Extensive expertise and proven track record across insurance, reinsurance, and consulting industries in all major jurisdictions
Meet our team
Founder and Managing Partner
Youyou Tao, FSA, CERA, MBA
As a result-oriented insurance executive with nearly 20 years of experience in the US life insurance industry, Youyou has built a strong track record in leading remediation and executing large and complex cross-functional initiatives. Her most recent experience includes Head of Reinsurance, Chief of Staff to CFO, and Head of ALM with Equitable (2019-2024). As Head of Reinsurance, Youyou oversaw a 30-member reinsurance squad across Reinsurance Admin, Actuarial, and Accounting and led the end-to-end remediation of Individual Life retrocession business where she assumed Chief Actuary responsibilities during the project. Throughout her career working in many prominent companies such as Equitable, Moody’s Analytics, AIG, Sunlife and Nationwide, she has played leadership and technical roles in many strategic initiatives, including building and leading the ALM team, setting up a Bermuda offshore affiliate, driving large VA reinsurance M&A transaction and internal reinsurance transaction as part of capital management initiatives, leading a technological product launch in the North America, and overseeing end-to-end CCAR operation to fulfill Federal Reserve mandate.
Before launching APT Partners, Youyou has been contracting with Converge RE, assisting the management team in building out Finance & Actuarial operations to support business growth.
Youyou holds an Executive MBA from Columbia Business School and is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.
Expertise
Actuarial and Finance Operation, Reinsurance, ALM and Capital Management, In-force Management, Risk Management
Product expertise: Annuity
Partner
Lina Xu, FSA, PhD
As a well-known and highly respected Actuarial professional in academia, Dr. Lina Xu has played instrumental roles in developing and managing the Actuarial program at Columbia University from 2013.9-2024.9. Under her leadership, the program has been consistently ranked #1 in Master's degrees of Actuarial Science in both North America and Asia for the last decade. In recognition of her contributions, Dr. Xu received the 2020 Society of Actuaries Presidential Award.
Before academia, she had over 16 years of experience working with multiple US life (re)insurance companies across traditional actuarial domains such as valuation, pricing, and modeling and non-traditional areas, including administrative systems and experience studies. Notably, Dr. Xu played a key role in providing the theoretical foundation for China’s first mortality table, designing an annuity management system at Guggenheim, and contributing to similar projects at Athene. Dr. Xu has extensive expertise in managing experience studies and analyzing large databases with Oracle and proprietary systems.
In addition to her current academic role as Deputy Program Director of Actuarial Science in Columbia University, Dr. Xu also serves as an independent board of director for PICC (People’s Insurance Company of China) and has been appointed Doctoral Supervisor at the Hong Kong Financial Services Institute.
Dr. Xu holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, and she is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries with over 30 years of teaching experience in mathematics, statistics, and actuarial science.
Expertise
Data Science, Predictive Analytics, Experience Studies, Administrative System
Partner
Michel Perrin
As a global financial services executive with a proven track record of helping complex organizations enhance profitability and operating performance, Michel Perrin is a strategic leader with over 30 years of experience in the insurance, reinsurance, and consulting industries in both the US and Europe. He has spent half of his career at Equitable where he has held several senior leadership roles, including Deputy Chief Risk Officer and Head of Assumptions, Pricing, and Business Partnership. Over his long tenure with AXA-Equitable, Michel has played leadership role in many strategic initiatives, including strengthened the company’s risk management capabilities after the 2008 financial crisis, transformed the financial modeling platform across the full spectrum of Life Insurance and Annuity products, readied the company for the 2018 spin-off of AXA’s US subsidiary, Equitable, led the companywide assumption setting processes and strengthened the governance of the product development processes following the IPO, as well as played a key leadership role in executing the landmark VA reinsurance transaction with Venerable.
Most recently, Michel has been assisting Athora, a bermuda-based, multi-jurisdiction and multi-line life insurance group to enhance its financial reporting processes by strengthening controls, governance, and analytics.
Expertise
Methodology and Assumptions, Product and Pricing, Risk Management, Bermuda Regulation and Financial Reporting
Product expertise: Life and Annuity
Principal
Shar Choi, ASA
With over 30 years of actuarial experience and global recognition as an AXIS power user, Shar specializes in actuarial solutions for life insurance and reinsurance companies in North America. She spent half of her career at PwC, where she led the actuarial modeling practice across Canada, the US, and Asia.
Most recently Shar has served as the Head of Valuation with Manulife’s shared Services Center (VSSC) and led IFRS 17 implementation, where she held multiple roles including leading a large valuation team, building reserve systems in the actuarial modernization projects and performing financial reporting BAU responsibilities. She is exceptional in providing insightful profitability analysis to senior management including source of earnings analysis, gain and loss analysis, and financial forecasting.
Shar has extensive knowledge of various reserving bases, including IFRS 17, Canadian GAAP, US GAAP and STAT, China GAAP, and Singapore local standards.
Expertise
AXIS modeling, Pricing, Valuation, Financial Reporting
Product expertise: Life and Health, LTC
Accounting
Brian Davis, CPA
As a seasoned professional in the life insurance sector, Brian carries over 28 years of dedicated expertise in accounting and finance. Throughout his extensive career, Brian has established himself as a leader in strategic transactions, reinsurance, investment accounting, and financial reporting, providing expert guidance in shaping business strategy and decision-making. Having held leadership positions in Brighthouse, Genworth and Equitable, Brian has demonstrated a remarkable ability to lead capital strategy transactions from an accounting perspective, mobilize cross-functional teams to implement transactions, enhance internal controls, and ensure compliance with U.S. GAAP accounting standards. His proficiency in reinsurance accounting and statutory compliance, particularly with the implementation of innovative financial reporting processes, has been instrumental in managing and guiding complex multi-billion dollar transactions and reporting processes.
Brian's comprehensive understanding of technical accounting and his ability to provide actionable insights have consistently contributed to the success of the organizations he has served. Over his career, Brian has played a pivotal role in managing emerging accounting guidance and statutory reporting, authoring technical memos, and influencing industry trade groups to advance financial objectives and compliance.
Brian received a Master degree in Accounting from North Carolina State University and is actively involved as a CPA and member of esteemed professional bodies.
Expertise
Reinsurance Accounting, Investment Accounting, Financial Reporting, US STAT and GAAP Accounting, Accounting Policy
Marketing (APEC)
Cynthia Kong, MBA
Cynthia brings extensive experience as a sales and marketing professional in the Chinese retail industry and as an entrepreneur in new media. She will play a key role in supporting APT Partner’s business development initiatives across the APAC region.
Cynthia holds an MBA degree from University of London and recently completed advanced studies at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB).
Innovation
Xiao Qi, PhD
Dr. Qi is a seasoned engineer with extensive experience in artificial intelligence (AI), specializing in designing and implementing machine learning algorithms, deep learning models, and data-driven solutions. With a strong foundation in computer science and a passion for innovation, Dr. Qi excels in developing AI-driven solutions to solve real-world problems, including computer vision and conversational agents, and is adept at transforming complex datasets into actionable insights. As a lifelong learner, Dr. Qi stays at the forefront of AI advancements, contributing to the community through research, mentorship, and thought leadership. As an advisor to APT Partners, Dr. Qi will bring his expertise in AI-driven solutions to support research, implement deep learning models within the team, and digitalize content marketing.
Dr. Qi holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and has worked on diverse projects across various industries, including healthcare, finance, and natural language processing.
Other team members
Appointed Actuary (1); ALFA/Prophet/AXIS modelers (3); Financial Reporting and Valuation (1)