The Academy Meets Academia: Racial Differences in Life Insurance

Join us for the inaugural webinar in the Academy Meets Academia series, a new initiative from the Academy’s Research Committee to foster engagement between Academy members and leading academic researchers. Each year, we will host four webinars (on issues of relevance to each of the four practice areas: Life, Retirement, Health, and Casualty) in which authors of innovative academic research will discuss their work with Academy volunteers.

Our first webinar will focus on Racial Differences in Life Insurance, an unpublished working paper authored by four professors of Risk Management and Insurance. The authors will present their research on disparities in access to and adequacy of life insurance coverage, followed by a discussion with Academy volunteer leaders in the life insurance practice area. The discussion panel will feature moderator Maambo Mujala, chairperson of the Variable Annuity Reserves and Capital Subcommittee and a member of the Research Committee, along with panelists Kirsten Pedersen, vice president and chairperson of the Life Practice Council (LPC), and Donna Megregian, vice-chairperson of the LPC.

Together, they will explore:

• How the academic findings challenge common assumptions;
• How insights from practicing actuaries could strengthen and refine the research; and
• What implications the findings may have for regulators and life actuaries.

Following the discussion, Q&A will offer a distinctive opportunity for webinar attendees to engage directly with academic researchers and practitioners on this important topic in life insurance.

MODERATOR

Maambo Mujala
Member, Research Committee

SPEAKERS

Kirsten Pedersen
Vice President and Chairperson, Life Practice Council

Donna Megregian
Vice-Chairperson, Life Practice Council

Taylor Graciano
New Mexico State University, Assistant Professor

Jim Carson
Daniel P. Amos Distinguished Professor of Insurance

Cassandra Cole
Atkins Professor of Risk Management & Insurance

Steve Fier
Associate Professor of Finance

REGISTRATION

Registration for this webinar is limited to the first 1,000 registrants. Visit our webinar FAQs to learn more about our webinar policies, including group registration.

For more information about this webinar, contact [email protected].

Event Pricing

• Members: $55
• Nonmembers: $110
• Group Registration for Academy Members: $500

Complimentary registration is available to the following cohorts of Academy members. Contact [email protected] to request a discount code to register.

• Government regulators
• Academy volunteers who meet both
  • “active” members of an Academy committee, board, subcommittee, task force, or work group; and
  • qualified for either a partial or full dues waiver during 2026.

Contact [email protected] to request a discount code to register

CONTINUING EDUCATION

The American Academy of Actuaries believes in good faith that attendance at this live webinar constitutes an organized activity as defined under the current Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuarial Opinion in the United States, and that attendees may earn up to 1.8 organized and bias continuing education (CE) credits for attending this live webinar. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Registration for this webinar is limited to the first 1,000 registrants. Visit our webinar FAQs to learn more about our webinar policies, including group registration. For more information about this webinar, contact [email protected].