New Fellows Try Out DFA Modeling Workshop

CAS Vice President-Admissions Thomas G. Myers issued a special invitation to Fellows earning their designations in May 2005 to attend a trial workshop on DFA Modeling, held May 12-14, immediately preceding the CAS Spring Meeting at Pointe South Mountain Resort in Phoenix, Arizona.

The CAS Board of Directors approved the development of the DFA modeling workshop to serve as a potential admissions requirement to Fellowship and to meet various continuing education needs. The workshop's goal is to educate candidates and members to become proficient users of DFA Models (rather than proficient builders of DFA models). General Re Capital Consultants developed the workshop and model. Prior to the workshop, the participants were required to read about a dozen DFA-related readings. During the workshop, the new Fellows heard a series of lectures introducing DFA-related concepts and performed hands-on activities emphasizing the use and interpretation of a simplified DFA model. Participants were required to bring a laptop computer to run a model for some mini case studies. After running the model, they answered a series of questions about various statistics derived from the model and interpretation of these statistics in a business environment.

Once the workshop is finalized, future participants will have to pass a test on the pre-workshop readings before registering for the workshop. Although not necessary for this trial run, future participants will be required to complete an independent case study project on a take home basis that would be due within one month of taking the workshop.

Pictured in the front row, from left to right, are workshop instructor Joan Lamm-Tennant and new CAS Fellows Summer Sipes, John Maher, Malgorzala Timberg, Ellen Fitzsimmons, and Quan Shen. Pictured in the second row, left to right, workshop instructors Abbe Bensimon and Glenn Meyers, and new CAS Fellows William Fogarty, Brian Donlan, Keith Curley, Robert Rowe, Liana St-Laurent, and Brandon Kubitz.