Agenda

Day 2: Monday, October 26

• Session 4: Smaller Insurance Company Section Hot Breakfast
• Session 5: Actuary of the Future Section Hot Breakfast
• Session 6: Investment Section Hot Breakfast
• Session 7: Marketing & Distribution Section Hot Breakfast
• Session 9: Opening General Session
• Session 11: Working Longer in Retirement – Is it an Option? (Phased Retirement and Labor-Force Issues)
• Session 12: Knowing your Customer - Understanding the Generational Issues Behind Your Customer Base
• Session 13: The Effects of Economic Factors on Medical Claim Cost Trends – Short and Long Term
• Session 14: Product Development in the Current Economic Environment
• Session 15: GAAP Update and Implications of Financial Meltdown
• Session 16: Stochastic Modeling – IAA Monograph on Stochastic Processes and Modeling in Financial Reporting and Capital Assessment
• Session 17: Why We Need to Transform Our View of Risk
• Session 18: Skills Needed to Survive the Recession
• Session 19: LTCI Combination Products
• Session 20: ERM: Practical Issues at Smaller Insurers
• Session 21: The Recent Mortgage Crisis with an Emphasis on Mortgage Guarantee Insurance
• Session 22: Longevity Research around the World
• Session 24: Academy Luncheon
• Session 26: Late-Breaking Developments for Pension Plans
• Session 27: Impact of the Financial Crisis on Pensions and Investments
• Session 28: Public Programs for Medical Risk Adjustment in the United States
• Session 29: Why Great Leaders Don't Take "Yes" For an Answer - The Need For Constructive Conflict
• Session 30: Hot Topics in the Principle-Based Approach to Reserves and Capital
• Session 31: Diabetes: You and Your Business
• Session 32: LTCI Rate Stabilization - Is It Working and What Have We Learned?
• Session 33: Actuaries in Public Policy
• Session 34: Actuarial and IT Departments: Making the Marriage Work
• Session 35: Health Care Reform 2009
• Session 36: ERM Best Practices - A Case Study of Case Studies
• Session 37: Laboratory Mortality Studies
• Session 39: Marketing & Distribution Section Wine and Cheese Reception

Session 4: Smaller Insurance Company Section Hot Breakfast

Network and enjoy breakfast in a casual atmosphere. Section Leaders will provide a brief update on section activities which have included traditional events such as the Chief Actuaries Forum at the Valuation Actuary Symposium, content for SOA Spring and Annual Meetings, and new actions – ongoing communications with membership on legislation and issues affecting smaller insurance companies. You’ll have an opportunity to raise issues in which the section should become involved during the next year.

This breakfast is open to all meeting attendees. There is a nonrefundable fee of $10 for Smaller Insurance Company Section members and $20 for all others. If you are interested in attending, please stop by the SOA registration desk to check availability. Refunds will not be given.

Back to Top

Session 5: Actuary of the Future Section Hot Breakfast

Enjoy breakfast with Actuary of the Future council members in a round table setting. Section leaders will update attendees on the section’s key initiatives while seeking feedback on potential future efforts. Activities in 2009 have included developing research on serving the middle market and exploring career issues for actuaries in health and midcareer actuaries. A representative from the Younger Actuarial Network will also be on hand to discuss their specific initiatives. This event allows for the ability to network and discuss topics that are relevant to our industry and profession.

This breakfast is open to all meeting attendees. There is a nonrefundable fee of $10 for Actuary of the Future Section members and $20 for all others. If you are interested in attending, please stop by the SOA registration desk to check availability. Refunds will not be given.

Back to Top

Session 6: Investment Section Hot Breakfast: Enterprise Risk Management in the New Age of Uncertainty

Join fellow investment actuaries and others interested in the investment profession for a hot breakfast and a great networking opportunity. Don’t miss this opportunity to informally discuss developments in the investment world and to gain insight into current events in the investment profession.

This breakfast is open to all meeting attendees. There is a nonrefundable fee of $20 for Investment Section members and $30 for all others. If you are interested in attending, please stop by the SOA registration desk to check availability. Refunds will not be given.

Back to Top

Session 7: Marketing & Distribution Section Hot Breakfast

Join us for breakfast. You will have the opportunity to network and enjoy a brief presentation. We are pleased to feature Marylin Moats Kennedy who will be speaking on generational issues that affect your customer base.

