Overview

OLA is sponsoring college/university students, recent graduates, and career changers to attend the inaugural 2025 OLA Avanza Conference from Wednesday, August 13 - Friday, August 15, 2025 in San Diego, California! Conference pass prices, which will also be announced when registration opens, will vary by attendee type, OLA membership status, early-bird pricing, and corporate sponsorship tier. OLA Board members and other OLA Leaders will be at the conference to provide support and mentorship.

Go to:

• Highlights
  
• Tiers
  
• Eligibility
  
• Deadlines
  
• OLA's Waiver of Liability Agreement
  
• Application
  

Highlights

• The Avanza Conference is THE largest in-person OLA event of the year and includes an in-person actuarial career fair, industry sessions/panels, a networking mixer, opportunities for CE credits! Visit the 2025 OLA Avanza Conference Content Hub for more information about the event.
• Selected attendees might be invited to interview for actuarial internships and/or entry-level positions. Get those gigs before recruiting season really heats up!
• Attendees will have the opportunity to network with OLA Leaders, members, recruiters, and hiring managers from all across the country at our various events, especially the Avanza Conference Mixer and Career Fair. The conference as a whole also offers the opportunity to network with other Latine actuarial professionals and student leaders involved with OLA.
• Attendees will have the opportunity to attend industry sessions/panels on professional development, technical knowledge, and other trending topics in the actuarial profession. Get information that will help you kick off your actuarial career on the right foot.
• The rebranded 2025 OLA Avanza Conference will feature both general and breakout sessions so actuarial professionals can earn Continuing Education (CE) and/or Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits
• Best of all, you will make life-long connections with the other attendees and OLA Leadership. Strengthen your tie to the OLA community!
  

Tiers

For 2025, OLA is excited to introduce a tiered travel sponsorship structure that will allow for a broader range of prospects to apply for different levels of support that meet their individual needs. You can see the four travel sponsorship tiers you can apply for when you submit your application (A, B, C, and D).

With this new approach, we are making the event more accessible and tailoring OLA resources to the specific needs of different prospect attendee groups.

In your application, please indicate the minimum travel sponsorship tier you would require in order to attend this event. For example, if you can cover your travel and lodging for this event, please indicate tier D as your minimum level. If you require maximum financial support to attend this event, please indicate tier A as your minimum tier. If you do have personal funds you can use or are local to Southern California, please consider this when answering that question. The goal is to provide funding for as many prospects to attend as possible!

Eligibility

In order to be selected, you must meet the following requirements:

1. OLA Academy Participation Requirement: You must agree to be automatically enrolled in OLA Academy (OLAA) if not already enrolled at the time of your application. You can find more information about OLAA here: https://members.latinoactuaries.org/page/OLAA-Application-Information
2. OLA Academy Badge Requirement: If you are selected for this Travel Sponsorship opportunity, your selection is conditional upon completing the three OLA Academy Badges (Resume, Interview, and Action Plan) for the Summer 2025 session. Requirements/deadlines to earn your OLA Academy Badges are updated on the OLA Academy Content Hub and will again be communicated to selected attendees.
   • Depending on the deadline for the decision round in which you apply for this Travel Sponsorship program, you might not earn these badges before you submit your application. Therefore, you must confirm in the application that you understand that OLA reserves the right to revoke your Travel Sponsorship if you do not complete this requirement before the trip.
     
3. Availability Requirement: Be available to travel from Tuesday, August 12 through Saturday, August 16, 2025.
   • This includes travel time the afternoon/evening before and the morning/afternoon after the conference.
   • Don't fret if you have never flown! We will help you navigate air travel.
   • Selected applicants will also receive an official travel sponsorship notification letter from OLA to assist with any time-off requests associated with participating in this experience.
4. Age Requirement: Be at least 18 years old on Saturday, August 13, 2025.

DEADLINES

There are three application/decision rounds: Early Decision I, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision.

OLA expects to select at least 50% of the available spots during the Early Decision I round, 30% during the Early Decision II round, and the remaining 20% during the Regular Decision round.  While you are welcome to apply in any round, we recommend applying in an earlier round (i.e. Early Decision I) due to lower competition and earlier announcement of selection decisions. 

