San Francisco Hosts CAS Annual Meeting

by John F. Gibson

The 1999 CAS Annual Meeting will be held November 14-17 at the San Francisco Marriott in San Francisco. The featured speaker is Gloria Borger, one of the most experienced and respected journalists in Washington D.C. today. Ms. Borger joined U.S. News and World Report in 1986 as a political reporter and now serves as a contributing editor, writing the magazine's highly popular On Politics column. Ms. Borger is also a CBS News analyst, appearing regularly on Face the Nation; is a regular panelist on PBS' Washington Week in Review; and is a frequent guest on other nationally televised public affairs programs. She has frequently co-hosted Equal Time on CNBC and has appeared as a political analyst and interviewer on CNN.

Four general sessions are being planned for this meeting. In "Past President's Perspective: An Actuarial Career," a panel of past CAS presidents will conduct a lively retrospective detailing how the casualty actuary's career has changed over the years, as well as offer their perspectives on the future as the profession embarks on a new century. The panel from the second general session will explore the various ways in which actuaries can help their companies take advantage of new developments in "Technology."

The remaining two general sessions will be presented concurrently. One panel will deal with the great uncertainty of "Earthquake Exposure." The other panel, "Financial Services Reform," will discuss the threats and opportunities that will emerge as a result of recent legislation lowering the barriers between banks, securities firms and insurance companies.

Some of the concurrent sessions currently planned include "ASB Complex Models," "Choice No-Fault," "Weather Hedge Products," "Protected Cell Accounting," "Path to Fellowship II," "Pacific Rim Developments," "Y2K Task Force," "Internet Exposure," "Commercial Lines Deregulation," "California Workers Compensation," "AAA Working Group on CATS," and "After Market Parts."

As usual, attendees will have the opportunity to discuss issues with the CAS Board of Directors. Attendees will also be able to participate in several sessions devoted to Proceedings paper presentations.

Several extracurricular activities are also available to meeting attendees and their guests. Guests can take a full-day tour to Napa Valley's wine country on Monday, and a half-day tour of San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday evening, buses will take the group to "The Great Entertainer," a billiards hall complete with 40 billiards tables, shuffle board, ping-pong, foosball, darts, and video arcade games. There will be DJ/Karaoke entertainment as well as two billiards instructors.

More detailed information for the Annual Meeting, including the preliminary program and registration information, will be mailed in early September.