Actuaries Versus the Insurance Cycle - An Executive View
Insurance prices rise and fall much like ocean tides ebb and flow. While it is impossible to alter the tides or the insurance cycle, there are strategies that companies can employ to maximize profits throughout the cycle. There is a natural tendency to establish prices that are in line with market rates. After all, it is safer to stick with the herd than to risk the criticism that can come from being different. How do we keep underwriters and actuaries honest during market peaks and troughs? What is the actuary's role in helping the company manage through the cycle?

Should we simply write less of the same type of business during the soft phase? Should we pursue different lines or classes of business? As a reinsurer, should we change our mix of proportional and excess of loss business? How can we best position the company during a soft market to take full advantage of the next hard market? This session will explore some of the strategies that companies can employ to manage the insurance cycle and will focus on the actuary's role in developing and implementing these strategies.

Moderators:
Barry Zurbuchen, Senior Vice President and Chief Pricing Actuary, Allied World Assurance Company

Panelists:
John Doucette, President, P & C Reinsurance Division, Max Re
Brian Duperreault, Chairman, ACE Limited
Marc Grandisson, President & Chief Executive Officer, Arch Reinsurance, Ltd.

Federal Reform and Issues
With the recent activity in asbestos, medical malpractice, and the U.S. litigation environment as a whole, there has been much activity over the past few years in the halls of Congress and from the President about the need for federal reform. The past elections have further escalated the discussions. This session will focus on some of the more recent activity in Washington concerning the major issues and possible federal solutions. Our panelists will include the president of the Reinsurance Trade Group, a general counsel of a major insurer, a congressional staffer involved in writing legislation, and an actuary involved in the discussions concerning asbestos reform.

Moderator/Panelist:
Michael Angelina, Principal, Towers Perrin

Panelists:
Frank Nutter, President, Reinsurance Association of America
Robert Cusomano, General Counsel, ACE
TBD