Who are you, and what is your statistics position?

Retired. Worked for multiple companies. In my later years, I primarily worked in the financial area with risk models for Fair Isaac (FICO), Capital One, and State Farm Insurance (mainly with their bank division).

Mike Mout in New Zealand

Tell us about what you like to do for fun when you are not being a statistician.

I sing. I started singing barbershop in my ’20s, but I got involved in opera (due to my wife’s influence) while in graduate school (1970–1972). In the late 1970s, I began singing with the San Diego Opera Chorus, which I continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In the later years, I was the American Guild of Music Artists representative. I am now singing with the Charleston Men’s Chorus and Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

What drew you to this hobby, and what keeps you interested?

I have always enjoyed singing and performing on stage. In fact, had I been a little bit more talented, I may have tried to make it a profession. Actually, my son is more talented than I and is a professional opera singer in Hanover, Germany.

Editor’s Note: You can see Mout with his choir on the Charleston Men’s Chorus website. He is in the first row, all the way to the left.