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Recent Academy Activity, August 24-28, 2015

New Annual Meeting Session Announced; Early-Bird Rate Ends Monday

The Academy announced a new session for its Nov. 12-13 Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum in Washington. The session will focus on how journalists from major media outlets that cover “actuarial beats” such as Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, public pension plans, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are framing these high-profile, hot-button issues heading into the presidential election year. Academy President-elect Tom Wildsmith will moderate the session.

Discount registrations for the meeting and forum are available through this Monday, Aug. 31. The Academy has released additional details about the other breakout sessions, which will offer public policy and professionalism content relevant to all actuarial areas of practice. The agenda will enable attendees to earn up to 10 organized activity continuing education (CE) credits (depending on area of practice), 1.5 hours of business CE credits, and 2.4 hours of professionalism CE credits. This will all take place in a festive and fascinating celebration of the Academy’s 50th anniversary this year. Register now to take advantage of the discount.

Academy Names Jim MacGinnitie Senior P/C Fellow

The Academy named W. James (Jim) MacGinnitie, an actuary with more than 50 years of consulting and executive experience in casualty actuarial and financial issues, to be its first senior property/casualty fellow.

MacGinnitie—a past president of the Academy (1988-89), the Casualty Actuarial Society (1979), the Society of Actuaries (2002), and the International Actuarial Association (2003)—will communicate the Academy’s work on casualty actuarial issues pertaining to cybersecurity, extreme weather and catastrophic event risks, workers’ compensation, medical professional liability, reinsurance, auto insurance, and many more P/C issues to the public and to public policymakers.

“The position of senior property and casualty fellow was created in recognition of the importance the Academy places on its role in shaping sound public policy in the regulation of property and casualty insurance,” Academy President Mary D. Miller said in a news release issued Friday.

Online Election Voting Opens Monday

  • Online voting for the Academy’s four open regular director positions will begin on Monday, Aug. 31, at 9 a.m. EDT and continue through Monday, Sept. 21, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Members by now should have received a message alerting them that they will receive a message Aug. 31 about the start of voting, which was sent from electionadmin@intelliscaninc.net. Please check your junk mail folder if you have not received it. The Academy’s Nominating Committee has presented a slate of four candidates for open regular director positions on the Academy Board of Directors: Elizabeth Brill, Alice Fontaine, Laurel Kastrup, and Allen Schmitz. For more information about the Nominating Committee Guidelines on how candidates are selected and other election details, please visit the Academy’s online Election Center.

Recent Events

  • The Academy held a post-NAIC webinar Thursday providing highlights from this month’s NAIC Summer National Meeting, including the Life Actuarial (A) Task Force and Life Risk-Based Capital (E) Working Group meetings, and an update on mortality tables. The webinar featured Mary Bahna-Nolan, vice president for life issues; Philip Barlow, associate insurance commissioner for the District of Columbia; and Michael Boerner, director of the Actuarial Office at the Texas Department of Insurance. Dave Neve, chairperson of the Life Reserves Work Group, moderated.

Public Policy Activities

  • The Illustrations Work Group published an addendum to the practice note, Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 24: Compliance with the NAIC Life Insurance Illustrations Model Regulation, to reflect the recently adopted Actuarial Guideline 49.

Remembrance: John Morris, Past Chairperson of COQ

  • John Morris, who was chairperson of the Academy’s Committee on Qualifications (COQ) from 2011 to 2014, passed away Aug. 18 at his home in Downington, Pa. He was 62. Morris, who spent the last 26 years of his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, also served as an Academy volunteer in a wide range of roles beyond the COQ. “John was a past member and excellent chair of the COQ, among his many other contributions to the actuarial profession,” current COQ Chairperson Keith Passwater wrote in a note to the committee. Look for an expanded remembrance in the August Actuarial Update.

Call for Papers

  • The Academy supports a call for papers from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), the professional association for actuaries in the United Kingdom. The IFoA is soliciting research proposals related to a series of key policy questions focused on two actuarial themes: the aging of the population and the effect of the changing economic landscape on financial health. Given the global nature of these, proposals are being accepted from research-led organizations in the academic, not-for-profit, and public and private sectors within and outside of the U.K. The Academy encourages members to consider this call for papers to further the prominence of our independent and objective perspective on these critical actuarial and policy questions. The submissions deadline is Oct. 5.

Upcoming Events

  • The 2015 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar will be held Nov. 9-12 in Arlington, Va. (metropolitan Washington), just prior to the Academy’s Annual Meeting in Washington. Click here for registration information.
  • P/C Opinion Seminar Planned for Philadelphia: Actuaries who prepare or sign NAIC annual statement actuarial opinions on property/casualty loss reserves, or those who assist in preparing them, should plan to attend the Academy’s 2015 Seminar on P/C Effective Loss Reserve Opinions, Dec. 1-2 in Philadelphia. Click here for more information; registration will open soon.

In the News

  • The Wall Street Journal mentioned the Academy in a story examining 2016 health care insurance premium increases in several states. The story cites analysis from the Academy’s issue brief, Drivers of 2016 Health Insurance Premium Changes, which states that the phasing down of the ACA reinsurance program is one of several significant 2016 cost drivers.
  • A subscriber-only InsuranceERM story, “Revealing the risk from climate change” provided a detailed analysis of the Actuaries Climate Index (ACI), a large-scale, joint effort between several North American actuarial organizations, including the Academy, the CAS, the Society of Actuaries, and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. The story notes that once completed, ACI data will “help inform the insurance industry and the general public on changes in the frequency of extreme weather over recent decades.”
  • The News-Herald (Southgate, Mich.) cited the Academy’s issue brief, The 80% Pension Funding Standard Myth, in a story on a local public pension funding matter.
  • The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities cited Academy comments to the Trustees of the Social Security System and the Social Security Advisory Board in a research paper examining the 2015 trustees’ report.
  • Mary Jo Hudson’s election as a special director to the Academy’s board of directors was posted in BenefitsLink.com.
  • BenefitsLink.com’s Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter also posted a link to the Academy’s issue brief, Social Security Disability Program: Shortfall Solutions and Consequences.

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