Edward W. (Jed) Frees is a professor in the Risk and Insurance Department of the Wisconsin School of Business. He is the Hickman Larson Chair of Actuarial Science. His research interests are in actuarial science, regression and business forecasting, and panel data.
Professor Frees is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries since 1986 and was elected a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1997. Today, he is the only individual to be a Fellow of both organizations.
Professor Frees has a long distinguished career in academia and dedicated service to the actuarial profession. He has published a number of articles in refereed academic journals and he has been recognized for the quality and impact of many of these articles. He has received awards for his papers including an Annual Prize for best paper published by the Society of Actuaries, the Halmstad Prize for 4 times, the Edward A. Lew Award for 3 papers during its inaugural year, the Hachemeister Prize and the ARIA Prize from the Casualty Actuarial Society. Besides having published several articles in academic journals in actuarial science, insurance, and statistics, he has published 3 books on data analysis, longitudinal and panel data, and regression modeling. He is one of 3 editors who worked hard to put together an excellent two-volume book on predictive analytics titled Predictive Modeling Applications in Actuarial Science published in 2014 and 2016.
Apart from having served as associate editors in other prestigious journals, Professor Frees has served as editor of the North American Actuarial Journal (NAAJ), the prime journal of the Society of Actuaries, during 2000-2004. He has also served as member of the Board of Directors for the Society of Actuaries during 2005-2008 and has been involved with task forces and committees of the Society of Actuaries in different capacities related to education and research. Over the years, he has been an invited or keynote speaker at several international conferences in insurance and actuarial science, seminars, and workshops at universities across the globe. He has been named the Time Insurance Professor of Actuarial Science and recently, the Hickman Larson Chair of Actuarial Science. To date, he has personally guided 17 students to their completion of a Ph.D. and all 17 students currently hold positions in academia and the industry. In April 2000, Professor Frees was presented the Gaumnitz Distinguished Faculty Award by the Wisconsin School of Business for excellence in teaching, research, and public service.
