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From the President

The Three-Legged Stool

by Gail M. Ross

Over the past year of my presidency, I've had the pleasure of welcoming our new members into the CAS as they attend their first meeting. During the welcoming reception, I've described our organization as analogous to a three-legged stool—if any one of our legs were to loosen or come off, the CAS would wobble or collapse. I see the three legs of the CAS stool as

In prior "From the President" columns, I've written with pride about our volunteer spirit and I've praised the hard work of our officers as we've dealt with challenging strategic issues facing the casualty actuary. Now, in my last column as president of the CAS, I'd like to provide you with a "behind the scenes tour" and some little known facts and figures about our staff (I'll even throw in a little trivia quiz at the end of this article).

The CAS staff is under the leadership of our executive director, Cynthia Ziegler, who joined us at the end of 2001 when Tim Tinsley (the first executive director of the CAS) retired. Cynthia came to us with outstanding insurance, association, and business credentials—she had previously been a senior vice president at the CPCU Society and holds the CPCU, ARM, AAI, CPIW, and CAE designations along with an MBA. Like most of our staff, Cynthia is an active liaison and advisor to our board, Executive Council, Long Range Planning Committee, and all International Committees. She has brought some new and creative thinking to the CAS and has been an invaluable resource and friend to me over the past year. By the way, Cynthia was the purchaser of my now famous yellow step stool (painted with butterflies and flowers) that I'm going to bequeath to the CAS for future vertically challenged speakers.

Reporting to Cynthia are our five managers:

Todd oversees our $5.1 million budget and works with our Finance, Investments, and Audit Committees as well as our outside auditors. In addition to his financial duties, Todd is also the primary staff member responsible for providing administrative support to the committees supporting membership. These responsibilities include supporting the Regional Affiliates Committee, the Committee on Volunteer Resources, the New Fellows Committee, and the Membership Survey Task Force. Four staff members report to Todd. Sybil Petrey is membership coordinator. Sybil maintains the membership database, including committee rosters, dues processing, and meeting and seminar registrations. Josh Liller, our technical specialist, manages our computer network, internal information systems, and serves as the help desk for CAS staff. Randy Schlosser assists Todd as the accounting and operations assistant. Randy is responsible for bookkeeping work as well as managing office services. Joseph Dubose is the operations assistant-office services and is responsible for supporting all CAS staff handling the day-to-day functions of the copy/mailroom.

Mike Boa has a wealth of information regarding CAS activities over the years. In addition to taking minutes at all of our Executive Council meetings and attending every board meeting (along with Todd), Mike is staff liaison to our marketing and communications committees. He also oversees our online services staff led by Tiffany Kirk, our fantastic Web site developer, and Jen DeMarr, our new Web site assistant. Finally, Mike works with all of our research committees and working parties. He recently hired Erin Clougherty, who has already proven to be a valuable addition to the CAS staff as the information specialist supporting both the research and admissions committees.

Tom Downey is liaison to our Education Policy, Syllabus, Examination, and Candidate Liaison Committees, as well as task forces on educational issues. Together with Bob Craver, who coordinates proctors and exam centers, and Patsy Roberts, who handles exam registrations and requests for study materials, they process approximately 2,500 applications for examinations annually and disseminate and collect exams to and from 120 different examination centers per sitting (including 15 outside of the U.S. and Canada).

Kathleen Dean oversees the logistical planning for all of our meetings. Kathleen, along with Kathy Spicer, our longest-tenured CAS employee of nearly 16 years, and Carrie Leathe, our newest CAS employee of four months, work to ensure that our meetings come together flawlessly. At any given time, our meeting planners have 30 hotel contracts in place or under negotiation and they are currently booking CAS sites for meetings that will be held in the years 2004-08.

Elizabeth Smith is responsible for all aspects of producing this very publication as well as coordinating the production of the Proceedings, Yearbook, and Forums. The other half of the publications team is Megan Meringolo, our desktop publisher. Megan designs and produces our enticing meeting brochures and onsite programs and is currently redesigning Future Fellows. This team produces up to 25 publications and brochures annually.

And last, but certainly not least, are Jane Brooke and Sue Grossi. Jane, who is Cynthia's executive secretary, has always been a fantastic "go-to" person for me over the past year. Sue, "the voice of the CAS," is our long-time receptionist. Hers is the pleasant voice that greets you when you call the CAS Office.

So now for a little trivia quiz. See how many you get correct.

  1. How many total years of association experience does our staff represent?
    a. 52
    b. 75
    c. 103
    d. 148

  2. Approximately how many Web pages are viewed in an average week on the CAS Web Site?
    a. 77,000
    b. 112,000
    c. 125,000
    d. 146,000

  3. What percentage of our membership receives their publications electronically?
    a. 10%
    b. 20%
    c. 30%
    d. over 40%

  4. How many countries outside of North America hosted CAS Examination sites in spring 2003?
    a. 12
    b. 9
    c. 27
    d. 18

  5. How many sets of twins have been born to CAS employees over the years?
    a. None
    b. One
    c. Two
    d. Three

So there you have it. I hope this information has given you a better understanding about the people who keep the CAS operating day-to-day. As we volunteers dream up new ideas for the CAS, this efficient group of 20 staff members (two of whom are part-time) makes it all happen.

I wish to offer my personal thanks to the entire CAS staff for helping to make my year as president a wonderful experience. The next time you're at a CAS event, please stop by the CAS registration desk and extend your thanks to the staff for their constant hard work and dedication to our organization.

Answers: All d. (By the way, Mike Boa and Kathleen Dean each had twins within the last two years and former staff editor Brenda Huber had twins in 1994! Another set of twins was born to former staff editor Paula Miller, but after she left the CAS in 1997.)

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