1. Being able to understand questions (many questions are not asked correctly and need to be interpreted)
2. Being able to adapt answers to the person asking the question (when knowing the person, or type of person, of course)
3. Being able to think outside the box—not being constrained by the obvious boundaries of the problem
4. Wanting to learn

These traits fit Ray like a glove, and are demonstrated regularly through his contributions to the SPSSX e-mail list and by his generous enhancements to his web site.

It rained most of the time during my visit. I wanted to take some photographs of Ray around Montreal, which meant getting wet. Ray was not only a perfect gentleman, he was also a perfect sport, getting drenched while we looked for the right locations and I looked for the right angles. The formal interview took place in two sessions: first in his office in the Aon building in downtown Montreal, the second in his car, in the rain, as he drove me to the airport for my flight home.

King Douglas: What is a good foundation for becoming an actuary?

Raynald Levesque: I studied mathematics and statistics before becoming an actuary. I think that’s good, as opposed to going to the university and learning actuarial. Because, then, all you know is actuarial. I am much stronger in mathematics than many actuaries and I’m stronger in statistics than many actuaries, and that makes me a better actuary. It’s more than programming. You have to understand, in my case, mortality, the probabilities of things happening, so it’s more than programming.