Academy Holds Successful Annual Meeting
Ken Kent accepts the gavel from Maryellen Coggins in
becoming the Academy’s new president
The Academy’s Envision Tomorrow: 2022 Annual Meeting, held Wednesday and Thursday in the nation’s capital, covered a host of timely public policy, regulatory, and economic issues, with wide-ranging and highly engaging and interactive general sessions, targeted practice-area breakout sessions, a professionalism session on ethics, presentation of the Academy’s annual service and volunteer awards along with the inaugural Rising Actuary Awards, and the ceremonial passing of the gavel as Ken Kent succeeded Maryellen Coggins to become the Academy’s 58th president. Lisa Slotznick became the Academy’s president-elect.
In addition to the presidential transition, four new officers joined the Academy Board: Darrell Knapp, secretary/treasurer, succeeding Cathy Murphy-Barron; Amy Angell, vice president, casualty, succeeding Lauren Cavanaugh; Tim Geddes, vice president, professionalism, succeeding Al Bingham; and Barb Klever, vice president, health, succeeding Al Schmitz. Three new member-selected directors-Joyce Bohl, Derek Freihaut, and Julia Lerche-joined the Board, and Ken Kasner, Frank Todisco, and past presidents Bob Beuerlein and D. Joeff Williams completed their terms.
The moonlight tour of national monuments
included a stop at the Lincoln Memorial
The two-day event-which included a virtual component in addition to in-person proceedings at the Marriott Metro Center in Washington, D.C.-also included several networking events and opportunities to explore the city: two receptions, a Fun Run (and walk), a moonlight bus tour of national monuments, and a scavenger hunt. According to a survey in a Thursday general session, almost half of attendees were at an Academy annual meeting for their first time.
Session Highlights
In addition to three breakout sessions in each of four practice areas-casualty, health, life, and pension-general session highlights included:
U.S. Comptroller General and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Gene Dodaro, who gave an at-times sobering account Wednesday of the country’s long-term fiscal challenges, including those affecting Social Security and Medicare, the debt ceiling, and covered a host of topics from the pandemic to demographic trends, health care challenges, and cybersecurity threats, drawing on his observations from 50 years at GAO.
DEI session panelists led by Health Equity
Committee Chairperson Annette James (left)
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Academy Board member and Health Equity Committee Chairperson Annette James moderated Thursday’s luncheon panel covering the Academy’s multifaceted, cross-practice public policy work on diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) issues. Panelists covered the Academy’s DEI work in all practice areas, and regulatory initiatives in several states, including Colorado.
Washington Post personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary brought her 25 years of experience writing about economic trends in talking about the complex financial security implications in the current economic and public policy environment, and gave often-humorous anecdotes about how people can better manage money and plan for retirement. Wednesday afternoon’s “Data Analytics: New and Emerging Considerations for Actuaries in the Age of Big Data” covered the intersection of actuaries and data scientists, in a deep-dive, data-driven discussion. Moderated by Academy Board member and Data Science and Analytics Committee Chairperson Dorothy Andrews, it featured opening remarks by Principal Data & AI Transformation Executive Jason Federoff, and a vibrant cross-practice panel discussion. -
In Wednesday’s opening session, PBS TV series host Steven Johnson, author of Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer, offered a fascinating overview of the remarkable increase in longevity in the last 100 years. He talked about the importance of looking for patterns in data, highlighted how antibiotics and the smallpox vaccine in particular were life-expectancy game changers, and outlined some of the ethical concerns raised by longer lifespans.
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Author and presenter Bruce Weinstein, also known as “The Ethics Guy,” hosted a lively and interactive professionalism session, “The Ethically Intelligent Actuary,” on Thursday, live-polling actuary attendees on multiple hypothetical scenarios involving ethical judgment calls, and offering “five principles of ethical intelligence.” (Do No Harm, Make Things Better, Respect Others, Be Fair, and Use Care.) Weinstein signed copies of his related book, Ethical Intelligence: Five Principles for Untangling Your Toughest Problems at Work and Beyond, which the Academy provided for in-person attendees.
A closing “Inflation Nation” panel discussion moderated by Academy Risk Management and Financial Reporting Vice President Seong-min Eom and featuring keynote introductory remarks by Edward Toy, an investment specialist with Risk & Regulatory Consulting, included Academy volunteer panelists who offered perspective in casualty, health, life, and pension practice areas.
Representatives from other actuarial groups and organizations were also in attendance, including Abacus Actuaries, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, the Casualty Actuarial Society, the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, the Society of Actuaries, and the South Asian Network of Actuaries.
