About

Hello!

I'm Steve Kolk, ACAS, MAAA

Steve Kolk is president of Kolkulations LLC, an actuarial consulting firm that deploys data mining, predictive modeling, and geospatial technology to assist clients with financial risk analytics. He has 40+ years of a Property & Casualty (P&C) actuarial experience. He has been chief actuary at three companies, including global real estate data & analytics company, CoreLogic.

A sought-after speaker, Steve is considered one of the nation’s foremost actuarial experts in climate change. Presently, he is an active member of the Climate Change Committee of the North American Actuarial Societies, which constructed the first-of-its-kind Actuaries Climate Index. Launched in 2016, the public index provides objective data about changes in the frequency of extreme climate events over recent decades.

He is Vice Chair of the American Academy of Actuaries’ P/C Extreme Events and Property Lines Committee and in-coming Chair of the Casualty Actuarial Societies’ Climate Change Committee. As a volunteer advisor to the U.S. Department of Transportation, he co-authored the award-winning report, Hampton Roads Climate Impact Quantification – Baseline Assessment in 2016.

A Michigan native, he graduated with honors from Calvin College in Grand Rapids with a B.A. in mathematics.

Committee Work

Vice Chair of the Climate Change Committee of the Casualty Actuarial Society, (April 2020 – Present)
Extreme Events and Property Lines Committee, Vice Chairman of Flood Analysis Task Force, American Academy of Actuaries, (2018 – Present)
Citizens Climate Lobby, Ann Arbor Presentation Action Team, (2016 – Present)
US Department of Transportation (DOT) (2014 – 2016) Insurance Industry advisor/contributor
InFocus Seminar Planning Committee, Casualty Actuarial Society (2013 – 2015)
Climate Change Index SubCommittee, North American Actuarial Societies (2010 – Present)

Speaking Engagements

CAS Ratemaking, Product and Modeling (RPM) Seminar, Roundtable discussion leader: What Climate Change Means for Risk Assessment, March 2019, Boston, MA
CAS Severe Weather Workshop, The Actuarial Climate (and Climate Risk) Indices: IM-PERFECT STORM MEASURES, March 2019, Boston, MA
Nexus of Climate Data, Insurance, and Adaptive Capacity, Climate Change Data: The Actuarial Climate (and Climate Risk) Indices, November 2018, Asheville, NC
Climate Resilience Summit, Actuaries Climate Risk Data, October 2018, Seattle, WA
2018 Actuarial Simon Lecture, Extreme Value Theory and Quantification of Climate Risks, October 2018, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Indonesia Actuarial Conference, Measuring Climate Change: The Actuarial Climate (and Climate Risk) Indices, October 2018, Jakarta, Indonesia
Actuarial Risk Conference, Measuring Climate Change with the Actuaries Climate Index (ACI), August 2018, London, Ontario
Arditti Center Summer Risk Conference, Actuaries Climate Index (ACI) and the Actuaries Climate Risk Index (ACRI), DePaul University, August 2018, Chicago, IL
International Association of Black Actuaries, Measuring Climate Change: The Actuarial Climate (and Climate Risk) Indices, July 2018, Atlanta, GA
Michigan State University, Extreme Value Theory and Actuarial Risk Measurement: Two simple, potent actuarial paradigm shifts, May 2018, East Lansing, MI
Midwest Actuarial Forum, The Actuaries Climate Index: Climate Change Extremes and Prospective Insurance Impacts, March 2018, Bloomington, IL
Joint Statistical Meeting of the American Statistical Association, organized a panel of experts on Extreme ValueAnalytics and Data Visualization of Catastrophic Risk Analysis, 2017, Baltimore. [This panel helped forge an official partnership in 2018 between the Casualty Actuarial Society and the American Statistical Association.]
Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Runoff Companies, organized an educational panel on climate about The Actuaries Climate Index and The Impact of Climate Change on the Property & Casualty Industry, 2017, New York City
Citizens Climate Lobby, Of Actuaries, Climate Change & Sea Level Rise, 2017, St. Petersburg, Florida (February), Ann Arbor, Michigan (August)
Economic Impacts of Sea-Level Risk in Hampton Roads conference, Old Dominion University, An Appraisal of the Actuaries Climate Risk Index, Keynote Speaker, 2016, Suffolk, Virginia
Severe Weather Workshop, CAS Ratemaking and Product Management Conference, Climate Risk and the P&C Industry, 2016, Orlando, Florida
CAS Academic Webinar, Climate Change and the P&C Industry, 2015
Center for Sea Level Rise, Old Dominion University, Actuarial Climate Risk Analysis, 2015, Norfolk, Virginia
Southwest Actuarial Forum, The Impact of Climate Change on Actuarial Methods, 2014, San Antonio, Texas
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, The Actuaries’ Climate Index, 2014, twice: Louisville, Kentucky & St. Louis, Missouri.
CAS Ratemaking & Product Management Conference, Sea Level Rise Impact Illustrations, 2014, Orlando, Florida
Chicago Actuarial Association, Actuaries’ Climate Index Progress Report, 2013, Chicago, Illinois

Publications

Vice Chair of the American Academy of Actuaries’ (AAA) Property Lines Extreme Events Committee, updating the NFIP Flood Monograph for the US Congress and the NAIC, September 2019.
Co-author (with AAA Extreme Events Risk Committee) of Flood Issue Brief for the US Congress and the NAIC, 2018
Expert contributor to The SLR Factor in The CAS Actuarial Review, March 2018
Co-author of Hampton Roads Climate Impact Quantification- Baseline Assessment, 2016, which received the DOT Secretarial Sustainability Award – Climate Champion.
Co-author of CoreLogic annual Storm-Surge reports 2011, 2012, 2013
Co-author of CoreLogic annual Wildfire reports 2012, 2013

What are Kolkulations

I juggle lots of numbers to squeeze stories out of them that help people understand their world by measuring and quantify things quickly for them. My college training began with part time work at Foremost Insurance. Upon graduation that actuarial internship help me land my first actuarial job at The Hartford. During nine years there an underwriter Margaret got to know me well. Knowing me and my last name, one day she said “Steve you do very nice calculations. You do Kolkulations.” That’s how the name of my business came to be:

Kolkulations = Kolk + Calculations

But what are Kolkulations? I am data scientist and mathematician. I bring harmony out of databases like a virtuoso conductor blends orchestra instruments together. I pull joyful melodies out of stacks of numbers like a skilled voice coach trains a concert soloist. I have been a data scientist long before the term was coined. While getting trained as a mathematician at Calvin College, I played around, learned and applied several programming languages, between classes in the computer science department. My data sci and math nature, couple with a deep desire to tell factual stories that help people, led to an actuarial career. My actuarial career has been a joyful journey of measuring business growth, profit and risk in many ways. That practiced expertise lies behind my slogans:

Kolkulations 2022 brochure waterfall graph

Testimonials

“

I was continually impressed with Steve’s ability to take a database full of numbers and transform it into relevant figures and statistics... pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and prepare to be impressed.

Steve is a remarkable person, who would prove invaluable to any organization.

Jessica Marose

Product Manager, CoreLogic

“

I have known Steve Kolk for many years, both professionally and personally. I have listened to several of Steve Kolk’s actuarial presentations with respect to catastrophe modeling and climate change. In all my years as an actuary, I have never listened to a presentation from any other actuary, who presents a subject of a technical and or actuarial nature, to a group of other technically minded people, who presents as clear, as concise, and in as relaxed a manner, as Steve Kolk.