Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science Program Honor Outstanding Alumni
10-04-2011
Congratulations to Joan Varrone and Julie Parsons, the 2011 Outstanding Alumni in Statistics and Actuarial Science. This year the Department of Statistics awarded Joan Varrone (M.S. Statistics 1973) with the Statistics Outstanding Alumni Award. The Actuarial Science program, administered jointly by the Department of Statstics and the Department of Mathematics, awarded Julie Parsons (B.S. Actuarial Science 1993) with the Actuarial Science Outstanding Alumni Award. The Outstanding Alumni Award honors an alumnus for their contributions and leadership within their profession. On Friday, September 30, 2011, Joan Varrone presented a talk entitled Purdue to Silicon Valley and Wall Street in HAAS 111 from 10:30 - 11:30 AM, followed by a question/answer period.
2011 Statistics Outstanding Alumna
Joan Varronne - Founder and Principal, CFO Consulting and Services
Joan Varrone started her own consulting firm in June, 2010 called CFO Consulting and Services. She serves as a part-time consulting CFO to start-ups in digital media, software, and biotech. She builds bottoms up business plans, implements financial infrastructure, and supports fund raising. Previously, Joan held senior management positions at large multinationals with strategic and operational responsibility for corporate planning and optimal financing of 40 operations worldwide.
Joan received her Master of Science degree from Purdue University in 1973 and her MBA from NYU in 1980. While attending Purdue, Joan lived in Grad House East and she and her hall mates were like a "family" as they all worked hard on their graduate studies. They would have dinner together most nights and would hit the 'all you can eat' places (which were the favorite of the guys).
Joan was raised in New York City, New York. She currently lives in the San Francisco area with her husband, Joseph Catalano. Among Joan's many activities, she is a board member and head of Professional Development for the San Francisco Chapter of Financial Executives International, board member and chair of the Events Committee for the Bay Area Financial Executives Networking Group, and the founder of the International Finance Forum and Treasury Executives Network in Silicon Valley.
2011 Actuarial Science Outstanding Alumna
Julie Parsons - Senior Vice President, Allstate Corp.
Julie Parsons joined Allstate in 1993 upon graduation from Purdue University. She began her career as an actuarial analyst in the pricing department and has held various actuarial positions since then. Julie has earned the Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society designation and is a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
In 2005, Julie was promoted to the position of Assistant Vice President of Product Pricing and served as the chief actuary for Allstate's property and casualty lines of business. In 2008, she was promoted to Vice President - Emerging Businesses and had P&L accountability for a $1.5B book of business, including the Motorcycle and Renters lines of insurance. In 2010, she moved to the role of Product Senior Vice President, where she is responsible for product decisions for an $8B homeowners and auto book of business. Julie received the Crain's Chicago Business Top 40 under 40 award in 2009 and the Chicago Anti-Defamation League's Rising Star Award in 2010.
Julie received her Bachelor of Science from Purdue University in 1993 in Actuarial Science. She had many good memories of times with friends while attending Purdue and loved playing wally ball at the Co-Rec, tailgating before football games with her friend's parents, and going to basketball games. Julie was born in Dover, England and grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. She currently lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with her husband and two daughters (ages 7 and 4).
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