Narayan and Warthen Win CLRS Prize

ATLANTA, Ga.-Prakash Narayan, PhD, ACAS, and Thomas V. Warthen, III, FCAS, were awarded $1,000 for their paper entitled, "A Comparative Study of the Performance of Loss Reserving Methods Through Simulation." Stuart B. Suchoff, CAS Committee on Reserves chairperson, presented the award to Narayan and Warthen at the Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar held in Atlanta on September 29-30.

In their paper, the authors used a Monte Carlo simulation method to compare loss reserve estimation methods, including traditional methods, and regression-based methods of loss reserving.

The prize-winning paper was one of eight papers submitted to the Call Paper Program by the CAS Committee on Reserves. A review team judged the papers based on originality of ideas, clarity of presentation, contribution to the literature on loss reserving, and thoroughness of analysis.

Both Narayan and Warthen work for RLI Insurance Company in Peoria, Illinois where Narayan is an actuary and Warthen is vice president, actuarial services.

Narayan and Warthen's paper was published in the CAS Forum, Summer 1997 edition, Volume 1.