This Week, September 16 – 20, 2024

WEBSITE NOTICE

Academy Website—Scheduled Maintenance Notification

The Academy’s membership software-hosting server will undergo maintenance this weekend—from 11 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 21, to 7 a.m. EDT Sunday, Sept. 22. Member-related functions will be disabled during this time.

EDUCATION & EVENTS

Envision Tomorrow Spotlight: Leroy Nunery and Financial Inclusion

Last Day to Get an Early Discount to Academy’s Premier Event

Leroy Nunery previews his Envision Tomorrow financial inclusion session

Leroy Nunery II will be the featured speaker at an Envision Tomorrow luncheon plenary session, “Growing Financial Inclusion”—a conversation about the benefits and challenges of expanding insurance and financial literacy; growing the pipeline of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and professionals; and how a lens of “underrepresentation risk” can help the insurance sector and the actuarial profession meet the challenge.

In an exclusive interview, Nunery highlighted some of the issues he will address—and how he views financial inclusion, along with DEI and STEM issues—at the Academy’s annual meeting Oct. 15–16 in Washington, D.C. See the full agenda. Early registration ends today—register now and secure your discount. The room block at the Grand Hyatt Washington is filling up and the deadline is Sept. 25—book your room now. A Digital Pass option featuring select sessions is also available.

“Financial inclusion, overall, is a belief that everyone should have access to affordable, usable, fungible tools to get fully engaged in the economy,” Nunery said. “The opposite of it is financial exclusion, which prevents people from being able to fully participate.”

Read more from the interview in the upcoming September Actuarial Update.

• Volunteer Discount—Academy volunteers can secure an additional discount when registering for the event. Use the code AM24VOL to save an additional $200.

• This Week Discount—Not a volunteer? This Week readers can use the code SPECIAL100 to save $100 when registering.

Retirement Webinar Covers PBGC Issues

Tuesday’s webinar, Rethinking the PBGC Premium Structure, offered an overview of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) premiums and featured presenters from the Retirement Practice Council and the Pension Committee. Archived webinars are accessible through Academy Learning. (Member sign-in required.)

MEMBERSHIP

Academy Names 2024 Rising Actuary Award Recipients

The Academy named the 2024 Rising Actuary Award recipients. Now in its third year, the Rising Actuary Award recognizes members aged 35 or younger or credentialed five years or less. The recipients will be recognized at Envision Tomorrow next month—the ceremony will be broadcast via the meeting’s Digital Pass registration option. The recipients will also be featured in the November/December issue of Contingencies. Register today for Envision Tomorrow and check out the next issue of Contingencies to learn more about these actuaries on their way up in the profession.

The recipients are:

• Emma Casehart, Allstate Insurance Co.

• Joe Dorocak, Cleveland Clinic

• Tina Kang, Prudential

• Kirsten Knutson, Blue Cross of Idaho

• Christopher Lombardi, WTW

• Margo MacKenzie, Ernst & Young

• Isabelle McCullough, Axis US Specialty Services

• Amanda Muhlbaier, Pacific Life Insurance Co.

• Silver Zhou, Venerable

Make Your Voice Heard—Take the Actuarial Update User Survey

The Academy is surveying members to ensure that Actuarial Update is delivering the best content in a format that’s useful to you. We’ll use the results of the survey to improve the publication and align Update with members’ needs. It should take no more than three minutes of your time—take the survey and help us continue to deliver high-quality content that you rely on.

Member-Selected Directors Process Concludes

Thank you to Academy members who took part in the member-selected directors process, which concluded Wednesday. The new member-selected directors, who will begin three-year terms in November, will be Steve Armstrong, Stephen Koca, and Eric Keener. To learn more about the full 2024–2025 Board slate and the Academy’s selection process, visit the Board Selection Center.

