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Leaders Discuss Future CAS Directions at Annual Leadership Meeting

Philadelphia, PA-More than 40 key CAS leaders met here to discuss "Expanding Actuarial Horizons," the theme of the annual CAS Leadership Meeting. CAS President-Elect Steven G. Lehmann conducted the meeting, which featured discussions and breakout sessions on nontraditional roles for actuaries, the CAS’s international focus, and general committee management issues.

Eileen Sweeney, a self-described nontraditional actuary and president of ZC Healthcare, began a presentation on actuaries in nontraditonal roles by enumerating several nontraditional skills for casualty actuaries. These included financial analysis, asset portfolio management, and project team evaluation. Other nontraditional skills include taking risks, managing groups of people with different backgrounds and technical abilities, and making presentations for sales and marketing. Sweeney described her career path and offered advice on how to move into nontraditional areas.

Following Sweeney, Robert Wolf presented the results of a CAS survey on actuaries in nontraditional roles, which was conducted by the CAS External Communications Committee last fall. The survey identified actuaries working in nontraditional roles and the type and extent of work they perform. Wolf reported that survey results will be used to write profiles and case studies of individual members, focusing on their actuarial skills and how they are applied in nontraditional ways. These case studies will be distributed to corporate America via business media as examples of how corporations and financial institutions can use casualty actuaries and the unique skills they possess.

Along with the other meeting presentations, CAS President Mavis A. Walters briefly updated the gathering on the progress of the CAS Task Force for Review of the Disciplinary Process, and Lehmann highlighted some of the many suggestions that were implemented from the 1997 meeting (see box).

After each presentation, the meeting participants broke into five discussion groups, each facilitated by a CAS Vice President. The Vice Presidents presented the group’s findings when the entire gathering reconvened. The following are a few of the suggestions compiled from the meeting.

Actuaries in Nontraditional Roles

Some discussion groups felt that the CAS should take a leadership position in identifying promising areas of work for actuaries. Suggestions for researching nontraditional roles included:

Some groups suggested that the CAS offer continuing education presentations on new opportunities or functions, including financial models, securitization, "soft issues" (making presentations, writing, and negotiating), and business management. Others were not sure that the CAS should offer training in areas that are not uniquely actuarial, but that the CAS might arrange for appropriate courses. Also, some doubted that the CAS should devote resources to education in nontraditional areas because many members won’t need it and others will seek such education on their own.

The groups also considered reaching out to or "cross pollinating" with other organizations and professions. These "cross pollination" activities included inviting individuals in other professions to CAS meetings as speakers and/or panelists and conducting joint discussion paper programs. Other suggestions included posting other organizations’ papers on the CAS Web Site, holding joint symposia, and attending their seminars.

One final suggestion was to communicate to teachers of actuarial programs that actuaries need to learn nontraditional skills such as communications and other management skills.

International Issues

The groups determined that the CAS should be more proactive in reaching out to individual actuarial students and members of actuarial organizations in other countries. While the groups felt it was inappropriate and not cost-effective to attempt to position the CAS as the general insurance organization for other countries, they did recommend that the CAS position itself as a resource. Some of the suggestions included:

Suggestions for raising the visibility of the CAS in the world actuarial community included placing CAS speakers on programs for large international meetings, endorsing the concept of an affiliate membership for international actuaries, and focusing on increased participation in international actuarial organizations such as Actuarial Studies in Non-Life Insurance (ASTIN) and Actuarial Approach for Financial Risks (AFIR).

Ideas for creating an international presence included promoting international attendance at CAS seminars and meetings, holding joint seminars outside North America, and encouraging CAS members in the U.S. to participate in international activities.

General Committee Management Issues

In the final discussion group, CAS leaders talked about all aspects, good and bad, of managing committees. Committee work has many rewarding aspects such as producing a good work product and interacting with other actuaries. Some of the difficulties associated with committee management include finding time to do the work and enforcing deadlines.

Some participants thought that three-year term limits should not be enforced because of the valuable contributions many long-term members make and the difficulty in recruiting new volunteers. Some suggested, however, that committee members should reapply to serve instead of being expected to continue service.

The groups decided that using more electronic services is key to improving communications within committees. Some of the ideas generated included developing more committee E-mail lists, posting the Participation Survey on the Web site, and creating additional sections on the Web site especially for committees.