Highlights of the 2017 Living to 100 Symposium

Thomas Edwalds, FSA, ACAS, MAAA
Patricia Pruitt, FSA, MAAA

In January, the Society of Actuaries sponsored the sixth triennial international research symposium on living to 100, featuring speakers, presentations of papers, and panel discussions on a variety of topics such as mortality projection methods and trends, theories on aging, coping with the problems of old age, the implications of aging populations, mortality and longevity research, and social security and retirement issues. This session will give an overview of the valuable information presented at the symposium.

Tom Edwalds is a Clinical Professor of Finance at DePaul University and the Executive Director of the Fred Arditti Center for Risk Management at DePaul. He came to DePaul in 2014 with 36 years of diverse and substantive experience in the insurance industry. He previously held the position of Assistant Vice President for Biometric Research for Munich Re. Prior to joining Munich Re in 2001, Tom spent seven years as the Senior Research Actuary for the Society of Actuaries. Previous positions include Actuarial Valuation Manager for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois and Actuarial Software Developer for PolySystems. He began his career at CNA where he gained experience with Commercial Liability, Workers Comp, and Private Passenger Auto insurance. He is a recognized leader in the actuarial profession, currently serving on Society of Actuaries committees including the Committee on Life Insurance Research, the Committee on Living to 100 Research Symposia, the 2015 Valuation Basic Table Development Team, the Reinsurance Section Research Team, the Education and Research Section Council, the Research Communications Oversight Group, and the Committee on Knowledge Extension Research. He is also the president of the Chicago Actuarial Association. He was recognized for a decade of leadership in Society of Actuaries research initiatives with an Outstanding Volunteer Award in 2011. Tom’s research interests and expertise include mortality risk, longevity risk, and extreme event risk. He holds both B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Pat Pruitt is an actuary at the Railroad Retirement Board, working on long-term actuarial projections of the financial condition of the railroad retirement system. Pat began her career at CNA as a health actuary, where she gained experience in the pricing, product development, and valuation of a variety of health products, both individual and group. She was a volunteer on the Education and Examination Committee of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) for many years and is a member of the SOA’s Retirement Plans Experience Committee. She is also Vice President – Education of the Chicago Actuarial Association. Pat earned her B.S. in Mathematics at Loyola University of Chicago.

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