Kennedy currently writes for The Physician Executive and is quoted regularly in national publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Fortune magazine and Fast Company magazine. In addition, she has written six books and has appeared on "20/20" and "Good Morning America."

This breakfast is open to Marketing & Distribution Section members only. There is a nonrefundable fee of $20. If you are interested in attending, please stop by the SOA registration desk to check availability. Refunds will not be given.

Back to Top

Session 9: Opening General Session

Time: 8:30 – 10:00 a.m.

Cecil Bykerk
SOA President

SOA President Cecil Bykerk, FSA, MAAA, FCA, gives his presidential address including a review of the SOA’s achievements in the past year, a look at the new directions our organization has taken and a tip of the hat to the people who made things happen.

 

Greg Heidrich
SOA Executive Director

SOA Executive Director Greg Heidrich will give an operational overview of the Society of Actuaries.

In addition, the Actuarial Foundation will provide an update on foundation activities to all conference registrants.

 

 

Keynote Speaker: Tom Daschle

We're very excited to have General Session Keynote Speaker Senator Tom Daschle, who has an extensive career in public service, working with Democrats and Republicans to make a difference in the lives of Americans. Daschle is an advisor to the law firm of Alston and Bird, where he provides strategic advice on public policy issues such as climate change, energy, trade and financial services. From health care reform to addressing poverty relief in the developing world, Daschle has been an influential voice in American politics. He helped co-create the Bipartisan Policy Center and he is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Daschle wrote Like No Other Time and Critical: What We Can Do About the Healthcare Crisis.

Back to top

Session 11: Working Longer in Retirement – Is it an Option? (Phased Retirement and Labor-Force Issues)

This session will discuss labor issues involved with working longer. The panelists will discuss phased retirement and whether public policy should support phased retirement.

Is phased retirement an important tool for the employee in planning for retirement? Does it satisfy the needs of the retiree in both providing additional income and meaningful employment? Do employers view phased retirement as a solution to labor issues? Should public policy promote phased retirement? This session will present differing view points on the importance of phased retirement to both the employee and the employer and the need for public policy supporting it.

Back to Top

Session 12: Knowing your Customer - Understanding the Generational Issues Behind Your Customer Base

Regardless of what line of business we are in, it is imperative that we know our customers to be successful. Each generation has distinguishable characteristics such as:

• concerns/needs,
• opinions about price/value/money,
• communication preferences,
• technical knowledge and
• investment philosophies.

Understanding these differences helps every actuary to reach out to your customers, identify their needs and provide innovative solutions.

Back to Top

Session 13: The Effects of Economic Factors on Medical Claim Cost Trends – Short and Long Term

The objective of this session is to discuss the effects of economic variables on medical claim cost trends. Both short-term effects, in light of the current environment, and long-term effects will be addressed.

Inflation and economic growth and other economic variables have been shown to have effects on medical claim cost trends. These issues will be discussed in light of the current economic environment. In addition, the long-term relationships between general economic trends and medical trends will be addressed. These also reflect important relationships used in the SOA Long-Term Health Insurance Trend Model used by many for FASB and GASB valuations. The objective is for the attendees to get a better understanding of these issues so that they can apply this information in a practical way in their every day work.

Back to Top

Session 14: Product Development in the Current Economic Environment

The economic environment has altered pricing and product development of life and annuity products in the past year. What has changed for the pricing actuary and what should the pricing actuary consider in pricing products in 2009 and beyond?

The current economic environment has changed several aspects of product development, including:

1. the increased demand for product guarantees and the cost of providing them on life and annuity products,
2. the availability and price of surplus relief and
3. the level of the interest rate assumption in pricing.

These items (and others) have an impact on the pricing of secondary guarantee UL products, term products and variable universal life and variable annuities. The pricing of products involves changes in the risk to insurers. In this session, experts will discuss the impact on pricing of these trends and provide the product development actuary with information to consider in the pricing of new products. The session will include discussion of Statutory and GAAP earnings implications and effect on policy and contract cash values.

