American Academy of Actuaries to Honor Volunteers' Efforts

WASHINGTON – The American Academy of Actuaries will honor three of its exceptional volunteers, Donna Claire of Fort Salonga, N.Y., Barbara Klever of Elizabeth, Ill., and Kathleen Odomirok of Boston, Mass., for their contributions to the work of the professional association and their efforts to advance its mission. The three actuaries will be presented with the Academy’s Outstanding Volunteerism Award at its Annual Meeting and Public Policy Forum, Nov. 3-4, 2016, in Washington, D.C.

“The Academy benefits each year from the substantive contributions of more than 1,200 volunteers who are actively engaged in fulfilling its public policy and professionalism missions,” said Academy President Tom Wildsmith. “In their volunteer work for the Academy, Donna, Barb, and Kathy each contributed substantially to important Academy work, demonstrating a commitment to the profession and the public that won the admiration of the members and officers of the Academy.”         

Donna Claire, MAAA, FSA, CERA, is being recognized for her leadership in educating actuaries and regulators on principle-based reserving (PBR) for life insurance. She has served in the key position of chairperson of the Academy’s Model Governance Work Group in the lead-up to PBR becoming effective in 2017, actively engaging with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on PBR implementation issues at a critical time. Her groundbreaking work conceptualizing and implementing the Academy’s educational “PBR Boot Camps” has helped practicing actuaries, regulators, and auditors alike understand PBR before it takes effect. She is president of Claire Thinking Inc. in Fort Salonga, N.Y.

As chairperson of the Academy’s Risk Sharing Subcommittee and acting chairperson of the Individual and Small Group Markets Committee, Barb Klever, MAAA, FSA, demonstrated outstanding leadership in the development of public policy analysis of health practice issues, and in representing the Academy to the news media and at events. Her numerous accomplishments include ushering to completion an analysis of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) risk adjustment program, comments on proposed regulatory changes to risk adjustment methodology, and an issue brief on 2017 Drivers of Health Insurance Premium Changes. She continues to lead other key health practice projects. She is an actuary at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in Chicago.

As vice chairperson of the Academy’s Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting (COPLFR) and as chairperson and faculty for the Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions, Kathy Odomirok, MAAA, FCAS, led valuable initiatives benefiting property/casualty insurance regulators and actuaries. She coordinated the Academy’s input to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on P/C loss reserve issues that needed clarification or revision, and led a highly successful initiative of COPLFR to overhaul its annual Statements of Actuarial Opinion on Property and Casualty Loss Reserves public policy practice note to facilitate the work of actuaries on annual reserve statements of opinion. She is a consulting actuary with Ernst & Young LLP in Boston.

The Academy established the Outstanding Volunteerism Award in 2011 to honor Academy volunteers who have in the past year made a single, noteworthy volunteerism contribution that is above and beyond what is reasonably expected of an Academy volunteer. Learn more about the award and its past recipients at http://www.actuary.org/content/outstanding-volunteerism-award.


About the American Academy of Actuaries
The American Academy of Actuaries is an 18,500+ member professional association whose mission is to serve the public and the U.S. actuarial profession. For more than 50 years, the Academy has assisted public policymakers on all levels by providing leadership, objective expertise, and actuarial advice on risk and financial security issues. The Academy also sets qualification, practice, and professionalism standards for actuaries in the United States.