Charles Thomson - BSc FFA
Chief Executive
Equitable Life

I graduated BSc (Hons) in mathematics from the University of Glasgow in 1969. I knew that I did not want an academic career but I did want to use at least a little of the mathematics that I had covered. I started working full time for a life assurance company and studied to become an actuary, qualifying in 1973.

My business career led to a succession of managerial appointments. In 1991 I became Deputy Chief Executive of Scottish Mutual. In 1995 I moved to Scotland's second largest life assurance company, Scottish Widows, finishing my time there again as Deputy Chief Executive.

During the 1990s I was heavily involved in the technical actuarial work and also in managing the de-mutualisation and sale of both Scottish Mutual and Scottish Widows plus a number of other large corporate deals. In 2000 the business of Equitable Life (also one of the UK's largest life assurance companies) got into serious difficulties. Relishing a challenge, I moved to Equitable Life to see what could be done to save parts of the business and took over as Chief Executive in March 2001. The economic environment in 2001 and 2002 has compounded the difficulties that we faced but we have managed to keep the company solvent and bring increased stability.

What does business management have to do with a mathematics degree? At first sight not a lot. Structured, logical thinking is always important in business and a mathematics degree can help to develop that talent. Probably more importantly, complex pure mathematics helped my ability to use synthesis rather than analysis in solving problems. Thought processes from seemingly unrelated areas can be brought to bear on a large or complex problem and improve the intuitive approach to problem-solving which is part of the joy of mathematics. In business the same "gut-feel" is also vital in situations where time pressure means that leisured analysis is simply impossible.