This Week … In a Minute

Only have a minute? Catch up on the week’s top stories with the latest “This Week … In a Minute” video. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive videos as they are released.

OUTREACH & NEWS

Academy Announces 2025 Award Recipients

Musulin

Gustafson

The recipients of the Academy’s annual service and recognition awards, Rade Musulin (Jarvis Farley Service Award), Dave Gustafson (Robert J. Myers Public Service Award), and four Outstanding Volunteerism Award winners—Marc Altschull (life), Tyson Mohr (casualty), Derek Skoog (health), and Claire Wolkoff (retirement)—were revealed in the September Actuarial Update. Read more about the recipients here. The Academy also selected seven Rising Actuary Award recipients, who will be featured in the November/December issue of Contingencies.

Also in Actuarial Update—The Academy adopted AI policies that apply to staff, volunteers, and third parties; and a Professionalism Counts column on “The Resilience of Actuarial Professionalism.”

Contingencies Web Exclusive Covers Health Resource Package

The latest Contingencies web exclusive covers the Health Practice Council’s recently released resource guide, focusing on health insurance market dynamics. The guide, which offers a series of actuarially grounded resources exploring key policy and market factors that shape enrollment, risk pool composition, and premium trends in the commercial, employer, and Medicaid markets, includes an issue brief on 2026 premium drivers, recent comment letters to Congress, and links to related presentations.

Contingencies Refresh—The upcoming November/December issue of Contingencies will debut a fresh new look, reflecting a cleaner, more contemporary style, to enhance readability and ongoing efforts to continue improving the reader experience.

Academy Presents on AI at NAWA Annual Meeting

Academy AI Subcommittee Chairperson Dorothy Andrews served as a panelist and co-presenter of the “Actuarial Minds: AI Insights” program at the Network of Actuarial Women and Allies’ Sept. 30 virtual annual meeting. Andrews discussed actuarial standards of practice (ASOP) considerations related to AI and some of the regulatory, ethical, and practice challenges and opportunities of the increasing use of AI within the actuarial and insurance spheres. She also highlighted the Academy’s papers, Defining Big Data and Actuarial Professionalism Considerations for Generative AI.

Academy in the News

The National Institute on Retirement Security’s “Noteworthy from NIRS” bulletin highlighted the Academy’s recent issue brief, Public Sector Workers Not Covered by Social Security.

Actuary Voices Features Academy President Darrell Knapp

In a special edition of Actuary Voices, Academy President Darrell Knapp discusses the role the Academy plays, and his year as president, with Academy Executive Director and CEO Bill Michalisin.

EDUCATION & EVENTS

Early Discounts Extended for P/C Loss Opinion Seminar

Early registration discounts have been extended for the 2025 Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions, Dec. 8–9 in Salt Lake City. The seminar is designed for P/C actuaries who prepare NAIC statements of actuarial opinion. Early discounts end Oct. 15—register today.

New this year—A webinar designed for first-time opinion writers or those seeking a refresher will be offered prior to the seminar.

October Webinars to Cover Retirement, Cyber Issues

A reminder about this month’s upcoming Academy webinars:

Oct. 16, Retirement & Decumulation (cross-practice)—How Are U.S. Households Saving and Spending in Retirement? Observations and a Discussion on Preparedness and Decumulation will feature members of the Retirement Practice Council’s Retirement Policy and Design Evaluation Committee. Register today.
Oct. 29, Cyber Risk (casualty)—October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Committee on Cyber Risk 2025 will feature members of the committee, and discuss updates to its Cyber Risk Toolkit. Register today.

PUBLIC POLICY

Video Highlights Perspectives From Retirement Symposium

Retirement Vice President Jason Russell

A short video from the Academy’s September symposium on strengthening U.S. retirement systems covers the perspectives of some of the presenters—including Academy Retirement Vice President Jason Russell—on key issues facing Americans. Stay tuned for an upcoming Actuarially Sound blog on the symposium, and an upcoming Actuary Voices podcast featuring some of the symposium’s speakers.

RPC Offers ESOPs Micro-Volunteering Opportunity

The Retirement Practice Council (RPC) is seeking volunteers with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) experience, as there is bipartisan interest in Congress on expanding ESOPs. The RPC is seeking actuaries to discuss whether there is opportunity for the Academy to assist in this area. If interested, please email Retirement Policy Project Manager Janae Nelson at Nelson@actuary.org.

Resource Center—Visit the online Resource Center to stay on top of the latest Academy news and activity.

EVENT CALENDAR

Oct. 16	How are U.S. Households Saving and Spending in Retirement? Observations and a Discussion on Preparedness and Decumulation (cross-practice webinar)
Oct. 29	Committee on Cyber Risk 2025 (casualty webinar)
Nov. 17–20	Life and Health Qualifications Seminar; Arlington, Va. (sold out)
Nov. 20–21	Academy Leadership Summit & Governance Transition; Washington, D.C.
Dec. 8–9	Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions; Salt Lake City (early discounts end Oct. 15)

Visit the Event Calendar for a complete listing of Academy events.

Coming This Month—Casualty Quarterly

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the Fall Casualty Quarterly will take a deep dive into the Committee on Cyber Risk’s efforts and updates to its work in this area, Including the Cyber Risk Toolkit.