Back to Top

Session 15: GAAP Update and Implications of Financial Meltdown

This session will discuss new developments in GAAP financial reporting and implications they may have on actuaries. Particular focus will be directed to the implications of the financial meltdown. How did companies and their auditors deal with issues caused by the meltdown? Are there still issues to be resolved? What effect did it have on the reporting processes and what implications does that have for the future?

Back to Top

Session 16: Stochastic Modeling – IAA Monograph on Stochastic Processes and Modeling in Financial Reporting and Capital Assessment

Attendees of this session will be treated to an overview of the recently published IAA Monograph on Stochastic Modeling and uses of stochastic modeling for assets and liabilities. In particular, the speakers will discuss

• overview of the Monograph,
• why it was developed,
• expected usage of the Monograph,
• case studies contained in the Monograph,
• stochastic mortality modeling,
• stochastic policyholder behavior modeling,
• pricing and valuation of variable annuities using stochastic modeling and
• practical issues in stochastic forecasting.

Back to Top

Session 17: Why We Need to Transform Our View of Risk

The financial crisis has taught us that we need to rethink how we view and manage risk. MIT Professor Andrew Lo will discuss the changes we need to make and answer questions from the audience.

As the shockwaves of the financial crisis of 2008 spread throughout the global economy, the "blame game" began in earnest, with some fingers pointing to the complexity of certain financial securities and the mathematical models used to manage them. In this talk, the presenter will review the evidence for and against this view and argue that a broader perspective will show a much different picture.

Blaming quantitative analysis for the financial crisis is akin to blaming arithmetic for accounting fraud. A more productive line of inquiry is to look deeper into the underlying causes of financial crisis, which ultimately leads to the conclusion that bubbles, crashes and market dislocation are unavoidable consequences of hardwired human behavior coupled with free enterprise and modern capitalism. However, even though crises cannot be legislated away, there are many ways to reduce their disruptive effects. Professor Andrew Lo of MIT will conclude with a set of proposals for regulatory reform, including new measures of systemic risk, the creation of a new field of "risk accounting" and changes in corporate governance to separate risk management from business development.

Back to Top

Session 18: Skills Needed to Survive the Recession

The skills required during a recession differ from those necessary when it’s business as usual. No matter where you are on the corporate ladder, appreciating this difference is essential to surviving in the current economy. This session will help you:

• identify the key skills needed in the current environment,
• strengthen your value within your firm and the industry,
• understand how the skill shift affects senior management behavior,
• recognize opportunities to advance your corporate initiatives and
• prepare for a job search, should you find yourself in such a position.

Back to Top

Session 19: LTCI Combination Products

This session will address recent developments involving LTCI and life/annuity combination products.

There has been a flurry of activity and growing interest involving LTCI and life/annuity combo products. How will regulatory and competitive pressures affect these products in the coming years? Will sales grow and cannibalize stand-alone LTCI business? Will sales be neutralized? Perhaps there is room for both product types in the next generation of LTCI. In this session, you will learn of recent developments and what's on the horizon for the combo market.

Back to Top

Session 20: ERM: Practical Issues at Smaller Insurers

How is enterprise risk management progressing at smaller insurance companies? Sit down with fellow small company actuaries to discuss ideas, pitfalls and triumphs.

You and other attendees will share your experiences on how companies prioritize ERM efforts in a challenging environment. How can you change the risk culture and develop the risk appetite? What skill set should a team seek out to successfully implement ERM? After this session, you will better understand how your peers have addressed these issues and brainstorm ideas about how to improve the process.

Back to Top

Session 21: The Recent Mortgage Crisis with an Emphasis on Mortgage Guarantee Insurance

In recent years, the aggregate amount of home mortgage debt owed by individual consumers has exceeded $10 trillion. Many of these consumers bought homes under financing schemes that they did not fully understand, agreeing to make future mortgage payments that were well beyond their financial capabilities. As a consequence, many homebuyers ended up defaulting on their mortgage debt and then being subjected to foreclosure. These foreclosures resulted in severe losses for the originating lenders, for those writing private mortgage-backed securities, for the government-sponsored enterprises and for private-mortgage insurance companies.

How did we get to this point? This talk will trace the historical development of all of the participants in this process. It will describe the underlying regulatory environment and why this failed to prevent this financial debacle.