Early Decision I - Deadline has passed

Deadline: Friday, February 28, 2025 at 11:59 P.M. ET 

OLA will notify selected prospects the week beginning March 10, 2025.

• Those selected will have ten days to accept or decline their spot.
• Those placed on the waitlist will be considered in the Early Decision II round without the need to apply again.

EARLY DECISION II - Deadline has passed

Deadline: Friday, March 28, 2025 at 11:59 P.M. ET 

OLA will notify selected prospects the week beginning April 7, 2025.

• Those selected will have ten days to accept or decline their spot.
• Those placed on the waitlist will be considered in the Regular Decision round without the need to apply again.

REGULAR DECISION - Deadline Extended

Deadline: Friday, May 16, 2025 at 11:59 P.M. ET Friday, June 13, 2025 at 11:59 P.M. ET (or until all spots are filled!)

OLA will notify selected prospects the week beginning May 26, 2025 within five business days of their application submission date

• Those selected will have ten days to accept or decline their spot.
• Those placed on the waitlist will be notified if any last-minute spots open leading up to the OLA Avanza Conference.

If you have any questions, please email us at travel@latinoactuaries.org.

OLA's Waiver of Liability Agreement

Candidates selected for this travel sponsorship opportunity will be required to sign OLA's "Waiver of Liability" agreement as outlined below. You will be asked to confirm your agreement with this requirement at the end of the application form.

By consenting to the above, you confirm you understand the following:

• The Organization of Latino Actuaries (OLA) sponsors travel for its members as a means of providing comprehensive and diverse professional development opportunities. Travel Sponsorship program participants and OLA Leaders (Board of Directors and Program Managers) are expected to conduct themselves in a professional and positive manner as representatives of OLA. Failure to follow guidelines and/or directives from OLA Leaders may result in revocation of the Travel Sponsorship.
• OLA will provide financial and other support, but does not mandate attendance at any event.
• All persons who accept support from the Organization of Latino Actuaries to travel to an event do so voluntarily and strictly at their own risk. Each person is responsible for:
  • Following the advice of their physician,
  • Adhering to the Center for Disease Control safety mandates and guidelines (cdc.gov),
  • Staying up to date with relevant information from the World Health Organization (who.int),
  • Following conference rules,
  • Following local ordinances, and
  • Acting responsibly
• Participation in this Travel Sponsorship program could involve risk of physical injury, illness, death, or property loss, and despite safety precautions, OLA cannot guarantee safety thereof, as all risks cannot be prevented.
• OLA does not provide health and accident insurance for trip participants, and you understand that any medical expenses, property loss, or other personal expenditures that result during or from this travel/trip, are to be borne by you, the participant.
• If you drive your own vehicle, or are a passenger in another’s private vehicle in connection with this trip/function, that OLA does not cover auto insurance for private vehicles. You also understand that OLA cannot be responsible for assuring the safety and reliability of such private transportation or driver, nor for any non-sponsored activities and travel that you might choose to participate in before, during or after the OLA-sponsored function(s)/event(s). You therefore accept the risks and responsibilities associated with such private vehicle travel and activities.
• In consideration of the opportunity afforded, with full knowledge and acceptance of the risks associated with this trip; and with full understanding of the above issues/conditions and risks, you release, indemnify and hold harmless the Organization of Latino Actuaries, its staff, trustees, officers, volunteers, and agents from all form and manner of risks inherent in, and from all claims, suits and demands of any nature arising from participation in said trip, or activities.

Note that while OLA Travel Sponsorship experiences have been overwhelmingly positive for prior attendees, the aforementioned waiver is a precautionary measure to establish the expectation of OLA's limited liability in light of the inherent risks of attending any event in-person.

Application

Ready to apply? Click here to access the application form!

Please note that only those members signed-in as prospects with upgraded OLA Member Portal accounts will be able to access the application form. If you need to upgrade your account before applying, please follow the steps in FAQ #2 of this page: https://members.latinoactuaries.org/page/Profile-Upgrade-Info.

If you have any questions, please email us at travel@latinoactuaries.org.