About the Bowles Chair of Actuarial Science

The Bowles Chair was established in 1988 to focus on the changing and complex environment in which the contemporary actuary practices. The Bowles Chair highlights and addresses major trends, and contributes to the continued vitality of the actuarial profession.

Thomas Bowles Jr., a founder of Tillinghast, was honored by his friends and colleagues with the endowment of a chair of actuarial science at Georgia State University. He began his career as an actuary with the Life Insurance Company of Virginia in 1933. He became a fellow of the Society of Actuaries in 1948 following services as a major in the U.S. Army during World War II.
 

In 1948, he co-founded Bowles Andrews & Towne in Richmond, VA and, in 1949, opened the Atlanta office of that firm. In 1962, he co-founded Bowles & Tillinghast in Atlanta, which became Tillinghast, Nelson and Warren in 1977 and a Towers Perrin company in 1986. Bowles was named chief executive officer of Georgia International Corporation in 1970 and president of Capital Holding Company in 1973 before returning to Tillinghast in 1975.

He was instrumental in establishing the Actuarial Science Program at Georgia State University in 1958 following his term as president of the Southeastern Actuaries Club.

Bowles has been actively involved in numerous professional activities over the years and is a past president of the Society of Actuaries and of the American Academy of Actuaries. He is a member of the board of trustees of Reinhardt College and a member of the Committee of 100 of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.