built a new Health practice area, which helped large employers manage and negotiate with their managed care plans and HMOs.

Later when the Affordable Care Act passed, Milliman was well-positioned as experts in healthcare delivery and financing.

“We made a real contribution at a time when there was a fair amount of confusion and a high need to understand the implications,” Lorraine said.

In 2014, Lorraine become the firm’s first female global practice director, helping practices navigate and assist clients with the changing complexity of healthcare regulations and reform.

Building an actuarial career path for women

“Early in my career, especially, I had plenty of times that I felt that I was underestimated or overlooked or just excluded from things,” Lorraine said. “But a lot of people made it clear that they believed in me and supported my ambitions, which inspired me to work hard to do my best with any opportunity.”

Peggy and Lorraine credited their spouses, as well as Milliman’s early leaders, for supporting their careers.

“I also acknowledge the large number of advantages that I did have, being white and straight and the child of a successful consulting actuary,” Lorraine said. “A lot of doors that aren’t always open to everyone were at least cracked open for me, even if they weren't thrown wide open. I may have broken new ground, but I benefited from privileges too.”

“As I gained more ability to have influence at Milliman, I tried to help broaden who Milliman sees as potential future leaders.”

Learn more about Peggy Pearson’s journey from home economics major to equity principal in this Critical Point podcast.