Those attending this talk should have a better understanding of how we got into this crisis and how we can avoid repeating this mistake in the future.

Back to Top

Session 22: Longevity Research around the World

This session will cover longevity research going on around the world. The information presented at this session should be of interest to any actuary who deals with mortality and longevity.

As life expectancies increase, the actuary is challenged with making projections on the longevity of individuals. Will the increases continue, accelerate or decrease? Life insureds, annuitants, pensioners and the general population may have different life expectancies today. Will these converge or diverge in the future? In this session, speakers will present the latest research and views from around the world on longevity.

Back to Top

Session 26: Late-Breaking Developments for Pension Plans

This session will provide an update on recent developments impacting defined benefit pension plans, such as regulatory guidance under PPA and WRERA (and any other legislation enacted by the time of the meeting), new legislative proposals and the impact of the current economic environment on plan sponsors. Experienced pension actuaries will share their perspectives on these issues and discuss how sponsors are managing their retirement programs in uncertain times.

Back to Top

Session 27: Impact of the Financial Crisis on Pensions and Investments

Institutional portfolios have been savaged by the world financial crisis. At the same time pension liabilities have soared as interest rates have declined. The speakers will discuss how we got here, what we have learned and where we need to go in the future.

Back to Top

Session 28: Public Programs for Medical Risk Adjustment in the United States

Risk assessment and risk adjustment have been used in public and private health insurance programs around the world to promote fair and efficient health care. Risk assessment quantifies differences in health status or illness burden, which may be used to characterize the relative cost differences among persons or groups, while risk adjustment represents the application of these quantitative differences in risk. This is different from predictive modeling, which further increases predictive accuracy by including data sources related to prior costs, utilization, procedure info or other data sources. Risk assessment is meant to quantify difference in what ails a person, as opposed in differences in treatment patterns and provider practice.

This session will cover applications of risk assessment in public programs or other initiatives in the United States. Specifically, presentations will cover Medicare and Medicaid risk adjustment, applications in state health care reform and provider reimbursement such as risk-adjusted capitation for medical homes.

In this session, you will develop a deeper understanding of risk assessment programs, methodological concerns and issues in implementation of risk assessment initiatives.

Back to Top

Session 29: Why Great Leaders Don't Take "Yes" For an Answer - The Need For Constructive Conflict

Leaders hear 'yes' far too often. They don't hear bad news until it's too late. It's an enormous problem for leaders, teams and the entire organization. But it is not inevitable. In this workshop, Michael Roberto, professor of management at Bryant University shows you how to stimulate dissent and debate to improve your decision making; he also shows how to keep that conflict constructive. Leaders need to cultivate debate and simultaneously build consensus. Through fascinating examples from history like the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis and tragedy on Mount Everest, the workshop will explore the myths of executive decision making and ways to make your decision making process more effective.

Back to Top

Session 30: Hot Topics in the Principle-Based Approach to Reserves and Capital

Join experts for an in-depth discussion of the latest developments in the move towards a principle-based approach to reserves and capital. With the adoption of AG43, PBR is no longer a distant goal, it’s becoming reality. How up to speed are you on the latest requirements and status of other initiatives related to PBA? Topics covered in this session will include:

• updates on the status of development, adoption and implementation of various components of PBA, including life reserves, AG43, and C-3 Phase 3,
• discussion of the key sticking points, such as tax issues, treatment of hedging and reinsurance, policyholder behavior,
• practical implementation issues companies are likely to face and forward-thinking potential solutions and
• ratings agency's and regulators' perspectives.

You will gain valuable insights into the challenges PBA may introduce and will leave prepared to help your company stay ahead of the game.

Back to Top

Session 31: Diabetes: You and Your Business

More than 23 million Americans are already afflicted with diabetes and 57 million more are at risk for developing the disease. The disease takes a toll on individuals and businesses. We will describe the disease, its ramifications and accepted treatments. We'll also present information on today's underwriting of diabetics and explore what research is underway to find a cure. Lastly, we'll present some material on what a cure would mean for your business.

Mortality and morbidity are at the core of our business. This is the first of a series of annual presentations sponsored by the Reinsurance Section on diseases and their impact on all of us as individuals and on our businesses. Come and learn about timely information which will help you, a family member or a close friend.