PROFESSIONALISM

COPR Releases Professionalism Paper on Generative AI

The Committee on Professional Responsibility (COPR) released a cross-practice discussion paper, Actuarial Professionalism Considerations for Generative AI, which provides a comprehensive view of professionalism fundamentals and considerations for actuaries using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to support actuarial conclusions and provide actuarial services.

• COPR papers—See a full list of COPR papers on the Academy’s website.

Next Week—Professionalism Webinar to Highlight GenAI & Other Emerging Issues

Register now for next week’s Actuarial Professionalism: It’s Important! webinar that will feature a discussion with COPR members on high-level professionalism issues as new areas of practice—and new technologies such as Gen AI—emerge. The webinar is next Friday, Sept. 27. Register today.

Professionalism Outreach—ABCD Focus in Cincinnati

Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) Professionalism Director Ed Lee took education about the profession’s counseling and disciplinary processes on the road, with an ABCD-focused presentation to the Actuaries Club of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio in Cincinnati on Monday. The presentation provided an overview of the ABCD’s governance, disciplinary processes, requests for guidance, and discussion of recent ABCD activity in guidance requests and disciplinary inquiries.

PUBLIC POLICY

Social Security Committee Releases Issue Paper on Immigration

The Social Security Committee released an issue paper, Immigration and Social Security. Immigration is a crucial component to the trajectory of the financial condition of the Social Security system and this paper discusses how immigration affects the trajectory of the financial condition of the social insurance program. See the Academy press release.

P/C Equity & Fairness Committee Releases Insurance Fraud Issue Brief

The P/C Committee on Equity and Fairness released an issue brief, Insurance Fraud: Impacts on Premiums, Claim Costs, and the Public. The issue brief discusses regulatory actions to prevent and report fraud and approaches actuaries can take to quantify the damage fraud causes.

• Visit the Public Policy webpage to stay on top of the latest news and activity.

OUTREACH & NEWS

Academy Featured in SOA Podcast Recapping NAIC Summer Meeting

Academy Senior Director of Public Policy Geralyn Trujillo is the featured guest on a Society of Actuaries’ Research Insights podcast, recapping last month’s NAIC Summer National Meeting in Chicago, reinforcing the Academy’s role as the voice on public policy, and highlighting the volume of cross-practice work being led by various Academy committees in collaboration with the NAIC and other stakeholder groups.

• For more on the Academy’s engagement with the NAIC, check out the Public Policy staff’s most recent webinar recapping the Chicago meeting.

Actuarially Sound Highlights Life Insurance Awareness

The latest Actuarially Sound blog post, A Month to Focus on Life Insurance Literacy, notes that September is Life Insurance Awareness Month and cites the sometimes overlooked importance of life insurance to those for whom it could have the greatest impact.

In the News

• A research article on life insurance and financial stability in the central bank-focused BIS Quarterly Review cited the Academy’s issue brief on offshore reinsurance published earlier this year.

• Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello was quoted in a Verywell Health story about 2025 health premium rates, which was reprinted by MSN and AOL.

• A subscriber-only MarketWatch opinion piece, “The surprising math of immigration, Social Security and Medicare,” highlights the Academy’s new issue paper on immigration and Social Security.

EVENTS CALENDAR

• Sept. 27 [Professionalism Webinar] Actuarial Professionalism: It’s Important!

• Oct. 1 [Webinar] Exploring BIFSG From an Actuarial Perspective

• Oct. 15–16 [Annual Meeting] Envision Tomorrow 2024; Washington, D.C.

• Nov. 4–7 [Seminar] Life and Health Qualifications Seminar; Arlington, Va.

• Nov. 12 [Professionalism webinar] Ethical Dilemmas Facing Health Actuaries: Insights and Case Studies

• Dec. 6 [Professionalism webinar] Tales From the Dark Side: ABCD Case Studies

• Dec. 9–10 [Seminar] Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions; New Orleans

Visit the Events Calendar for a complete listing of Academy events and archived webinar recordings and slides through Academy Learning.