Summer CPD Week 2020
Hosted jointly with the Actuaries' Club of Hartford & Springfield
When: August 17-21, 2020 11am-12pm EDT
Location: Zoom (email us for the meeting link and password)
Price: Free!
Current Schedule:
Monday - (General) The Evolution of Professional Work
Tuesday - (Retirement) Recent Developments & Challenges in the Retirement Landscape
Wednesday - (General) An Update from the President of the SOA
Thursday - (Health) Risk Scoring and Predictive Modeling
Friday - (Life, Investments) The Impact of Private Equity on Life Insurers
Schedule & Session Details
Session details will be updated as they are available.
Monday, August 17 - The Evolution of Professional Work
Amanda Hug, Chief of Staff to the CFO, MassMutual (Moderator)
John Deitelbaum, Head of MMUS Law, MassMutual
Joe DeSantis, Audit and Assurance US Insurance Leader, Deloitte
Elizabeth Dietrich, Vice President & Chief Actuary, Annuities, Prudential
Keith Mancini, AVP, Government Affairs, Empower Retirement
Session description: As the world evolves, actuaries too must evolve to stay relevant in an increasingly competitive environment. Join a panel of experts from different professions to learn how other professional organizations are adapting to changes in technology and the workforce. Moderated by Amanda Hug, this panel discussion will bring a new perspective to the risks and opportunities surrounding the future of actuarial work.
About the speakers:
Amanda Hug is chief of staff to the Chief Financial Officer at MassMutual, where she is currently helping to lead a transformation of the Finance organization. She has previously held a variety of roles at MassMutual, including product innovation for the annuity, worksite, and retirement lines of business. Amanda graduated first in her class with an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and summa cum laude with a B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Bible from Wheaton College (IL). She is active in the industry, serving as a council member for the SOA Leadership & Development section and as Vice President of the Actuaries’ Club of Boston. She is also an endorsed candidate for the SOA Board of Elections (voting runs Aug 17 – Sept 4!). Amanda is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. In her spare time, she loves adventure travel and is active in her local church.
Joe DeSantis, Audit & Assurance partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP, is the Audit & Assurance leader of our Insurance industry business in the United States. He has more than 25 years of experience serving insurance and reinsurance clients. Joe's clients have spanned the insurance sector and have included property and casualty, life public, mutual, and captive insurers; reinsurers; insurance brokers; and broker-dealers. Through his client work and leadership roles, he has gained extensive experience in the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and US statutory accounting and regulations.
Liz Dietrich is vice president and chief actuary for Prudential Annuities. In this role, Liz is responsible for actuarial pricing, experience analytics and assumptions, and actuarial strategy supporting Prudential’s individual annuities business. Liz’s prior experience spans traditional and non-traditional actuarial roles across Prudential. She currently co-leads Prudential’s Actuarial of the Future talent initiative and serves as a leader and coach in Prudential’s Black Leadership Forum. Liz graduated summa cum laude from the Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Actuarial Science and minor degrees in Mathematics and Statistics. A frequent speaker with professional and industry organizations, she is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA) and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA). In her personal time, Liz loves the outdoors and is an avid runner, hiker, and skier.
Keith Mancini is Assistant Vice President of Government Affairs for Empower Retirement. In his role, he monitors state and federal legislation and regulation that is relevant to internal and external stakeholders of Empower. He also represents the organization in advocacy groups. Keith joined the firm in 2004. He has experience with all retirement plan types and previously worked in the legal department, where he provided legal and compliance support for the development of group annuity, lifetime income and stable value investment products. Keith holds a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Juris Doctor degree from Stetson University College of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Colorado. Keith is also a board member of the Colorado Life & Health Insurance Protection Association.
Tuesday, August 18 - Recent Developments & Challenges in the Retirement Landscape
John Zomchick, Consulting Actuary, Risk & Regulatory Consulting
Ruth Schau, Senior Director, Practice Leader, Retirement Strategy, TIAA
Presentations: John Zomchick & Ruth Schau
Session description: An overview of the recent legislation effecting the retirement industry, including the SECURE Act, CARES Act, and the HEROES Act passed by the House of Representatives will be presented. In addition, the potential impact of COVID-19 and the changes in our economy on the retirement industry will be covered so you can consider the current retirement market and imagine the future retirement market.
About the speakers:
John Zomchick is a Consulting Actuary for Risk & Regulatory Consulting, LLC. In this role, he is responsible for the overall management and consulting of pension plans and post-retirement benefit plans for both private companies and public municipalities. In addition, he assists auditors in reviewing accounting measurements for pension plans and post-retirement benefit plans under US GAAP, IFRS, and GASB. John holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Ruth Schau is the Senior Director, Retirement Strategy at TIAA. Her extensive knowledge of both Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit plans are used to support her clients with a broad range of retirement projects including plan design, merger and acquisition, reluctant retiree and voluntary separation offers, and ongoing fiduciary and plan committee support and training. She holds the Chair role of the Society of Actuaries’ Retirement Section Council and is also a member of the Aging and Retirement Steering Committee. Ruth holds a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science with minors in Business and Spanish from Ball State University in Muncie, IN. She is a FSA, EA, FCA.
Wednesday, August 19 - An Update from the President of the SOA
Andrew Rallis, President, Society of Actuaries
Session description: SOA president, Andy Rallis, discusses the long-term growth strategy, diversity and inclusion, and how the SOA is adjusting to the pandemic.
About the speaker: Based in Bridgewater, N.J., Rallis is executive vice president and global chief actuary of MetLife, Inc., where he is responsible for actuarial practice throughout the company with over 1,200 actuaries operating across 46 countries. He is chair of MetLife’s captive reinsurers and co-chair of several of the company’s risk committees. He also serves as the president of the Chief Actuaries Forum, an industry group representing the largest employers of actuaries. He earned both a Bachelor of Science in Physics and in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating in 1982.
Rallis is president of the SOA. He is a long-time SOA volunteer, having served on the SOA’s Employer Council, as secretary/treasurer of the SOA during his 2015-2018 board term, and as frequent speaker at major SOA meetings, among other volunteer positions.
Thursday, August 20 - Risk Scoring and Predictive Modeling
Jason Reed, Senior Director, Advanced Analytics, Optum
Session description: While actuarial pricing focuses on the best estimate (mean) of future claims risk, it is equally important to understand the possible variation of those costs. This would enable actuaries to construct confidence intervals around our estimates, improving understanding of group and block-level risk, as well as quantifying variability of health risk estimates conditional on risk profile (i.e. 55-year old males with diabetes).
If claims followed a normal or other parametric distribution, then knowing a few statistics like the mean and the standard deviation would be enough to make important probability statements. We could say something like “our best estimate is $337, and we have a 90% confidence of next year’s PMPM being between $302 and $350.” Quantile regression allows you to make these kinds of probability statements without assuming normality. We will explain how quantile regression enables a paradigm shift in perspective on health risk by describing the entire distribution of costs.
About the speaker: Jason Reed is a health actuary and statistician at Optum, specializing in predictive modeling and data mining applications. He has over 10 years of experience applying advanced analytics to pricing, trend estimation and underwriting prediction. He has Master’s Degrees in Statistics and Applied Mathematics from Texas A&M University and currently lives in Boston.
Friday, August 21 - The Impact of Private Equity on Life Insurers
David Lipke, Head of Financial Insights, MassMutual