William Halvorson MAAA FSA
William A. Halvorson, MAAA, FSA
June 26, 1928–September 5, 2016
A remembrance by Audrey Halvorson
William A. “Bill” Halvorson had a long and varied service commitment to the actuarial profession. He was instrumental in reinforcing much of the infrastructure of the American Academy of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries (SOA) throughout his career, and topped his service off as president of the Academy in 1981–1982.
Starting in 1955, he began working on a committee on Fields of Activity for Actuaries. This committee’s goal was to create a balance in the actuaries’ program of education and meetings. He identified the need to develop support for investment work, and began developing programs back in 1955 and 1956 on investment. Through this effort, the investment program was added to the old part 7 exam. He developed the syllabus for the first investment exam and with a team of three other people, also graded those exams.
He was elected to the board of directors of the Society of Actuaries in 1956, shortly after he became a fellow in 1954. At that time, he was the youngest member of the board, and was asking lots of questions.
One of the questions he had at the time was, “Why isn’t health a separate practice, rather than a subset of the life practice? Why aren’t there appropriate statistical analyses for health actuaries?” At that time, these questions were not answered. When he became president-elect of the SOA in 1977, though, he recommended that a committee be created to study the feasibility of adding special interest sections within the SOA. The Committee to Investigate Special Interests ultimately led to the SOA’s current familiar structure of support for actuaries in different fields of work.
As president of the Society in 1978, he helped raise the health section to become a distinct committee with health actuaries in charge of the committee. In a little over 20 years, he helped to answer his own questions.
Bill suggested to the board of the Society of Actuaries in the early 1960s that an Actuarial Education and Research Fund be established to which actuaries can donate. The first one was established in the mid-1960s while he was on the executive committee as a vice president of the SOA.
As president-elect of the SOA in 1977, Bill worked with Pete Plumley and Anna Rappaport on a committee on functions of an organization, essentially to better understand the effectiveness of the actuarial organizations to its members and to society in general. They worked with the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) to look at their committee structures and provide advice. They recommended that the Society should hire people who knew what they were doing and were trained in their professions for such positions as executive director, communications, etc., and not to just hire actuaries not trained in those professions. They then began the difficult change to find and hire trained professionals for director of communications, director of education, and executive director.
Bill also did a lot of writing and speaking around the country regarding the actuary’s professional responsibility to clients and to society at large. When asked about the professional responsibility of actuaries, he said, “To be objective, unbiased, and to provide all the alternatives. Don’t start with a biased opinion and then try to prove it.” In other words, provide the range of alternatives with risks, allowing decision-makers to make informed decisions.
In 1974, while serving as vice president for both the SOA and the Academy, he began to develop requirements for certification for actuarial opinions. In particular, there was the need to allow actuaries to certify to the reserves—what they know—rather than the entire annual statement. Thus began the effort to develop the valuation actuary role. Bill followed up by appointing a special committee of the Academy to set up the Academy’s standards of practice through adoption of SAPs.
As president-elect of the Academy in 1980–1981, he was chairman of the public relations committee. This committee was charged with answering some fundamental questions: “What and who are we?” and “Who are our publics, and what are their needs?” Many observers wanted to focus on the fact that actuaries were people who were good at math and risk, and who were good problem-solvers. Bill believed those were descriptions of qualifications for a job, rather than the definition of a profession. This committee began the effort for actuaries to focus on who actuaries’ publics are and what they needed from us.
These are merely a few items that Bill was involved with during his career as an actuary and volunteer. The list below identifies the various Academy committees he served on during his career, which started in the early 1950s and continued into the mid-1980s.
Bill was instrumental in asking the right questions and spending time and effort to answer those questions. He worked with many individuals to accomplish these goals, and deserves our thanks.
Audrey Halvorson, MAAA, FSA, is a regular director on the Academy’s Board of Directors and the daughter of William A. “Bill” Halvorson.
Academy Committee Service
Board of Directors
Secretary: 1970–1973
Vice President: 1973–1974
President-Elect: 1980–1981
President: 1981–1982
Past President: 1982–1984
Joint Committee on Future Staff and Space Needs
Member: 1972–1973
Executive Committee
Vice President: 1973–1974
President-Elect: 1980–1981
Chairman: 1981–1982
Immediate Past President: 1982–1983
Committee on State Relations and Accreditation
Vice Chairman: 1974–1975
General Chairman: 1975–1977
Subcommittees for State Insurance Regulator Matters
North Central State, Member: 1974–1975
Committee on Discipline
Member: 1974–1977
Council of Presidents
Member, SOA: 1976–1978
Member, Academy: 1980–1982
Committee on Relations with Accountants
Member: 1977–1980
Committee on Risk Classification
Member: 1979–1980
Health Subcommittee
Chairman: 1979–1980
Committee on Health Insurance
Chairman: 1979–1980
Nominating Committee
Subcommittee for Directors, Member: 1980–1982
Subcommittee for Directors, Vice Chairman: 1982–1983
Subcommittee for Directors, Chairman: 1983–1984
Subcommittee for Officers, Member: 1980–1982
Subcommittee for Officers, Vice Chairman: 1982–1983
Subcommittee for Officers, Chairman: 1983–1984
Committee on Planning
Chairperson: 1984–1986
Share