Who is Christie Ritten from Jeopardy?

Christie Ritten is an American actuary from La Grange Park, Illinois, who works for professional-services firm Aon in the Chicago area.

Ritten holds two significant professional credentials — FSA (Fellow of the Society of Actuaries) and EA (Enrolled Actuary) — and has worked on retirement and employee-benefit research. Her aptitude for numbers dates back much further: as a high-school student, she was part of a first-place team at the Illinois State Math Contest Finals.

What Does Christie Ritten Do for a Living?

Ritten is an actuary at Aon and has built her professional career in the Chicago area.

Her publicly documented work includes analysis relating to retirement readiness, employee benefits and financial risk.

Actuarial work relies heavily on mathematics, statistics and financial modelling to assess risk and uncertainty, making Ritten’s profession one of the more quantitatively demanding represented on Jeopardy!.

Where is Christie Ritten From?

Ritten is from La Grange Park, Illinois, a suburb in the greater Chicago area.

Her educational and professional history shows longstanding ties to the region. She attended Fenwick High School in Oak Park before leaving Illinois to attend the University of Notre Dame.

Ritten later returned to the Chicago area, where her professional profile currently places her with Aon.

Christie Ritten Was a Standout Math Student

Ritten’s strength with numbers was evident well before she became an actuary.

In 2005, while a junior at Fenwick High School, Ritten competed in the Illinois State Math Contest Finals.

She joined Nate Ross, Andy Sundt and Nick McFadden on Fenwick’s Junior-Senior Math Relay Team, which finished first in the state.

Fenwick enjoyed broader success at the competition as well, placing third overall and recording several other top finishes.

Christie Ritten Attended the University of Notre Dame

After graduating from high school, Ritten attended the University of Notre Dame from 2006 through 2010.

Publicly indexed information confirms her years at Notre Dame but does not clearly establish her specific degree or major.

Her subsequent career nevertheless continued the strong quantitative trajectory already visible during her high-school mathematics competitions.

Christie Ritten Became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries

Ritten continued studying long after completing university as she progressed through the demanding actuarial qualification process.

She became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in July 2021.

The FSA designation is an advanced professional actuarial credential and reflects extensive education, examinations and professional development.

Archived Society of Actuaries material from years earlier shows Ritten working through advanced subjects including enterprise risk management, sensitivity testing, profitability modelling, data quality and quantitative risk measures.

What Does FSA Mean?

FSA stands for Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

It is an advanced actuarial designation obtained after completing a substantial professional qualification process.

For Ritten, achieving fellowship in 2021 marked an important milestone in a career already centered on using mathematics and financial analysis to understand complex risks.

She now lists the credential professionally as Christie Ritten, FSA, EA.

Christie Ritten is Also an Enrolled Actuary

Ritten added another important credential in April 2024, when she became an Enrolled Actuary.

The EA designation is particularly relevant to actuarial work involving pension and retirement plans in the United States.

That fits closely with Ritten’s publicly documented work involving retirement readiness and employee benefits.

Christie Ritten Has Researched Retirement Readiness

Ritten has contributed to published research through Aon.

In 2020, she and Grace Lattyak co-authored material examining how the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could affect employees’ preparedness for retirement.

Their analysis considered factors including unemployment, lower wages, interruptions to retirement contributions, withdrawals from savings and investment-market losses.

The research also examined how those effects could differ between employees, particularly for people approaching retirement, and discussed ways employers could help improve workers’ financial wellbeing.

How Old is Christie Ritten?

Ritten’s exact date of birth does not appear to be publicly documented.

However, a contemporary report identifies her as a junior in high school in spring 2005, while her university attendance began in 2006.

That chronology suggests Ritten was likely born around 1987 or 1988, making her approximately 38 or 39 years old in 2026.

Her precise age remains an estimate rather than a confirmed biographical fact.

What is Known About Christie Ritten’s Personal Life?

Ritten appears to maintain a relatively private life outside her professional career.

Reliable public information about her relationships and family is limited, with most available material focusing instead on her education and actuarial work.

She has appeared in supporter records for organizations including The Actuarial Foundation, indicating some involvement with charitable or professional-community causes.

Christie Ritten’s Road to Jeopardy!

Ritten’s background provides an impressive example of a lifelong strength in analytical thinking.

As a teenager, she helped her high-school team win first place in a statewide mathematics competition. She went on to study at Notre Dame, build a career as an actuary and obtain the advanced FSA and EA professional credentials.

Her work requires many of the same abilities that can be valuable on Jeopardy!: quickly processing information, assessing possibilities and remaining accurate when dealing with complicated problems.

More than two decades after competing in the Illinois State Math Contest, Christie Ritten returned to competition on a very different stage — behind a Jeopardy! lectern.

Contestant Image Credit: Jeopardy! Official Website