See the Academy’s social media posts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for more event photos, and look for more coverage in the Annual Meeting supplement to the November Actuarial Update, out later this month. It’s not too early to save the dates for next year: the Academy’s 2023 Annual Meeting is set for Nov. 14-15 in Washington, D.C.
Volunteer, Service & Recognition Award Recipients
Kathy Riley (right) receives the Jarvis Farley Service Award
The Academy also presented its annual awards at this week’s meeting.
Farley Award- Kathy Riley received the Jarvis Farley Service Award, a lifetime achievement award that honors an Academy member whose volunteer efforts have made significant contributions to the advancement of the profession. Riley was honored for her 23 years of volunteer service in 25 different roles, including stints as vice president of professionalism; on the Board of Directors; and with the Actuarial Standards Board (including as chairperson) and the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline.
Myers Award-Lawrence Johansen received the Robert J. Myers Public Service Award, given to a member for a single noteworthy public service achievement or a career devoted to public service. Johansen received the award for his exemplary service at the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System and the New Hampshire Retirement System, which went well beyond actuarial analysis and showed an enduring passion to serve others.
OVAs-Three members received Outstanding Volunteerism Awards (OVAs): Katie Campbell, in recognition of her effective and diligent leadership in managing the complexities and pressures of the revision process resulting in the release of the 2022 U.S. Qualification Standards (USQS); Dave Evans, for his valuable contributions as a member of the P/C Extreme Events and Property Lines Committee, in calling attention to the committee’s important work; and Norman Niami, for his leadership and high level of engagement in promoting the outstanding work of the Cyber Risk Task Force (CRTF), which he chairs, including multiple updates to the CRTF’s Cyber Risk Toolkit.
Rising Actuaries-The new Rising Actuary Award, recognizing young members on their way up in the profession, was given to 14 members: Chelsea Adler, Haitham Aly, Laura Bass, Allison Fehnel, Janessa Gramson Sanchez, Fallon Harrell, Eric Hintikka, Taylor Krebsbach Davis, Maambo Mujala, Evan Palumbo, Yixuan Song, Todd Tauzer, Michael Wise, and Mike Woods. Read more about these up-and-coming members in the November/December issue of Contingencies (see below), and in the November Actuarial Update and Annual Meeting supplement, out later this month.
Next Week-‘PBR Boot Camp’ Virtual Mini-Seminar
Register for next week’s PBR Boot Camp: The Regulatory Perspective, a 90-minute virtual mini-seminar, in which regulators will offer their perspective on principle-based reserving (PBR). The interactive virtual event is next Wednesday, Nov. 9, from noon to 1:30 p.m. EST. Register now.
Last Chance: Early Discount Ends Today for P/C Loss Reserve Opinions Seminar
Today, Nov. 4, is the last day to get an early discount to December’s Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions. Designed for actuaries who prepare, or assist with preparing, annual statements of actuarial opinion on P/C loss reserves, the seminar will include a session on the use of reserve ranges, which count toward the new requirement on bias topics under the USQS. The seminar is Dec. 5-6 at the Marriott Phoenix Airport. Register today and save.
Register for This Month’s Academy Webinars on Pension & Health
Registration is open and continuing education credit is available for this month’s pension and health webinars, coming soon.
Recently Released
 The November/December issue of Contingencies, the cover story “On the Way Up” profiles the inaugural class of Rising Actuary Award recipients. Their responses to a series of questions about mentors, leadership, and generational considerations in the workplace make clear that the future of the U.S. profession is in good hands. Also, “A Pebble on the Surface” shows how a Wall Street Journal op-ed shifted one actuary’s career trajectory; and “K” is the latest piece of short fiction by actuarial author Leo Apilash. Plus, Maryellen Coggins’ final President’s Message, a Tradecraft piece on medical loss ratios for Medicaid/CHIP, and an Up to Code article on doing the right thing. Also see the Actuarial Software Now supplement, and the “zero-trust” model of cyber security-a new paradigm that’s changing the way companies conduct their operations.
The October Actuarial Update, published Monday, previewed the Annual Meeting; covered the Academy’s renewed Strategic Plan adopted by the Board of Directors and outlined in a p. 1 piece by outgoing President Maryellen Coggins;; and included the Professionalism Counts column, “Why Professionalism Matters.”
Professionalism Outreach
Penultimate Past President Tom Campbell spoke Monday at the Connecticut Insurance Department’s 2022 Appointed Actuary Meeting. He discussed the value of Academy membership and volunteering for appointed actuaries and their staff, and gave an update on Academy activities. Campbell also highlighted the many ways the Academy works with other actuarial organizations, recent USQS changes, and the emerging professional education needs of appointed actuaries whose opinions increasingly involve new and more complex types of assets.
Events Calendar
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