About
Actuate is a New Zealand actuarial consultancy founded by two senior practitioners with a shared conviction: that the best actuarial advice is practical, commercially grounded, and built around the client's actual problem – not a methodology framework or a billable hour target.
We work with businesses across New Zealand, providing the kind of clear-headed, experienced thinking that makes a genuine difference at board, executive, and operational levels.
Adam Follington
Experience
Adam has 30 years experience building and leading businesses across insurance and analytics – from establishing Quantium NZ and Deloitte's Auckland actuarial practice, to founding his own insurance agency. He has served as Appointed Actuary to multiple insurers, reporting independently to Boards on financial condition, solvency, and strategy. He is a Fellow of the Insitute of Actuaries of Australia and a Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries.
Areas
His expertise spans insurance financials, capital management, reinsurance, regulatory compliance, and data analytics. He has led AI and analytics projects across insurance and retail and hold deep relationships across the NZ sector at Board, C-suite, and regulatory levels.
Adam's approach
He combines rigorous actuarial foundations with a commercial, entrepreneurial mindset. He is drawn to building from scratch and thrives in complex stakeholder environments – bringing both the technical depth and the credibility to drive real outcomes.
Scott Lewis
Experience
Scott has over 35 years experience across financial services in New Zealand and internationally. He has worked in major life and general insurers, as a consultant and in the public sector. Scott is a director of the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake and is a past President of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, a Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors.
Areas
His experience includes work in financial reporting, valuations, product development, pricing, risk management, reinsurance, capital management, claims, and strategy. He has led a new business startup within an insurer. His latest work has included climate change reporting and AI development.
Scott's approach
He has a strong technical base but likes to look beyond the numbers to understand broader impacts. Scott brings a rare combination of actuarial rigour and board-level governance expertise – equally at home in a technical deep-dive or in the boardroom.
Our approach
We believe advice should activate better decisions – not add complexity to them. The best technical work is only valuable if it lands clearly, connects to the right questions, and leads to action.
We take time to understand context before we start. We're direct when something needs to be said. We work collaboratively with your teams.
We're also genuinely energised by taking the actuarial approach to a wider set of problems, whether that be AI, climate risk or an evolving regulatory environment. We want to help businesses navigate that transition, not catch up to them.
We're flexible and adaptable in how we engage: fixed-scope projects, ongoing advisory relationships, embedded support, or one-off reviews.