Academy Officers and Directors Begin Terms in Office  

WASHINGTON—The American Academy of Actuaries is pleased to announce that, in addition to Darrell Knapp, MAAA, FSA, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., taking office as 2024-25 Academy president, five other officers and three member-selected directors began terms on the Academy Board of Directors on Nov. 13, 2024.

The officers, elected at the Academy Board of Directors meeting on Oct. 17, 2024, include President-Elect Patricia Matson, MAAA, FSA, of Glastonbury, Conn. Matson has been an active volunteer for more than 20 years, including mostly recently as chairperson of the Academy’s Asset Adequacy and Reinsurance Issues Task Force and a member of its Prudential Regulation Committee. She is also a past Academy member-selected director and a past chairperson of the Actuarial Standards Board (ASB). “I have had the pleasure serving in many volunteer roles and seeing firsthand how the Academy and all its wonderful volunteers help the profession and the public,” said Matson. “I will do everything I can to be a great steward for this amazing organization!”

Benjamin Slutsker, MAAA, FSA, of Minneapolis, Minn., is now serving a second one-year term as secretary-treasurer out of a possible three. His previous volunteer service includes serving as Academy vice president, life, as chairperson of the PBR Assumption Resource Manual Work Group, and in numerous other positions.

Three Academy vice presidents started terms that will run through 2026: Vice President, Professionalism and Education, Nancy Behrens, MAAA, FSA, of Hudson, Ill.; Vice President, Casualty, Susan Kent, MAAA, FCAS, of Bucyrus, Ohio; and Vice President, Health, Annette James, MAAA, FSA, FCA, of Reno, Nev.

Behrens served for six years on the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline, as well as on the Committee on Professional Responsibility and other professionalism committees. Kent became chairperson of the P/C Committee on Equity and Fairness in February and has served on the committee since 2022. James, a member-selected director on the Academy Board for the past three years, is co-chairperson of the Health Equity Committee, chairperson of the ASB’s Health Committee, and previously served as chairperson of the Academy’s DEI Committee.

The three member-selected directors who began three-year terms on the Academy Board are: Steven D. Armstrong, MAAA, FCAS, of Chicago; Eric Keener, MAAA, FSA, FCA, EA, of Norwalk, Conn.; and Stephen Koca, MAAA, FCAS, of Pasadena, Calif. They were nominated as a slate by the Nominating Committee and elected by Academy members this summer.

Armstrong has been a member of the P/C Committee on Equity and Fairness since its inception and serves on the Automobile Insurance Committee, the ASOP No. 12 Task Force, and the Volunteer Engagement Subcommittee. Keener chaired the Retirement Policy and Design Evaluation Committee and drove the Academy’s series of policy documents on national retirement income. Koca is chairperson of the Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting (COPLFR), which prepares three major offerings each year—the annual P/C opinion practice note, the Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions, and the P/C Loss Reserve Law Manual.

For more information, please visit www.actuary.org.

[Media only: Photos of the officers and directors are available by contacting Academy Director of Communications and Public Affairs David Mendes at mendes@actuary.org.]

About the American Academy of Actuaries
The American Academy of Actuaries is a 20,000-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.