fall 2026 Meeting
Register for the meeting here: Actuaries Club of Boston - 2026 Fall Meeting
Where:
Omni Parker House
60 School Street
Boston, MA 02108
When:
Tuesday, November 17th, 2026
1:00 - 5:30 PM ET
Agenda
12:30–1:00 PM – Registration
1:00–2:00 PM – Cancer at a Crossroads: Mortality Headwinds and Tailwinds
This session will explore emerging mortality headwinds and tailwinds, drawing on a recent multidisciplinary survey within RGA. Cancer will provide a focal point, including trends at selected cancer sites among U.S. adults under age 50 and include observations on incidence versus mortality. We’ll consider the potential headwinds from changing risk patterns and gaps in screening and access to care alongside a variety of tailwinds. The discussion will place cancer trends within the broader landscape of emerging risks and medical advances, focusing on how these developments inform the outlook for insured mortality, health status and future projections.
Sara Goldberg is Vice President & Actuary in RGA’s U.S. Individual Markets. Alongside her client and pricing responsibilities, she serves as a liaison on RGA’s mortality improvement assumptions working group, helping integrate emerging trends into mortality projections. She also contributes regular thought leadership on these topics. Her background includes global research&analytics and pricing leadership in reinsurance, and she holds a master’s degree in data science from Johns Hopkins University. Sara served two terms on the Society of Actuaries’ Board of Directors, and has also spent the last decade helping the profession incorporate climate risk into actuarial practice. She doesn’t sit down much, but when she does, it’s in Needham with her family, dog, cats, and goldfish.
2:00–3:00 PM – Life Option – Annuity Mortality Studies
Mortality has been a hot topic in the financial services industry since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this session, we will analyze recent mortality experience in the annuity industry. First, we will discuss mortality rates and expectations for deferred annuity products from 2015 through 2024. Then we will examine similar metrics during the annuity payout phase from 2020 through 2024.
Presenter BIO – TBD Kevin Tewksbury
2:00–3:00 PM – Health Option – Evolving Coding Patterns and Their Impact on Healthcare Trend
In an era where new administrative technologies and ambient AI tools are rapidly transforming the healthcare landscape, understanding their downstream impact on billing and claims data is increasingly important. This session will provide an actuarial and analytical perspective on “coding intensity”—the shifting patterns in how diagnosis and procedure codes are reported—and its measurable impact on healthcare trend data. Attendees will learn how analytical teams identify and measure changes in billing patterns using commercial trend baselines, explore how evolving documentation systems and clinical documentation improvement tools may reshape coding patterns, and consider how payers and providers can work together through structured data and clear clinical policies to support greater clarity and payment accuracy.
Nicholas Sinclair is the Senior Manager of New Business Case Analytics within the Actuarial and Analytic Solutions division at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. In this role, he leads a team of analysts responsible for developing analytic models that evaluate solutions to emerging healthcare trend drivers. Nick specializes in translating complex medical expense and claims data into actionable strategic insights. He and his team collaborate across the organization to evaluate billing patterns, measure the success of clinical programs, and support payment accuracy initiatives.
3:00–4:00 PM – YOU Are the Fulcrum of Self-Regulation!
The actuarial profession in the United States substantially self-regulates its members’ ethical and practice standards in the development and delivery of work products and actuarial opinions. Self-regulation is both a privilege and a burden shared by all credentialed actuaries and must be supported by all members of the profession. The Code of Professional Conduct (Code) is the foundation of this effort and serves as the primary tool for measuring professional responsibility and assuring the public and regulatory authorities that the actuarial profession can be depended upon to act effectively consistent with the public interest. This presentation will utilize the profession’s professionalism infrastructure to explore what it means to be a professional actuary and fulfill the profession's responsibility to the public.
Brian Jackson, J.D., is General Counsel and Director of Professionalism at the American Academy of Actuaries, a role he has held since April 2019. Previously, he served as the staff attorney advising and coordinating the work of the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) for seven years. Prior to joining the Academy staff, Brian served 22 years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Marine attorney. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and his law degree from the Washington & Lee School of Law in Lexington, Va. He is a member of the American Bar Association, and District of Columbia Bar.
4:00–5:30 PM – Networking
Prices:
$165 General Admission
$75 Retired/Unemployed/Self-Employed
Walk in registration at the event is not permitted.
Special thanks to our sponsors!
Antitrust Statement:
The Actuaries’ Club of Boston (“Club”) is committed to adhering strictly to the letter and spirit of the antitrust laws. Seminars conducted under the auspices of the Club are designed solely to provide a forum for the expression of various points of view on topics described in the programs or agendas for such meetings.
Under no circumstances shall this meeting be used as a means for competing companies or firms to reach any understanding – expressed or implied – that restricts competition or in any way impairs the ability of members to exercise independent business judgment regarding matters affecting competition.
It is the responsibility of all seminar participants to be aware of antitrust regulations, to prevent any written or verbal discussions that appear to violate these laws, and to adhere in every respect to the antitrust compliance policies of major actuarial organizations.