Back to Top

Session 32: LTCI Rate Stabilization - Is It Working and What Have We Learned?

As older blocks of business (not subect to rate stabilization) continue to age and miss original (and even revised) pricing targets, rate increases on these blocks have become a necessary evil and a real challenge for carriers, regulators and consumers alike. Although not currently required, can these blocks (and should they) be managed under the umbrella of rate stabilization? What factors might be considered to help stabilize rates on these older blocks? What lessons have been learned through the application of rate stabilization on newer business? What other rate increase issues are carriers facing today? You will have the opportunity to share your experiences in this area.

Back to Top

Session 33: Actuaries in Public Policy

To celebrate 20 years of Contingencies magazine, the senior fellows of the American Academy of Actuaries, who author a rotating column featured in the magazine, will discuss their experiences as actuaries working in public policy, as well as public policy developments in their fields of expertise.

The session will feature:

• Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello on health care policy and Medicare,
• Senior Pension Fellow Frank Todisco on pension and retirement security issues and
• Senior Life Fellow Nancy Bennett on life actuarial issues and risk management.

The panel will include anecdotes from their experiences in public policy—trips to Capitol Hill, working with state regulators, testifying before legislative bodies—to illustrate an actuary’s experience working in public policy. You will be invited to participate in a question and answer session following the panelists’ presentations. As a learning objective, the session will offer the latest public policy developments affecting various areas of actuarial practice.

Back to Top

Session 34: Actuarial and IT Departments: Making the Marriage Work

Are there barriers between the actuarial and IT cultures that keep you from collaborating on technology issues? In this session, you will see recent survey results that reveal the current state of the relationship between actuarial and IT departments.

In partnership with the Technology Section, Gartner, Inc., an IT research advisory firm, undertook a study to understand the business technology priorities of actuaries and better understand the relationship between actuarial and IT departments. This is the second year of the survey, which produced very interesting results last year. The findings from this survey have been correlated to existing Gartner research to reveal a more complete picture of the cultural and organizational challenges that both IT staff and actuaries encounter when rolling out new technology.In this session, you will learn how these new findings illuminate what steps can be taken to improve your relationship with IT staff.

Back to Top

Session 35: Health Care Reform 2009

President Obama has made health care reform a priority for 2009. The changes will bring challenges and opportunities for various stakeholders. In this session, experts will review the implemented and proposed health care reforms that address the issues of access, quality and cost. The session will cover the impacts of these reforms on various stakeholders such as providers and insurers and will discuss how the stakeholders can make the best of the new and changing environment.

Back to Top

Session 36: ERM Best Practices - A Case Study of Case Studies

One of the research projects under the prevue of the joint risk management section is focused on researching best practices in ERM which, if implemented properly, could have prevented some of the high-profiled corporate failures of the past decade. In this session, experts will discuss WorldCOM, EnRon and others, with ample opportunities for a Socratic dialogue between you and the panelists.

Back to Top

Session 37: Laboratory Mortality Studies

Laboratory mortality studies are unique from traditional and clinical mortality studies. This session will feature some of the latest laboratory mortality study results.

Traditional and clinical mortality studies have been done for years. During the last several years, the laboratories have begun to do their own mortality studies, combining the laboratory data from the underwriting process with death records from the Social Security Administration. The results of these studies are generally very credible as the laboratories collect data from most insurance companies. These results can be used to help refine your underwriting parameters and possibly influence your mortality assumptions.

Back to Top

Session 38: Basic and Continuing Education Update

Hear the latest developments in the SOA Basic and Continuing Education programs with a chance to ask questions.

While the major changes of the 2005-2007 basic education redesign have been implemented, there have been a few alterations to the pathways to our designations. Currently, a major project is underway to present a seamless transition from basic to continuing education. At this session you will learn the specifics of what has been implemented and what is planned for the future. There will be ample time for questions.

Back to Top

Session 39: Marketing & Distribution Section Wine and Cheese Reception

Please join us for networking opportunities with fellow Marketing & Distribution Section members.

This reception is open to Marketing & Distribution Section members only. There is a nonrefundable fee of $25. If you are interested in attending, please stop by the SOA registration desk to check availability. Refunds will not be given.

Back to Top