Serial entrepreneur and professor of actuarial science Ian Duncan gives back to campus
by Jillian Tempesta
Ian Duncan gives back to campus
HEALTHCARE REPRESENTS 17% of the United States economy — a large market for entrepreneurs developing solutions and services. Ian Duncan, adjunct professor in UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Statistics and Applied Probability (PSTAT), has sold three companies that provide healthcare data analytics software. He is a founding member of UCSB’s Innovators Circle, a network of entrepreneurs who convene to share expertise, and he established the Janet and Ian Duncan Chair in Actuarial Science as part of the Innovators Circle Founders’ Pledge to UCSB.
Ian Duncan worked as an actuary in London and Canada before moving to the United States to work for Aetna Insurance. He then transitioned to a healthcare strategy consulting role at Pricewaterhouse. Duncan co-founded his first company with a colleague and received a sale offer in the early 2000s.
“We were small but well known; we were very focused on what we did, which is a particular kind of health actuarial work,” says Duncan, reflecting on his first chaotic experience with acquisition. “The acquiring company had raised a lot of money during the dot-com bubble and were buying businesses to demonstrate growth to their investors. In fact, they closed on yet another business the day after acquiring ours.”
Duncan found that his skills and experience had evolved beyond traditional actuarial work. He began consulting independently. Soon, he realized an opportunity to re-establish himself in this niche market. There remained a need for health data analytics services.
“I started another company to do the same thing that the first company had done,” Duncan says. “One of the lessons that I’ve learned is that products create value. My companies have been sold because we developed software.”
After the second company sold, Duncan took concurrent roles as head of clinical research at Walgreens and as an adjunct professor at UCSB in 2011. He began teaching at the university full time in 2014, and in 2015, he launched his third company.
“I’ve been accused of being a one-trick pony, but the technology has changed so much over 20 years. Now everything is distributed in the cloud,” he says.
Meanwhile, with the proceeds from the sale of his second company, he established the Duncan Chair to help raise the profile of the actuarial science field and to bring international recognition to UCSB. Ian’s wife, Janet, is a former insurance company executive and a current PSTAT lecturer. She was chief financial officer of Ian’s third company.
The Janet and Ian Duncan Chair in Actuarial Science is currently held by professor Gareth Peters.
The Innovators Circle features networking events and opportunities, a recruitment pipeline, mentorship opportunities, and access to cutting-edge research at UC Santa Barbara. Members make a nonbinding Founders’ Pledge to invest philanthropically in UCSB. Gifts are directed to the donor’s passion area anywhere on campus and are typically made after a liquidity event, such as with Duncan’s support of the endowed chair.
“I try to push my students and fellow actuaries to be more entrepreneurial,” Duncan says. “I hope that’s the message to students and graduate students and founders through the Innovators Circle. It’s better to take risks, even if you fail. That’s extraordinarily valuable.”
The Innovators Circle
Technically skilled and creative, students thrive within UC Santa Barbara’s collaborative campus culture. Many Gaucho entrepreneurs have launched companies — meet some of them on pages 56 & 57. It’s no surprise that of 58 Innovators Cir cle members who have taken the Founders’ Pledge, 51 are UC Santa Barbara alumni. If you would like to join the Innovators Cir cle, visit https://giving.ucsb.edu/founders-pledge for more information.
