Rina Ashkenazi – Ph.D, Academic Director MCFAM
Professor Ashkenazi is an Assistant Professor in the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota and the Academic Director of MCFAM. She is responsible for MCFAM academic standards, admissions, MCFAM research teams, curriculum development and academic advising. Professor Ashkenazi has a Ph.D. and a M.Sc. in Theoretical Physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Prior to joining the University of Minnesota, Rina spent five years in the Mathematics Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Rina’s research interests focus mainly on modeling complex systems in a variety of disciplines, such as physics, biology, finance and risk management, and she has taught a variety of courses related to Financial and Actuarial Mathematics for the past seven years, including Introduction to Probability, Stochastic Processes, Actuarial Mathematics, and Theory of Interest. In addition, Professor Ashkenazi has five years of experience in Industry as an Algorithms Engineer in two major high tech companies – Orbotech Limited in Yavneh, Israel and Applied Materials in Rehovot, Israel.
Laurie A. Derechin – MBA, Executive Director MCFAM
Ms. Derechin is responsible for overall MCFAM operations, including student recruiting, external relations, internship and job placements, and developing partnerships with and support from the financial and actuarial mathematics sector. Ms. Derechin has over 25 years of business experience in a variety of industry sectors. She has been a hiring manager for many years and has experience identifying talented employees and helping them progress in their careers. Her expertise includes new product and organizational development, revenue and customer growth in highly competitive markets, and cross functional teamwork to improve customer satisfaction and company profitability. Ms. Derechin has held customer operations, product development, marketing/sales and mergers and acquisitions positions at Pillsbury, Northern States Power and Xcel Energy. She was one of the founders and senior officers of Xcel Energy’s wholly owned broadband subsidiary which grew to 47,000 customers in six years. Most recently she founded and became President and CEO of a Minnesota broadband company Great River Communications Corp. She was also an adult education teacher in Spain. Ms. Derechin has an MBA from ESADE in Barcelona, Spain, a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a teaching certification from OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations).
Bonny Fleming – Administrative Assistant
Ms. Fleming has worked at the University of Minnesota in a variety of administrative roles for over 30 years. She has been with the Master of Financial Mathematics (MFM) Program within MCFAM since its inception in 2007. Ms. Fleming is involved in the administrative aspects of MCFAM and the School of Mathematics, Graduate Studies programs, including student orientations, admissions processes, on-going student inquiries and support, as well as many other administrative tracking and database management duties. In addition to her responsibilities relating to MCFAM, she is also the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Graduate Studies within the School of Mathematics. Among other things, Ms. Fleming's expertise includes problem solving, making administrative systems more efficient and multi-tasking.
Aileen Conlon Lyle – MAAA, FCAS, Actuarial Adviser and Lecturer
Ms. Lyle is responsible for teaching actuarial classes for MCFAM, as well as advising actuarial students on academic issues and providing career counseling. She is also involved in developing partnerships with the actuarial business sector. Ms. Lyle has over thirty years of actuarial expertise in the property/casualty and health insurance industries. She has worked for Milliman, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, the Travelers Companies, and CNA. She has extensive experience in pricing, product development, reserving and financial forecasting for both property/casualty and health insurance products. She is a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society. She has a Bachelors of Science in Actuarial Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She is a board member for several non-profit organizations in the Twin Cities, and is a commissioner for the city of Woodbury, MN.