35UNDER THE RISING STARS OF THE
PROFESSION
AGE
34
TITLE:
Principal
AWARD CATEGORY:
Healthcare Industry
HEATHER
GRIFFIN
MERCER
With a
background
in health
and benefits, as well as energy
industry consulting, Heather
Griffin is an actuary in the
Mercer Houston office, serving
as lead consultant for several oil
and gas companies in the area.
After finishing the rigorous process of obtaining her Fellow of the
Society of Actuaries, Griffin pivoted from pension actuary to health
and welfare consultant and actuary. Griffin says the support from
her family as well as her firm was
instrumental in the transition.
“It was a leap of faith and a bit
scary, but I was supported by great
mentors and colleagues which
helped make the transition easier.
The ability to speak to broader
consulting issues for my clients is
something I really enjoy and I hope
provides additional value to them,”
Griffin says.
The flexibility in career path is
one of the big things that attracted
Griffin to a career in consulting,
she says.
“You are not constrained—you
don’t have to be just a pension
actuary, just a health and wel-
fare consultant or just focused on
benefits. You can create a custom
portfolio of portable skills to use
as a consultant, client or entrepre-
neur. What other profession al-
lows for that?”
When asked what the award
means to her, Griffin answered
with characteristic optimism.
“More pressure!... (Just kidding.) I think it means I have been
very lucky thus far and that preparation in many places met the right
opportunities. It means that this
is still just the beginning and that
hopefully you find new and exciting opportunities to continue on a
trajectory of growth.” ★
One area the
age group
represented
among our winners have a decided
advantage over their more seasoned
colleagues in is technology. Kevin
Faulkner leads the Technology
Advisory Service team for Mesirow
Financial Consulting, which focuses
on the emerging fields of computer
forensics, incident response and
electronic discovery.
Faulkner was tapped for his exper-
tise in mobile device forensics for
several high-profile court cases in-
cluding celebrity athletes, for which
he was tasked with reconstructing
electronic communications chains
using text messages, voicemail,
email and phone calls.
Despite sky-high expectations,
Faulkner says conducting such investigative work is immensely satisfying
to him. “Leading a team of people
under immense pressure to quickly
figure out what has happened despite
someone’s best efforts to obscure the
facts and to achieve a positive result for the client, gives me an overwhelming sense of pride,” he says.
Faulkner is inspired by the talented people he works with, and says
it’s been a big factor in his success.
“I am very fortunate to work with
absolutely outstanding people who
are at the top of their game. I am con-
sistently impressed by the creativity
and innovation they bring to every
project. Matching the right skill set
to a particular need and providing
guidance to help develop team mem-
ber’s efficiency and effectiveness
drives success for the team.”
And Faulkner says he sees the
award as validation. “Winning this
award affirms that I am in the pro-
fession that best suits my personality
and capabilities. It demonstrates that
focusing on serving clients and re-
lentlessly striving to deliver excellent
value does not go unnoticed.” ★
TITLE:
Senior Vice President
AWARD CATEGORY:
Client Service
KEVIN
FAULKNER
