Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment

What Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment does

Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment is a privately held, specialized recruiting firm founded in 2011 by Sally Ezra and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The firm operates a dual-sided marketplace connecting actuarial professionals with employers across North America, including the United States and Canada. Its core service is talent placement on both contingency and retained bases, covering roles from junior actuarial analysts through Chief Actuaries, consulting firm Partners and Practice Leaders, and C-Suite executives. The firm's specialty verticals are Property & Casualty, Health, Life & Annuities, and Analytics/Catastrophe/Financial Modeling, with a dedicated entry-level resources program targeting aspiring actuaries.

The firm's product surface centers on human-relationship recruiting augmented by several supporting assets: a self-serve job board at jobs.ezrapenland.com with LinkedIn and Indeed integration; proprietary annual actuarial salary surveys covering P&C, Life, Health, and Pension disciplines; an annual $500 actuarial student scholarship; an Insights and Events blog; and sponsorship of 12+ specialized LinkedIn groups including The Experienced Actuary and The Entry-Level Actuary. Underlying technology is described as a recruitment platform with a job board, proprietary salary survey data, and candidate relationship management systems; there are no disclosed APIs, SDKs, AI/ML features, or technology integrations. The team is approximately 15 people, including two Partners (Sally Ezra and Jennifer Retford), a Director, recruiters, training/engagement, data, and operations staff, plus student interns.

Revenue is generated through transaction-based placement fees (industry-standard contingency fees of approximately 20-25% of first-year compensation) and retained search engagements for senior and executive roles, which require upfront deposits with the balance due on successful placement. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The firm is bootstrapped with no outside capital, no parent company, and no disclosed institutional investors. Go-to-market combines direct employer outreach, an inside sales recruiting team, conference presence at CAS, SOA, IABA, OLA, and CANE events, content marketing via salary surveys and blog, and community-led engagement through the LinkedIn group ecosystem and scholarship program.

Name

Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment

Legal name

Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment

Website

https://ezrapenland.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment is a privately held Chicago-based firm founded in 2011 that places actuarial professionals across P&C, Health, Life & Annuities, and Analytics roles on retained and contingency bases for employers throughout North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Actuarial Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131), Employment Placement Agencies (561311)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Professional & Technical Direct Hire (IT, Engineering, Finance, Healthcare) (BPACAFAC)

Keywords

• Actuarial recruitment
• Executive search
• Talent placement
• Insurance recruiting
• Actuarial staffing

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Contingency Recruitment Fees: Placement fees based on successful placements, typically a percentage of the hired candidate's first-year compensation. Works with candidates at all career levels from entry-level to executive.
2. Retained Search Engagements: Exclusive retained search assignments for senior-level and executive positions including C-Suite, Chief Actuaries, Practice Leaders, and consulting firm Partners. Client pays upfront fee with remainder upon successful placement.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment is a specialized actuarial recruitment firm that connects actuarial professionals with employers across North America on both retained and contingent bases. The firm places actuarial talent at all career levels, from entry-level analysts to Chief Actuaries, consulting firm Partners, Practice Leaders, and executives. It also publishes annual salary surveys and offers a candidate-facing job board platform.

Product overview

Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment operates as a specialized recruitment firm rather than a software product. The core offering is actuarial talent placement services, supported by supplementary products including the Ezra Penland Actuarial Salary Surveys (compensation benchmarking), the Entry-Level Actuarial Resources program, and the Ezra Penland Actuarial Scholarship. The company also maintains a job board platform at jobs.ezrapenland.com and publishes industry content through its Insights and Events Blog. The firm specializes in Property & Casualty, Health, Life & Annuities, and Analytics/Catastrophe/Financial Modeling recruiting sectors, serving both candidates and employer clients on a retained and contingent basis.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Actuarial Recruitment and Placement Services Specialized recruiting service connecting actuarial professionals with insurance companies, consulting firms, insurtech startups, and other employers on both retained and contingent bases for roles across Property & Casualty, Health, Life & Annuities, Retirement, Analytics, Catastrophe Modeling, and Financial Modeling disciplines.
• Ezra Penland Actuarial Salary Surveys Comprehensive annual compensation benchmarking reports covering Property and Casualty, Life, Health, and Pension actuarial roles, providing salary data segmented by years of experience, exam credentials, and employment type (consulting vs insurance).
• Job Board Platform (jobs.ezrapenland.com) Self-service job board for actuarial positions offering job search functionality, resume upload, job alerts via email and SMS, and LinkedIn/Indeed integration for application submission.
• Ezra Penland Actuarial Scholarship Program $500 annual scholarship awarded to full-time undergraduate students who have completed at least one actuarial exam, demonstrated leadership, and maintain a minimum 3.0/4.0 GPA at an accredited U.S. or Canadian university.

Quantifiable outcome

• Scholarship program supporting actuarial students with $500 awards annually

Named customers6 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Hays plc: Global staffing firm with insurance and actuarial recruiting practices. Provides a useful comparable for staffing firm economics and scale, even though actuarial is a small part of its broader portfolio.
• Heidrick & Struggles: Global executive search firm with a dedicated Financial Services practice placing senior insurance and risk leaders. Relevant comparable for Ezra Penland's retained C-Suite and Chief Actuary engagements.
• Robert Half: Large publicly traded staffing firm with a dedicated financial services/insurance practice that places finance and accounting professionals, with some actuarial coverage. Broader portfolio and significantly larger scale than Ezra Penland.
• Aon (Radford executive search practice): Global professional services firm with executive search and consulting practices serving insurance and financial services clients. Overlaps with Ezra Penland's retained executive search work for Chief Actuaries and C-Suite insurance roles.

Direct peers

• Insurance Recruiting Solutions: Specialized insurance recruiting firm placing actuaries, underwriters, claims, and sales professionals. Comparable in client base (insurance carriers and consulting firms) and overlap on actuarial mandates.
• The Jacobson Group: Insurance-focused staffing and talent solutions provider covering actuarial, claims, underwriting, and executive search with both contract and permanent placement. A larger direct competitor with broader service lines than Ezra Penland.
• Pryor Associates: Long-standing actuarial and insurance recruiting firm specializing in placing actuaries, underwriters, and claims professionals. Closely matches Ezra Penland's contingency + retained model and P&C/Life/Health focus.
• DW Simpson Global Actuarial Recruitment: One of the largest dedicated actuarial recruitment firms, offering permanent, contract, and executive search placements across P&C, Life, Health, and Pensions. Directly comparable to Ezra Penland in specialty focus, fee model, and candidate segment.
• Actuarial Careers, Inc. Niche actuarial job board and recruiting firm focused on entry-level through executive actuarial placements. Comparable in specialization, though more job-board driven vs. Ezra Penland's relationship-led approach.

Emerging players

• Glotel: Insurance-focused staffing firm placing actuarial, claims, and IT professionals, with growing presence in the U.S. market. Smaller and broader than Ezra Penland but increasingly competes on actuarial mandates.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ezra-penland-actuarial-recruitment
• Xx.com/ezrapenland
• Facebookfacebook.com/EzraPenland

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment