There was no January 2010 meeting.

Event:  December 2009 Meeting
Topic:  Professionalism Potpourri
Bill Falk will be discussing a variety of current issues related to professionalism based on his experiences with the Academy, the SOA and the ABCD. Topics will include Precept 1 (how broad is it?), Precept 13 (to snitch or not to snitch), and continuing education (Academy versus SOA).  This will be an interactive session, so bring your own professionalism questions and concerns to add to the discussion.

Speaker:   William J. Falk, FSA, FCA
Bill Falk is a Principal with Towers Perrin in its Chicago Health and Welfare Practice. He is a member of the Towers Perrin Human Capital Group's actuarial leadership group.

Bill has been an active volunteer to the profession for over 20 years. He is currently serving as a member of the SOA Board of Directors, the Centers of Actuarial Excellence Evaluation Committee and the Fundamentals of Actuarial Practice Steering Committee and is an APC and FAC facilitator. He served on the ABCD from 2003 through 2008 (as chair in 2005 - 2006, and vice-chair in 2007-8). He has served the Academy as a member of the Board of Directors, the Joint Committee on the Code of Professional Conduct, the Council on Professionalism, the Health Practice Council and several task forces. Bill was a member of the CCA Board of Directors and served as CCA President in 1998-1999. He is now on the CCA Annual Meeting and Seminar committees.

Date:  Wednesday, December 9, 2009 
Schedule - 3:30 Registration  /   4:00  Speaker  /   5:00  Hors d’oeuvres reception

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601
in CAL Conference Room 1

Cost
Members:    $30 with hors d’oeuvres, $20 without hors d’oeuvres
Non Members:    $40 with hors d’oeuvres, $30 without hors d’oeuvres
Retirees/Unemployed:  $10 with hors d’oeuvres, Free without

To attend the meeting, please enter the BCBSIL building at the Randolph Street entrance, and check in with a photo ID at the security desk before proceeding down the escalator to the meeting room.  Registration will take place at the bottom of the escalator.

Event:  November 2009 Fun Event
What:  Chicago Bulls vs. Denver Nuggets!

Come out and celebrate the end of another actuarial exam season!  The Chicago Actuarial Association (CAA) has acquired tickets for a Bulls game and would love to celebrate with you that exams are over.  Hopefully it will prove true that you all can “pass” as well as Derrick Rose.

The CAA will be recognized on the scoreboard at halftime, and all attendees will receive mini posters of a Bulls player.  Admission is $10 for all exam participants: exam takers (including FAP1), supervisors, proctors, and review class instructors.  Exam takers, remember to bring your ticket of admission!  Also, modules count, as does the FAP:  Print the proof/receipt and bring same to the event.  Other exam participants must be verified by Pat Pruitt.  In addition, tickets can be purchased by non-exam-taking CAA members for $15, and by other guests for $30. 

Exam takers will also receive $10 vouchers that can be used for concessions.  Space is limited to 75 attendees.

When:  Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 7:00 p.m.

Where:  United Center, 1901 W. Madison Street, Chicago, 60612
Seats are in sections 313 and 314

Cost: Exam Participants:    $10
CAA members:    $15
Others: $30

Payment must be made in advance by using the PayPal credit card link in the confirmation message you will receive immediately after submitting your ticket order.  

When reserving, please indicate whether you are an exam participant or a member or neither.

Event:  October 2009 Meeting
Topic:  Back to the Future: The Financial Manias of 1720 
 
Financial manias (bubbles) are common occurrences. In the past ten years, we have lived through the internet and housing bubbles. The South Sea and Mississippi Bubbles were the first international financial manias. They were surprisingly similar to more recent manias. Perhaps our financial systems have not advanced as far as we would like to think over the past 300 years. Is history bunk, as Henry Ford believed? Can we learn from and avoid the mistakes of the past?

Speaker:  Rob Bresticker - President of Brigadoon Bay Asset Management, LLC

Rob has over 20 years experience in Finance, Accounting, Consulting, Operations, Engineering, and General Management with the US Navy, Arthur Young, General Mills, Motorola, US Robotics, 3Com, and others.  In 1992, he wrote the book: 'American Manufacturing and Logistics in the Year 2001'.  He is registered in Illinois as a CPA.  Rob graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Physics.  He also earned an MBA in Operations and Accounting from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business and a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering from Northwestern University.

Date:  Tuesday, October 13, 2009  

3:30 Registration
4:00 Speaker
5:00 Hors d’oeuvres reception

Location:
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601
CAL Conference Room 5

Cost:  
Members: $30 with hors d’oeuvres, $20 without hors d’oeuvres
Non Members: $40 with hors d’oeuvres, $30 without hors d’oeuvres
Retirees/Unemployed $10 with hors d’oeuvres, Free without

Event: September 2009 Meeting
Topic: The Appointed Actuary versus the Economic Crisis

The ongoing economic crisis presents serious challenges for Appointed Actuaries of life insurance companies in setting year end valuation assumptions and in asset adequacy testing. Come hear how one Appointed Actuary is dealing with these challenges.
Speaker: Don Walker, ASA, MAAA – Chief Life Actuary, Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co of MI

Don serves as the Appointed Actuary for Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company of Michigan (in Lansing, Michigan). He is a past president of the Michigan Actuarial Society, a member of the Smaller Insurance Company Section Council, and a former member of the Tax Section Council. He has contributed to Small Talk (the Smaller Insurance Company section newsletter) and spoken at Society meetings on small company issues and product tax issues.

Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
3:30 Registration
4:00 Speaker
5:00 Hors d’oeuvres reception

Location:
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601
Columbus A Conference Room

Cost: Members: $30 with hors d’oeuvres, $20 without hors d’oeuvres
Non Members: $40 with hors d’oeuvres, $30 without hors d’oeuvres
Retirees/Unemployed $10 with hors d’oeuvres, Free without Pay by check, cash, or credit card (details on our website).

To attend the meeting, please enter the BCBSIL building at the Randolph Street entrance, and check in with a photo ID at the security desk before proceeding to Columbus A.

EVENT:  June 2009 CAA, MAF and PRMIA Joint Conference on
Best Practices in Enterprise Risk Management

The Chicago Actuarial Association (CAA), the Midwest Actuarial Forum (MAF), and the Chicago Chapter of the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA) are pleased to offer this half-day conference on Best Practices in Enterprise Risk Management.

DATE:  Wednesday June 24, 2009
     11:45    Registration Table Opens
     12:30    Lunch is served
       1:00    Lunch speaker:  Bill Panning, “Blind Spots in ERM”
       2:00*  Session 1:  Peter Sun, “Update on Financial Risk Management”
       3:00*  Session 2:  David Schraub, “Navigating Insurance Risk Management”
       4:00*  Session 3:  Chief Risk Officer Forum,
           Moderated by Dan Gattis (The Jacobson Group), with
              Terri Dalenta (Aviva), Larry Moews (formerly of Allstate Corporation),
                  Tim Bischof (Conseco)
              [John Beckman (CNA) had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances]
       5:30  Bar opens for Reception (cocktails, beer, wine, soda pop)
*Approximate start time of each presentation, with 15-minute breaks between each presentation.

PLACE:  Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, 15th Floor in the LaSalle Room
(Located atop the Apparel Center, just west of the Merchandise Mart – see directions below)
350 W Mart Center Dr, Chicago 60654

COST:
$50 for members of the CAA, or of the MAF, or sustaining members of Chicago PRMIA
$75 for all others

Make your reservation online

There are no refunds for cancellations not received by the day after RSVP deadline.

We welcome and encourage non-actuaries to attend our conference because information covered is relevant to a wide range of work within the insurance and financial community.  Please share this with others who may be interested.

We would like to thank the Jacobson Group for their generous support of this conference.

Some Blind Spots in Risk Management (Bill Panning)
The current financial crisis has spawned extensive debate concerning its causes and cures.  Perhaps it should also prompt risk management professionals to consider whether there are blind spots in their ways of thinking about, measuring, and managing risk.  In his talk Bill will focus on crucial gaps in our current risk paradigms, on the blind spots that they creates and on the psychological factors that make us reluctant to recognize and correct these blind spots.

MENU
Chicken Aegean – boneless breast of chicken (stuffed with spinach, wild mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, feta cheese and fresh basil topped with a lemon béchamel sauce), rice pilaf
      OR
Vegetarian Pasta - Mediterranean Pasta with fresh baby spinach, diced Roma tomatoes, Greek olives, capers, feta cheese, red wine, artichoke hearts and fresh basil
      OR
Kosher (cRc, The Kosher Gourmet)

Both Chicken and Vegetarian choices include Chicago Mart Plaza salad, roasted vegetables, bread rolls, and Eli’s “turtle” cheesecake for dessert.

Breaks between the sessions will include hot and cold beverages (coffee, tea variety, soda pop, water), and soft baked jumbo cookies (including chocolate chunk, pecan, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, mocha latte, fudgy brownie, chocolate truffle, toffee bar, almond milk chocolate).

Event: June 2009 Event:  Post Exam Fun @ the Ballpark

Topic: Chicago White Sox vs. Oakland Athletics

Spring is here!  As any actuarial student knows, this means exams are just around the corner.  And, as soon as exams are over, it will be time to have some fun!  We are sponsoring an actuarial group outing to a baseball game at U. S. Cellular Field, home of baseball’s 2005 World Series Champions, the Chicago White Sox, as they meet the Oakland Athletics.  Comiskey Cash will be provided at the game to exam takers, supervisors, proctors, and review class instructors.  Other attendees will be responsible for their own food & drinks.

Seats this year are in the lower deck boxes near the right field foul pole.

Date: Monday, June 1, 2009  (Response deadline Monday May 18)
          Game begins at 7:11 p.m.

Location: U.S. Cellular Field (Comiskey Park)
               333 West 35th Street, Chicago, IL 60616

Tickets are only $5 for exam participants and members of the Chicago Actuarial Association.  Other guest tickets are $20. At the ballpark, exam takers will get $15 in Comiskey Cash by presenting their original ticket of admission to the exam (for FAP modules, please bring proof).  Exam supervisors, proctors, and review class instructors will also get the $15 in Comiskey Cash by presenting a photo ID if their name is on Pat Pruitt’s list of exam volunteers and instructors.  Members and others will be responsible for their own cash expenditures.
These tickets are limited, so the sooner you purchase your tickets, the better.  Tickets will be distributed before game day through the network of CAA members.
Questions? Call Pat Pruitt

EVENT: March 2009 Workshops 
 
DATE: Tuesday March 10, 2009
12:50  Registration begins
  1:45  Workshop sessions begin (see attached schedule)
  5:15  Bar opens (cocktails, beer, wine, soda pop)
  5:45  Dinner
PLACE:  Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, 14th Floor Conference Center
(Located atop the Apparel Center, just west of the Merchandise Mart – directions below)
350 W Mart Center Dr, Chicago 60654

COST:  $75 with dinner, $60 without dinner
(Reduced rate for retirees, unemployed, full time students: $45 with dinner, $30 without dinner)

Workshops cover a variety of hot topics in each of the time slots.   Make your reservation online by Wednesday, March 4, 2009.  If you have questions, please call Pat Pruitt at 312-751-3392 or Bob Aronsohn at 312-653-5677.  This information, extensive speaker biographies, and subsequent updates are posted on this website.

Use this opportunity to fulfill some of your continuing professional development requirements.  Earn more than 4 hours toward your annual AAA and SoA CPD requirements while you meet and network with other local actuaries face-to-face.

We welcome and encourage non-actuaries to attend our workshops because information covered is relevant to a wide range of work within the insurance and consulting businesses.  Please share this with others who may be interested.

If any sessions need to be canceled due to low attendance, we will contact you.

Payment can be made in advance by credit card online at
http://pay.ChicagoActuarialAssociation.org  .  Prepayment is optional, but appreciated, as it speeds up the sign-in process the day of the event.  Payment may also be made by cash, check, or credit card on the day of the event.
 
1:45 p.m. Workshop Sessions A:
 
A1 Investment Strategies for Retirement - Seismic changes all around us!!
What does the typical person entering retirement want? What are their goals, resources and plans?  How have the dramatic events of 2008 changed retirement plans?  What adjustments are high net worth and other retirees making?  How are insurance company and other financial firms' issues changing the investor choices?
- Dan Winslow, Principal, Winslow Financial
- Kirk Kreikemeier, Principal, Pebble Valley Wealth Management

A2 Changes in Medicare Supplement
The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) of 2008 provided for numerous changes to Medicare, including important changes to Medicare Supplement plans. This session will describe those changes and walk through the timeline as we get closer to the June 2010 effective date for new standardized Medigap plans.
- Pat Fleming, Vice President, Product Management (Medicare products) for Conseco (Bankers Life and Casualty Company)

A3 International Accounting - How will it affect you?
The SEC has published a roadmap to switch from FAS to IFRS.  FASB is working with the International Account Standard Board to issue a new unified insurance standard for all insurance contracts.  This workshop will bring you up to date and the current status of "what" and "when".
- Doug Van Dam, Manager, Actuarial Services, PolySystems

A4 The Health insurance marketplace
This review of the health care insurance marketplace reflects trends and challenges faced by the multiple constituents of the non-Medicare healthcare delivery system.
- Roger Schultz, Vice President - Product Development, Trustmark

A5 New Immediate Annuity table
The report on the most recent individual annuity mortality study is expected to be released about the time of the conference.  This session will present results from this study.  This is the first formal study for these products in nearly twenty years.
- Jack Luff, Experience Studies Actuary, Society of Actuaries
 
3:00 p.m. Workshop Sessions B:
 
B1 Life Insurance Tax Update
This workshop will focus mainly on life insurance company tax reserve issues with some discussion on policyholder tax issues, including the recently announced IRS revenue procedures for correction of failed contracts.  Company tax issues discussed will include recent cases and rulings, developments relating to the dividends received deductions and separate accounts, reserve issues arising in IRS audits and appeals, tax reserve implications of recent NAIC activities including the movement towards principle based reserves and VACARVM, and other emerging developments.
- Bud Friedstat, Independent Consultant
- Vincent Tsang, Executive Director, Ernst & Young LLP

B2 Why Wellness?  The Cost of Doing Nothing
Compelling reasons to engage in worksite wellness and primary prevention activities (including statistics around the incidence, cost, and preventability of chronic disease) Specific examples of programs that can be implemented in both worksite and community locations Experience with wellness and primary prevention programs of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans of Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico
- Paul B. Handel, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Health Care Service Corporation
(HCSC does business as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans of Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico)

B3 Implementing Liability Driven Investment strategies in the real world
With changes to the pension funding requirements and even more accounting changes likely to occur, pension plan sponsors are continuing to look at Liability Driven Investment (LDI) strategies to help manage the funded status volatility and/or enhance the risk/return profile of their plans. While LDI is conceptually simple, selecting from the array of different investment products, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, can be complicated.  This session will discuss many of the different investment products used to implement LDI, including pros and cons and how they have performed through the recent financial crisis.
- Eric Friedman, Principal, Financial Strategy Group, Mercer

B4 Learn the Secrets of Power Reading
Power Reading will teach you how to read all your business material in half the time.    This special free lesson will teach you:  What your present reading skill is;  Why you read the way you do;  A unique new technique that will improve your reading on the spot;  How to read as fast as you can think;  How to take tests more efficiently.
- Allan Goldin, President & CEO, Kinetic Advanced Learning

B5 Beyond the Financial Crisis: Risk IS Opportunity
The current financial crisis has raised many questions: how do we think about risk management?  What is the future role of pensions and insurance?  Will my employer (and my job) still be there tomorrow?  This session will focus on the challenges and opportunities that the financial crisis provides actuaries in the long term, and provides some thoughts on where we might be headed for insurance, annuities, pensions and health.
- Emily Kessler, Senior Fellow, Intellectual Capital, Society of Actuaries

B6 Financial reporting surprises of the financial crisis
Making Sense of Fair Value
The controversy over liability valuation and credit standing under fair value - the absurdity of enjoying a windfall on a credit downgrade – and the more recent uproar over marking to market liquidity-impaired assets have finally made clear that fair value is liquidation accounting ineptly imposed on going concerns.  Constructing a balance sheet suitable for a going concern requires two steps: 1) identifying the liquidity penalty and restoring it to the asset values, and 2) identifying the credit penalty and restoring it to the liability values.  After our exposition, the audience will be asked to provide concrete instances arising in their own practices.

DAC and Shadow DAC
The presenter will share various issues observed during the last two quarters of 2008, including the impact of the financial turmoil on DAC amortization, DAC write-off, negative DAC amortization, the practice of flooring the gross profits at zero, and shadow adjustments to DAC and other balances.

VA hedging programs and C3 Phase 2

- Mike Leung, Manager, Ernst & Young 
- Phil Heckman, President, Heckman Actuarial Consultants LTD
- Peter Sun, Milliman

4:15 p.m. Workshop Sessions C:
 
C1 Value Investing
Some of the most successful institutional investors believe that value investing is a key strategy in achieving long-term investment success. Value investing is simple to understand but difficult to practice because it requires one to swim against the current. This session will describe how value investing differs from other investment approaches along with some of its fundamental concepts, such as 'Margin of Safety', 'Mr. Market', and the distinction between volatility and risk.
- Rob Bresticker, President, Brigadoon Bay Asset Management

C2 Principle Based Reserves, An Introduction
For the last few years the NAIC has made Principle-Based Reserves (PBR) a top priority.  PBR represents a significant departure from current statutory reserve requirements. This session will cover the basic requirements of PBR as it stands today, as well as the key outstanding issues. This session is intended for people with little or no knowledge of PBR. - Don Maves, Manager, Actuarial Services, PolySystems

C3 Professionalism and the Actuary
This will be an interactive session led by a former member and past chair of the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline. The session will include a brief summary of the professionalism roles within the U.S. actuarial profession, including the AAA, ASB, ABCD, SOA, CCA, CAS, ASPPA. This will be followed by an interactive discussion of professionalism hot topics such as
    Protecting actuarial work from misuse
    To report or not to report
    Integrity and meeting attendance
    Upholding the reputation of the profession
    Issues in actuarial communication
- Bill Falk, Principal, Towers Perrin

C4 Healthcare trends
Medical and pharmacy trends are receiving more scrutiny than ever before. This presentation will describe the various considerations used in evaluating trend, examine one method of trend review, and discuss current trend observations.
- Frank Boeckmann, Actuary, Trend Analysis, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC does business as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans of Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico)

C5 Older Age Underwriting and Mortality
As people are living longer, the market for life insurance at older issue ages is growing.  Traditional underwriting techniques do not fully capture the risk involved at these ages.  This session will cover some of the underwriting considerations and mortality expectations for this market place.
- Al Klein, Vice President, Actuarial Experience Studies at American General Life Companies
- Tom Edwalds, Assistant Vice President, Mortality Research, Munich American Reassurance Company
C6 The credit crisis and ERM
Panelists in this session will discuss the causes and consequences of the financial crisis and the lessons for enterprise risk managers, policy makers and regulators. 
- Nian-Chih Yang, Independent Consultant
- Timur Gok, Northern Illinois University
 
5:15 Reception (cocktails)
 
All workshop attendees are invited to attend this reception for drinks and socializing.

5:45 Dinner
SOA Executive Director presents on Professionalism.

Dinner is optional.  The event fee is $75 with dinner, $60 without dinner 
(Retirees, unemployed, and fulltime students get a reduced rate of $45 w/dinner, $30 without dinner)

Beef & Fish Combination:  Pairing of a Petite Filet Mignon with a Port Wine Reduction
and California White Bass with a Ginger Buerre Blanc.

Vegetarian:  Mediterranean Pasta with Fresh Baby Spinach, Diced Roma Tomatoes, Greek
Olives, Capers, Feta Cheese, Red Wine, Artichoke Hearts and Fresh Basil.

Kosher:  The Kosher Gourmet, cRc

The bar remains open during dinner.
Make your dinner selection when you register online. 
 

Event:  December 2008 Meeting

Topic:  PBR and VACARVM,  NAIC Update

The NAIC is nearing completion of a new Standard Valuation Law to introduce Principle Based Reserves.  This session provides the latest update from the NAIC's December meeting.  The recently adopted version of VACARVM will also be discussed, as well as any other emerging variable annuity issues.

Come to discover the latest developments, and bring your PBR questions.

Speakers:
Don Maves, FSA, Manager, Actuarial Services - PolySystems, Inc.
Tim Gaynor, FSA, Vice President - Polysystems, Inc.

Don is Manager, Actuarial Services, with PolySystems.  He has more than 30 years of experience in pricing, financial reporting (GAAP, statutory, and tax), financial projections, and actuarial regulatory issues.  He was the Chair of the industry task force that advised the NAIC on the original XXX regulation.  Don speaks annually at the SOA/PolySystems education week and has been a speaker at SOA meetings

Tim is a Vice President at PolySystems. He has more than 15 years of experience in the insurance industry.  He spent many of these years designing and testing a valuation system for variable annuities.  Many insurers use this valuation system to calculate reserves for Guideline 33, 34, 35, 39, VACARVM and FAS 133. Tim speaks annually at the SOA/PolySystems education week and has been a speaker at SOA valuation meetings.

Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2008  
3:30 Registration  /  4:00 Speakers  /  5:00 Hors d’oeuvres reception

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, CAL Conference Room 8

Event: October 2008 Meeting

Topic: Academy Practice Note on Credibility 

Originally presented by Robert DiRico, Tom Herzog and Stuart Klugman, we will discuss credibility theory and practice as it relates to the AAA credibility practice note.  The Bayesian, Buhlmann and classical approaches are discussed, including examples and problems for each approach.

Speaker:  Philip Adams is an Actuarial Associate with Munich American Reassurance Company in Atlanta.  He earned a master's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in statistics from Tulane University in 2004 and earned his ASA in 2008.  At MARC, he principally works on the statistical modeling of mortality experience and consults on application of theory to the calculation of enterprise risk capital, including having developed Munich Re's life calamity model.


Date:  Tuesday, October 14, 2008
3:30 Registration  /  4:00 Speaker  /  5:00  Hors d’oeuvres reception

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, CAL Conference Room 3
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

Event: September 2008 Meeting

Topic: ERM - Crawling from the Subprime Wreckage 

Jay Glacy will survey the impact upon insurers of the ongoing credit storm, tracing its origins in residential housing finance to its evolving effects throughout the industry and economy.  Jay will contrast the performance of the insurance sector in responding to the crisis with other financial services providers and review important learnings and implications.  He will also provide an update on where ERM stands today in the industry, focusing on the transition to strategic risk management.

Speaker:  Jay Glacy, ASA, MAAA, CERA, CFA, is a Senior Consultant at Milliman, Inc. and leads its Chicago-based ERM practice.

Jay Glacy leads Milliman's Chicago-based ERM practice, helping client firms balance total risk exposures and optimize their deployment of risk capital.  Previously, Jay was Senior Vice President with Allstate, heading its ALM operations.  Before that, he served as Vice President and Actuary with GeneralCologne Re Capital, the investment advisory arm of Berkshire Hathaway.  Before that, Jay was Senior Manager at Ernst & Young, providing strategic capital market risk advisory services to the life insurance industry.  In addition, Jay served in various leadership capacities at Lincoln National and Citigroup.

Jay possesses the ASA, MAAA, CFA and CERA credentials.  He is a frequent contributor to industry periodicals, writing on emerging topics of interest to industry professionals, and a well-known speaker in actuarial and investing circles.  Earlier this year, Jay authored the article entitled “Asset/Liability Management for Insurers” for Investments and Wealth Monitor.

Date:  Tuesday, September 16, 2008

EVENT:  Measuring and Managing Catastrophe Risk
The 2nd Annual CAA, MAF, and PRMIA Joint Conference on ERM

The Chicago Actuarial Association (CAA), the Midwest Actuarial Forum (MAF), and the Chicago Chapter of the Professional Risk Managers International Association (PRMIA) are pleased to offer “Measuring and Managing Catastrophe Risk” as our second annual half-day conference on Enterprise Risk Management.

DATE:  Thursday June 5, 2008, Noon – 7:00 p.m.^*
   *Registration opens 11:45 a.m.
     Lunch is served 12:30 p.m.
     Last session ends, and cocktail reception starts, 5:30 p.m.

“Catastrophic Risk and Risk Capital Structure”
     Christopher Culp, Senior Advisor, Compass Lexecon,
     and Adjunct Professor of Finance, The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
The talk will review the concept of risk capital and the risk capital structure of insurance (and other) firms. Specifically, we will consider how the management of catastrophic risks and risk capital can change the entire focus of ERM processes and initiatives. We will also consider how risk-based capital regulations can both help and get in the way of a holistic capital-based perspective on risk management.
Click here to download the slides
“Modeling Natural Catastrophes – A Primer”
     Steve E. Smith, President, ReAdvisory Property Solutions (a service of Carvill)
Dr. Smith has been researching weather phenomena for 14 years including the last eight years in the reinsurance/insurance market, and now spearheads ReAdvisory’s catastrophe modelling efforts.
Click here to download the slides
“Modeling and Managing Pandemic Risk”
     Andy Wunsch, Actuary, Enterprise Risk and Return Management, Allstate Insurance Company
Mr. Wunsch has played a major role in Allstate’s ERM initiatives including implementing key risk limits and analysis of multiple-risk interactions and risk/return tradeoffs. Click here to download the slides
     Ghalid Bagus, Financial Risk Consultant, Milliman 
Mr. Bagus has developed models of both pandemic risk and terrorism risk underlying some of the major mortality cat bonds that have been placed in the market. Click here to download the slides
 
“Beyond Convergence to Integration”
     Morton Lane, President, Lane Financial LLC
A past  review and present status of the Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) market. Current trends will be described together with the most recent events affecting future direction. The market stands poised at an important junction that is likely to see its use by issuers and investors alike become both richer and deeper. Importantly, the talk will dwell on some of the resources necessary to participation in this market.
Dr. Lane, a pioneer in the move to securitize insurance with a distinguished career in financial derivatives, now specializes in the intersection of insurance and capital markets.

“Mechanisms for Transferring Catastrophe Risks”
     Paul Forrester, Partner, Mayer Brown LLP
Mr. Forrester is a lawyer and an expert in structured finance transactions, including collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), on which he has published extensively.  Click here to download the slides

PLACE:  Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, 14th Floor Conference Center
(Located atop the Apparel Center, just west of the Merchandise Mart – see the flyer below)
350 W Mart Center Dr, Chicago 60654

COST:$50 for CAA members, MAF members, and PRMIA sustaining members,  $75 for all others

TO REGISTER:
Please make your reservation by contacting Pat Pruitt at 312-751-3392 or e mail at PatPruitt60302@yahoo.com
by Monday, June 2.  Provide your name, your company name, your meal choice (chicken or vegetarian or kosher), and your membership status (if applicable).  Discounted fees are available for those who are retired, unemployed, or full-time students.

Menu: Both Chicken and Vegetarian choices include Chicago Mart Plaza salad, roasted vegetables, bread rolls, and Eli’s “turtle” cheesecake for dessert.
Chicken Aegean – boneless breast of chicken (stuffed with spinach, wild mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, feta cheese and fresh basil topped with a lemon béchamel sauce), rice pilaf
Vegetarian Pasta - Mediterranean Pasta with fresh baby spinach, diced Roma tomatoes, Greek olives, capers, feta cheese, red wine, artichoke hearts and fresh basil
Kosher (cRc, The Kosher Gourmet)

We thank the Jacobson Group for their generous support of this conference.

*On the day of the event:
     Registration opens 11:45 a.m.
     Lunch is served 12:30 p.m.
     Last session ends, and cocktail reception starts, 5:30 p.m.


We welcome and encourage non-actuaries to attend our conference because information covered is relevant to a wide range of work within the insurance and financial community.  Please share this with others who may be interested.

Event:  2007 CAA Golf Outing
Date:  Friday August 31st, 2007
Location:  Chevy Chase Golf Course, Wheeling, IL
Tee Times:  3 time slots -  12:00pm-12:30pm,  12:30pm-1:00pm, or 1:00pm-1:30pm
Fee:  $40
Coordinator:Greg Sucher, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois

The Annual Chicago Actuarial Association Golf Outing will be at Chevy Chase Golf Course in Wheeling.  The Chevy Chase Golf Course is located on Milwaukee Avenue (Route 21), north of Lake Cook Road and south of Deerfield Road.  Milwaukee Avenue is about 1 mile west of 94/294.  The subsidized price of the outing ($40) includes 18 holes of golf, cart, beverage tickets, prizes, and lunch.  Please be sure to arrive at least 30 minutes before your tee time in order to ensure that you get your box meal, your golf cart and your foursomes in place.

We will once again promote networking with fellow Chicago actuaries by requiring participants to submit their applications with at most one other person.  Golfing foursomes will be based on blind bogey and requested time slot.  The blind bogey should be a number that when subtracted from your 18-hole score gives a result between 72 and 90.  Applications should be submitted along with payment to the Chicago Actuarial Association by Thursday, August 16th, to allow time for scheduling and notification of tee times.  You may register by mail, Fax, or E-mail.  Fax and E-mail registrations require the use of a credit card.
Tee Times :   12:00pm-12:30pm,   12:30pm-1:00pm, or  1:00pm-1:30pm

Event:  June 2007 CAA, MAF and PRMIA Joint Conference
Topic:  Enterprise Risk Management, Global Risks and
   Prediction Markets
The Chicago Actuarial Association (CAA), the Midwest Actuarial Forum (MAF), and the Chicago Chapter of the Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA) will offer a half-day conference on Enterprise Risk Management, Global Risks and Prediction Markets. 

This conference will provide an overview of enterprise risk management, discussion of the global nature of risks that we are facing and the role of prediction markets as forecasting tools.

The three consecutive sessions are independent presentations, so you may attend all three or only some of the sessions.  Note that the fee is not dependent on how many of the sessions you attend.  

This meeting venue was generously sponsored by The Jacobson Group.
PD Credit:  Each of the three sessions is eligible for 1.0 unit of SOA-approved PD credit.    Watch this space for downloadable materials approved by our speakers.

Joan Lamm-Tennant, PhD, Global Chief Economist and Risk Strategist, Guy Carpenter &
   Company, LLC. CLICK HERE for the slide summary
Erwann O. Michel-Kerjan, PhD, Managing Director, The Wharton School, University of
   Pennsylvania, Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, USA
Thomas A.  Rietz, PhD, Associate Professor of Finance, University of Iowa; Hershberger
 Faculty Research Fellow; Associated Faculty Member, Vaughan Institute of Risk Management
 and Insurance   
  
Date:  Thursday June 28, 2007
1:00 Registration Opens
1:40  Introduction to ERM, by Joan Lamm-Tennant, PhD  CLICK HERE for the slide summary
2:50  Dealing with the Extra-Ordinary: Managing and Financing Global
Risks in a Growing Interdependent World, by Erwann Michel-Kerjan, PhD
4:00  Risk Quantification - Prediction Markets, their Properties and Uses in Risk
Management, by Thomas A. Rietz, PhD
5:00  Reception with hors d’oeuvres and drinks

Location:  The Union League Club, 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago

Cost:  $40 for members of the CAA or MAF, or sustaining members of PRMIA;  $60 for all others

Event:  May 2007 Social - Post Exam Fun @ the Ballpark

Topic:  White Sox Game vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Spring is here!  As any actuarial student knows, this means exams are just around the corner.  And, as soon as exams are over, it will be time to have some fun!  We are sponsoring an actuarial group outing to a baseball game at U. S. Cellular Field, home of baseball’s 2005 World Series Champions, the Chicago White Sox.  Seats will be located in the upper deck, above home plate.  Comiskey Cash will be provided at the game to exam takers, supervisors, proctors, and review class instructors.  Other attendees will be responsible for their own food & drinks. <Click here for the flyer>

Date:  Friday, May 25, 2007

Event:  May 2007 Meeting

Topic:  The Pension Protection Act and its Impact on Combination Product Design
The Pension Protection Act (PPA), which was signed into law in August, has important if not profound implications for insurers, insureds, and annuitants.  The focus of this discussion is the critical impact that the PPA has on the sale of what many refer to as combination or integrated products.  The combinations are generally Life Insurance plus a Long Term Care (LTC) feature, and Annuities plus a Long Term Care feature.  For such products the PPA builds on existing law.  The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, fondly known as HIPAA, became law in 1996 and is the key foundation for combination products.  Consequently, any discussion of the key provisions of the PPA should begin with a review of this law. 

Speaker:  Cary Lakenbach is President of Actuarial Strategies, in Bloomfield, CT.  He has over 30 years of experience in the profession.  The firm's focus is on core actuarial services and market/distribution oriented product offerings.  Specialties include combination products of all kinds, as well as term offerings for both Middle America and high end applications.  A major sub-specialty is return of premium.  Actuarial Strategies has pioneered new simplified issue processes and products in collaboration with its own staff underwriter. 

Date:  Wednesday, May 16, 2007 
3:30 Registration / 4:00  Speaker / 5:00  Hors d’oeuvres

Location:Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, CAL Auditorium B
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

EVENT:  March 2007 Workshops  

DATE:  Tuesday March 13, 2007
12:50   Registration begins
  1:50   Workshop sessions begin (see the schedule, below)
  5:10   Bar opens (cocktails, beer, wine, soda pop)
  5:35   Dinner

PLACE:  BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois
300 East Randolph Street, CAL level
Northeast corner of Randolph and Columbus Drive, Chicago, IL 60601                                      

COST: $60 with dinner, $50 without dinner

Workshops cover a variety of hot topics in each of the time slots.  

Professional Development (PD) credit has been approved for many sessions.  Please refer to the descriptions pages. 

We welcome and encourage non-actuaries to attend our workshops because information covered is relevant to a wide range of work within the insurance and consulting businesses.  Please share this with others who may be interested.

Session List - 
*PD* indicates Professional Development for 1.0 credit is approved for the session.
Updates are shown in bold red.

1:50 p.m.  Workshop Sessions
A1: How Medigap Carriers are Coping in a Changing Medicare Environment - The Medicare landscape continues to evolve rapidly. The focus of this session will be on how a traditional Medigap carrier has evolved in this environment. Topics addressed will include MMA, Part D, Medicare Advantage, and upcoming changes in Medicare Supplement.  *PD*
Patrick Fleming, FSA, MAAA, Vice President, Actuarial, Bankers Life and Casualty

A2: Current Experience Studies – The Society of Actuaries is conducting experience studies for group life mortality and individual deferred annuity persistency.  Learn about the findings in this session.   *PD*
Jack Luff, FSA, FCIA, MAAA, Experience Studies Actuary, Society of Actuaries

A3: SOX 404 and Actuarial Process - This session will provide discussion of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 (SOX 404) requirements and issues as related to actuarial processes:
•Brief history of SOX 404
•Actuarial roles & responsibilities
•Practical implementation tips
•How to get extra benefits from the process   *PD*
 Nian-Chih Yang, FSA, MAAA, Manager, Ernst & Young

A4: Learn the Secrets of Power Reading - Power Reading will teach you how to read all your business material in half the time. 
This special free lesson will teach you:
•What your present reading skill is;
•Why you read the way you do;
•A unique new technique that will improve your reading on the spot;
•How to read as fast as you can think;
•How to take tests more efficiently.
Allan Goldin, President ,Learning Technologies

A5: Pandemic Risk and the Avian Flu – Can the life insurance industry survive a severe pandemic?  This session will present the Society of Actuaries research to model the potential effect of a pandemic claims surge.  Topics covered will include background on avian flu, 20th century pandemics, SoA mortality claims surge model, and related delphi studies.   *PD*
Tom Edwalds, FSA, ACAS, MAAA, AVP – Mortality Research ,Munich American Re 
The presentation is posted at http://www.marclife.com/indexjs.htm?page=/research/healthins.htm

3:00 p.m. Workshop Sessions
B1: What’s Up with Prescription Drug Benefits Besides Trend? -
The speaker will present a broad sampling of today's issues and strategic approaches for drugs and drug benefits.   *PD*
Steve Berna, FSA, MAAA, Consulting Actuary, Trivantage Pharmacy Strategies

B2: Preliminary Results of SoA Mortality and Underwriting Surveys - This session will provide preliminary results to recent Society of Actuaries surveys on Simplified Issue, Business Decisions (from both a direct company and reinsurer perspective) and Older Age Underwriting.  Come and learn about current industry thinking and practices on these topics.  *PD*
Al Klein, FSA, MAAA, VP – Actuarial Experience Studies, AIG American General

B3: Life Insurance Tax Update - This workshop will focus mainly on life insurance company tax reserve issues with some limited discussion on policyholder tax issues.  Recent cases and rulings, reserve issues arising in audits and appeals, IRS audit issues, tax reserve implications of recent NAIC activities including the movement towards principle based reserves, and other emerging developments (including activities of various SOA, AAA and ACLI groups) will be discussed.   *PD*
Charles D. Friedstat, FSA, MAAA, Director, KPMG LLP;
Arthur V. Panighetti, FSA, MAAA, Vice President - Tax, Northwestern Mutual Life.

B4: Professional Ethics - Join your colleagues to explore some of the ethical issues actuaries may encounter at some point in their careers.  Things are not always as easy as they seem when you first read the Code of Conduct.  Using concepts and methods from the Society's professionalism courses, with some chance to share experiences, this program is designed for actuaries at all experience levels.
Linden N. Cole, FSA, MAAA, Retired, former Managing Director, Society of Actuaries
Nancy Behrens, FSA, MAAA, Vice President Life/Health, State Farm Life Insurance Co

B5: ERM Topics - “Enterprise Risk Management” is an evolving philosophy and discipline that reflects “holistic” analytical analyses and reasoning with regards to the sectors of risk (Strategic, Operational, Hazard, and Financial).  This session will discuss this evolving discipline from both a technical and operational perspective.  Some practical applications will also be presented, including:
•Various approaches to catastrophe mortality risk protection
•Discussion of the Mortality Pool approach
•A case study of the evolution and successes of an ERM program at a multi-line insurer
•Examples of analysis and reporting tools and practices.   *PD*
Carl L. Shepherd, FSA, MAAA, Senior Vice President, United Farm Family Life Ins Co
Robert F. Wolf, FCAS, MAAA, Director, Navigant Consulting, Inc
Andy Wunsch, FSA, MAAA, Associate Actuary, Allstate Insurance Company

B6: Current Financial Reporting Issues for Health Insurers - This session will discuss a variety of recently enacted and proposed financial reporting developments of interest to health insurers.   Topics will include NAIC, FASB, and IASB issues from a health-specific perspective.  *PD*
Rowen B. Bell, FSA, MAAA, Manager, Ernst & Young LLP

4:10 p.m. Workshop Sessions
C1: Medicare Advantage and Part D Strategies - After much growth in 2006, the Medicare Advantage and Part D programs have gained even more momentum in 2007. We will discuss:
•Basic structure of these programs
•Recent trends in enrollment and premiums
•Emerging products
•How organizations can improve their profit potential
•Most common operational concerns with these products
•How employer groups can benefit from these products 
•Part D issues and opportunities now presenting themselves  *PD*
Eric Goetsch, ASA, MAAA, Associate Actuary, Milliman, Inc

C2: Predictors of Exceptional Human Longevity - This presentation will discuss new developments and findings from the ongoing study of predictors of exceptional human longevity.   Topics include: the effects of maternal age at person's birth, family size, birth-order, season of birth, geography of childhood residence, and parental occupation, socioeconomic status, and lifespan.  For more information see the authors' website: http://longevity-science.org  , and post your questions and comments on their discussion blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com 
Leonid Gavrilov, PhD  and Natalia Gavrilova, PhD:
Center on Aging,, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago

C3: Principles-Based Approach to Reserves and Capital – The current status of this initiative will be discussed, including the following topics:
•Overview of the Principles-Based Approach
•Conceptual issues outstanding
•Implementation issues
•Illustrative example
•How the Principles-Based Approach changes the role of the actuary *PD*
Mary Bahna-Nolan, FSA, MAAA, VP & Chief Actuary, North American Co-Life/Health
Donald Maves, FSA, MAAA, Manager, Actuarial Services, PolySystems, Inc.
James Thompson, FSA, MAAA, Principal, Central Actuarial Associates

C4: Entrepreneurial Actuaries and the Personal Actuaries Market – Independent business owner, Actuary, and Registered Investment Advisor Daniel E. Winslow will speak on starting your own company.  What skills and relationships are needed?  How do you handle marketing, competition and legal requirements?  What does an RIA do?
Daniel E. Winslow, FSA, MAAA, Consultant, Winslow Financial LLC

C5: A Financial Economist’s Views on Pension Finance - This session will start with the discounted cash flow framework and illustrate some recent debates on pension funding.  The presentation will end with a brief summary of selected current applications, such as longevity bonds and swaps and the implications of pension funding shortfalls on shareholder value.  *PD*
Timur Gök, MA, Instructor, Finance Department, Northern Illinois University,
Regional Co-Director, Chicago chapter of PRMIA
The presentation is posted at  http://www.cob.niu.edu/faculty/m40txg1/blog/?page_id=97

*PD* indicates Professional Development for 1.0 credit is approved for the session.

Dinner Speaker: Kenneth Avner, Vice President & Chief Actuary, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, will give his perspective on how the current changes in medical delivery can be viewed in historical perspective. 

For the registration form and meeting details,  click here .

Event:  February 2007 Meeting

Topic:  Society of Actuaries President Ed Robbins presents
CRUSAP - Critical Review of the U.S. Actuarial Profession
   &
What's Going On Inside the SoA
-  The Marketing and Market Development Plan
-  Education Redesign
-  Our Recent Foray into Enterprise Risk Management
.
Speaker:  Ed Robbins, FSA, FCA, MAAA, Director, Life Actuarial Services, SMART Business Advisory and Consulting, and Society of Actuaries President, is recently retired from Allstate Financial, where he was Senior Actuary in the Corporate Actuarial Department, in charge of actuarial statutory and tax planning.  He also spent many years at KPMG, and retired as a Principal, in charge of the Life Actuarial Practice in 1998.
 
Ed has long been active in both the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of Actuaries, serving on the SoA Board of Governors from l999 to 2004, and chairing the AAA Committee on Life Insurance Financial Reporting for two years prior to that time.
 
A frequent speaker at professional and industry meetings, he has written several articles, and was a co-author of two SoA textbooks:  "US GAAP for Life Insurers" and "US Tax Reserves for Life Insurers".

Date:  Tuesday, February 13, 2007
3:30 Registration    /   4:00 Speaker   /   5:00 Reception

Location:  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of IL,
CAL Level, Conference Room 5
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

Cost:   Free  But do RSVP so we may plan adequate refreshments and food for those attending the reception.

Event:  January 2007 Meeting
Topic:  Excel Tips and Tricks (and Pitfalls)
To download the workbook file used in the presentation, go to http://excel.chicagoactuarialassociation.org
See a demonstration of time-saving and accuracy-enhancing tips and techniques used for Microsoft Excel (version 2002). The demonstration will include a wide range of ideas, from simple tweaks to allow you to work faster and smarter, to obscure but easy-to-incorporate formulas and functions for Excel, that MS Office bloatware that we both love and hate.
(Attendees received a workbook file with the tips and tricks covered in the presentation.  The the above link.).

Speaker:  Bob Aronsohn, Lead Actuarial Associate, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois
Bob has been active in the Chicago Actuarial Association as program committee member, secretary, webmaster, and occasional speaker on technology.  He has been using spreadsheet software since 1984, first with 20/20, then with Lotus 1-2-3, and mostly with Excel in the last dozen years. 

Date:  Tuesday, January 16, 2007
3:30 Registration    /   4:00 Speaker   /   5:00 Reception

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL,
CAL Conference Room 5
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

Event: October 2006 Meeting and Reception
    at the Society of Actuaries Annual Meeting

Topic: Underfunding of Illinois State Pension Plan and Medicaid

Speaker:  Jim Watson, Illinois State representative (R-97th district)

Jim Watson, an MBA graduate of the University of Illinois, has been a member of the Illinois House of Representatives since 2001.  He serves on various standing committees, including Financial Institutions, and has had special assignments on the Long-Term Debt Committee and the Pension Task Force.  He will give us an “inside look” at the actuarial issues of pension and healthcare funding that our legislators must face.

Cost:  Free 

Location:  Sheraton Hotel & Towers
301 East North Water Street, Chicago
At the SOA Annual Meeting  (Room to be announced)

Date:  Monday, October 16th
6:30 pm  Bar open, refreshments available, 6:45 pm  Presentation with Q&A, 7:15 pm  Reception continues, 8:00 pm  Room closes

Refreshments include pizza, popcorn, pretzels, peanuts, chips, soft drinks, beer, and wine.  Also advertised to out-of-town attendees, this may be a good opportunity for local actuaries and students to meet actuaries from outside our area.

Event: September 2006  Meeting

Topic:  Professional Ethics for the Actuary
Why do we need all the elaborate structure under the heading of “Professional Ethics”?  We have a detailed Code of Conduct, Standards of Practice, and a Discipline system, all of which takes a lot of time and energy.  Why can’t we simply rely on our legal system, pushing for reasonable laws and relying on court enforcement?  Are we reinventing the wheel?  [Hint:  NO!] 

Are we expected to practice at a higher ethical level than would be expected of any person in business?  Linden was asked that question once, at a professionalism course, and wasn’t ready with an answer.  Ready now, he will share the answer at our meeting.

Speaker:  Linden N. Cole, F.S.A., M.A.A.A.    Linden Cole retired as Managing Director of the Society of Actuaries in 1998, after 18 years on SOA staff.  He continues teaching the SOA’s required professionalism courses.  At the SOA office, he provided staff support to the Society’s Education and Examination Committee from 1980 to 1994, as well as the Life Insurance Practice Area.  He also provided staff support to the Committee on Discipline and the Committee on Professionalism.  He was involved in the development of many of the case studies for the Fellowship Admissions Course.  During his tenure at the SOA, he authored the paper, “Fellowship Exams from a Grader’s Point of View”.  In a former life, Mr. Cole was Second Vice President and Actuary with Mutual Benefit Life in New Jersey, responsible for earnings forecasts and annual statement preparation, as well as the actuarial student program.  During his tenure there, he also held positions on the Society's E&E Committee, serving as an exam committee chair and as Education Chairperson.  He holds an A.B., cum laude, in Mathematics from Harvard University. 

Date:  Tuesday September 19, 2006   3:30 Registration   /   4:00 Speaker   /  5:00 Hors d’oeuvres

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, CAL Conference Room 1
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

Event:  2006 CAA Golf Outing

Date:  Friday August 25th, 2006

Location:  Shepherd’s Crook Golf Course, Zion, IL
Tee Times:  12:00pm to 1:30 pm (see flyer)
Fee: $30
Coordinator:  Greg Sucher, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois

The joint Chicago Actuarial Association / Wisconsin Actuarial Club golf outing will take place at Shepherd’s Crook Golf Course in Zion, Illinois.  The subsidized price of the outing ($30) includes 18 holes of golf, cart, beverage tickets, prizes, and lunch buffet before golfing.  Shepherd’s Crook Golf Course is located at 351 Green Bay Road, North of Route 173 and just south of the Illinois / Wisconsin border.

We will once again promote networking with fellow Chicago / Wisconsin actuaries by requiring participants to submit their applications with at most one other person.  Golfing foursomes will be based on blind bogey and requested time slot.  The blind bogey should be a number that when subtracted from your 18-hole score gives a result between 72 and 90. 
Golf Outing Results:
Closest to pin = Bob LaLonde, Insight Decision Solutions (5 yards)
Longest Drive = Eric Lo, Trustmark Insurance (250 yards)
Longest Putt = A.J. Tyll, Trustmark Insurance (10 feet)
Blind Bogey = Bob LaLonde, Insight Decision Solutions
Lowest Score = Bob LaLonde, Insight Decision Solutions (93)

Event: June 2006 Event:  Post Exam Fun @ the Ballpark

Topic: White Sox Game vs. Tigers 

Actuarial exams will soon be over, and it’s time to have some fun!  We are sponsoring an actuarial group outing to a baseball game at U. S. Cellular Field, home of baseball’s 2005 World Series Champions, the Chicago White Sox.  Seats will be located in the upper deck, just past third base.  Comiskey Cash will be provided at the game to exam takers, supervisors, proctors, and review class instructors.  Other attendees will be responsible for their own food & drinks.

Date:  Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Game begins at 7:05 p.m.

Location:  US Cellular Field (New Comiskey Park)  [Seating in upper deck Box 542, Rows 8-11]
  333 West 35th Street
  Chicago, IL 60616

We will provide tickets to exam participants and members of the Chicago Actuarial Association or the Wisconsin Actuaries Club at no charge.  We will ask other guests to pay $14 per ticket. Payment can be made in advance by check or credit card.  At the ballpark, exam takers will get $15 in Comiskey Cash by presenting their blue ticket of admission to the exam.  Exam supervisors, proctors, and review class instructors will get $15 in Comiskey Cash by presenting a photo ID if their name is on Pat Pruitt’s list of exam volunteers and instructors.  Members and others will be responsible for their own cash expenditures.

Event:  May 2006 Joint Meeting with Smaller Consulting Firm Section
Tuesday, May 9th at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois

Topic:   The Four People You Meet When Making an Effective Presentation

 Johnny “The Transition Man” Campbell-DTM, is an author and business consultant, who specializes in helping people learn that dealing with: Difficult People, Change, and Customer service, can be Easy, Productive and Profitable. Johnny is a rising star in the speaking industry with only 5 years of full time speaking he has already delivered over 400 presentations to audiences across the country. Along with speaking and authoring 8 books, he has also appeared on television and in several movies.

Johnny’s expertise and knowledge on Change and Conflict Resolution was gained in the Insurance industry where he participated in leading hundreds of people through multiple Corporate Downsizings and Mergers. Based on those events and his experiences in life he became “The Transition Man”. 

 Johnny’s Motivational, Change, Customer Service and Difficult people programs offer organizations a formula for productivity and profitability.


Speaker:  Johnny Campbell, (DTM 2004) Distinguished Toastmaster

Date:   Tuesday May 9, 2006      
                  3:30  Registration    /    4:00  Speaker    /    5:00  Hors d’oeuvres reception

Location:   Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, Columbus B/C
                 300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601  .

There was no April 2006 event.

Event:  2006 Annual March Workshops
Tuesday, March 14 at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois

The Chicago Actuarial Association spring workshops meeting offer an outstanding value for actuarial continuing education. You can choose a program of three hour-long presentations from a wide variety of actuarial topics, including health, pensions, life, annuities, financial reporting, and personal development, followed by a reception and dinner where you can network with your peers - all for just $60 plus the cost of commuting to downtown Chicago.  This includes the cost of dinner, with $50 being the cost of the workshops if you can't stay for dinner. The tentative dinner menu consists of filet mignon, salmon, or vegetable lasagna.

We welcome and encourage non-actuaries to attend our workshops because information covered is relevant to a wide range of work within the insurance and consulting businesses.  Please share this with others who may be interested.

PD & EA Credit is being applied for at the Society of Actuaries for many of these sessions.  Further PD & EA submissions and approvals will be posted (see box above) on our website. So mark your calendar for Tuesday, March 14, and plan to spend the afternoon at the Blue Cross Blue Shield building at 300 E. Randolph getting up to date on the hottest topics in your industry, sharpening your skills, catching up with old friends, and making new ones.

The document link below contains descriptions of the workshop topics and times along with registration materials to be faxed to Pat Pruitt at 603-452-8018 or e-mailed to her at PatPruitt60302@yahoo.com by Wednesday, March 8, 2006.  If you have questions, please call Pat at 312-751-3392 or Achilles Natsis at 312-653-6453.  This information and subsequent updates are posted on this website http://meeting.ChicagoActuarialAssociation.org .

I hope to see you there!

Thanks,

Achilles Natsis
Secretary, Chicago Actuarial Association

CLICK HERE to view the Program Details
For a session highlight of the longevity presentation, click here.

Reception menu
  (all attendees welcome for drinks and hors d’ oeuvres)
  Crab Stuffed Baby Portobello Cap with a Hollandaise Sauce.
  Mini-Crab Cakes with a Béarnaise Sauce.
  Seared Ahi-Tuna over Asian Rice Cracker with a Ginger Wasabi Chutney.
  Cherry Tomato stuffed with Boursin Cheese.

Dinner Menu:
  Boston Bibb Lettuce with Grape Tomatoes, Slice of Aged Bleu Cheese with a Brown Sugar-Vermouth Vinaigrette.

Entrée Choices (please select on your registration form):
1. Grilled Atlantic Salmon topped with a Chipotle –Cherry Glaze served over Red Pepper Linguini and Grilled Vegetables, or
2. Poblano Filet Mignon with a Warm Avocado Sauce with Spanish Rice and Grilled Asparagus, or
3. Primavera Risotto with a white truffle oil drizzle (vegetarian selection).

Warm Gourmet Rolls and Butter Roses Pre-set on Tables.

Dessert: Warm Molten Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and a strawberry sauce.
 

Event:  February 2006 Meeting featuring SoA President Bob Beuerlein
Thursday, February 23rd at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois

Topic:  An Inside Look at the Society of Actuaries
Society of Actuaries President Bob Beuerlein will give us an "inside look" at the SoA and describe recent moves that create opportunities for you, actuaries, and the profession.  Mr. Beuerlein is currently Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary of the AIG North American Life Insurance companies.  His actuarial career spans 27 years and includes almost a decade with Franklin Life in Springfield, Illinois (where he was also a part-owner of the Springfield Capitals, a Class A minor league baseball team).  In addition to his current position as President of the Society of Actuaries, Mr. Beuerlein has served on numerous Society of Actuaries and Academy of Actuaries committees, including 17 years on the SoA’s Examination committees.  He also was involved in the early development of the SoA Fellowship Admission Course and the Academy’s Life and Health Qualification Seminar.

Speaker:  Bob Beuerlein, FSA, MAAA
Senior VP and Chief Actuary, AIG North American Life Insurance companies
Society of Actuaries President

“Handouts”-- Print a copy of the PowerPoint pages
   click here for a 7-page (6 slides per sheet) PDF file
   click here for a 41-page PDF file of full size images
Printed copies will not be provided at the presentation.  You need print your own.

Date:  Thursday February 23, 2006
3:30 Registration   /   4:00 Speaker   /   5:00 Hors d’oeuvres

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, CAL Level – Conference Room 5
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

Cost:  Free

Event:  January 2006 Meeting

Topic:  Actuarial Exams – What’s new for 2006?

Speaker:  Cheryl Krueger, FSA, Chief Actuary and
Acting Managing Director - Education and Exams, Society of Actuaries

Cheryl Krueger, an FSA and currently Acting Managing Director of the Education and Exam Department at the Society of Actuaries (SOA), will give a presentation on the changes underway in the SOA's basic education program ("EQ2005").  The focus of the presentation will be primarily geared to an overview of the overall changes.  In addition, a demonstration of the newly developed modules on the Fundamentals of Actuarial Practice (FAP) will be provided.

Specific conversion questions will not be addressed at this session.  If you have conversion questions, please send those directly to the SOA at EQ2005@soa.org.
 
Date:  Tuesday, January 24, 2006 
     3:30 Registration  /  4:00 Speaker  /  5:00 Hors d’oeuvres

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, Corporate Activity Level (lower level) – Conference Room 5
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601. Hors D’oeuvres are in the CAL Atrium.

Event:  November 2005 After-Exam Fun Event

Topic: Party!

Actuarial exams are almost upon us, and the Chicago Actuarial Association would like to celebrate with you once the exams are over.  After all of the studying and the stress of sitting for your exams, it will be time to relax.  So come join us for an evening of fun!

Date:  Wednesday, November 9
5:00  Registration Starts, 5:30 Food and Bowling, 7:30 Time for bowling ends, but stay longer if you like!

Location:  10pin Bowling Lanes, 330 N. State St., Chicago, IL (near House of Blues)

Cost:
Exam Participants:  FREE!
Other members:  $10
Anyone else:  $40

Exam participants include exam takers, supervisors, proctors, review class instructors, and exam volunteer coordinators.  Exam takers, your blue ticket of admission for the exam is your ticket of admission to the party, so bring it!  All other exam participants must be on Pat Pruitt’s list of helpers.
 

Event: October 2005 Meeting

Topic:  Medicare Part D (Prescription Drug Benefit) and its effects on Retiree Medical, Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Supplement Plans.

This session will present a general overview of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) and its provisions.  The new Medicare Part D prescription drug program - its benefits, financing and the providers involved - will be explained.  A description of options available to employers who offer retiree medical plans, as a result of the new coverage, will be presented.  Panelists will also discuss the effect of the MMA on inforce and future Medicare Supplement plans, and brief mention will be made of the changes affecting Medicare Advantage plans.

Speakers: 
Dawn E. Helwig FSA, MAAA
    Principal, Milliman, Inc.

Thomas G. Ruehle FSA, MAAA, CEBS, CLU
    Principal, Milliman, Inc.

Date:  Wednesday, October 26, 2005 
  3:30 Registration  /  4:00 Speaker  /  5:00 Hors d’oeuvres

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, CAL Level – Conference Room 5

Event:  September 2005 Meeting

Topic:  Illinois Pension Funding: An Actuary's Perspective

This session will explore the history of the underfunded pension systems of the State of Illinois. The emphasis will be on recent events, including: the issuance of pension obligation bonds, the “surprise" cost of an early retirement incentive plan, and cost-cutting modifications to the funding plan.  Mike is a Senior Consultant in the Chicago office of Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company, where he specializes in the design, funding, and administration of public-sector pension plans.

Speaker:  Michael Kivi, FSA, EA, MAAA
    Senior Consultant, Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company

Date:  Monday, September 19, 2005 
     3:30 Registration  /  4:00 Speaker  /  5:00 Hors d’oeuvres

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, Cafeteria Level – Room Columbus C
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601. Hors D’oeuvres are in Columbus B.

Event:  August 2005 Golf Outing
Date:  Friday August 26th, 2005
Location:  Chevy Chase Golf Course, Wheeling
Tee Times: 12:00pm to 1:30 pm (see below)
Fee:  $40
Coordinator: Greg Sucher, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois

The Annual Chicago Actuarial Association Golf Outing will again be at Chevy Chase Golf Course in Wheeling.  The Chevy Chase Golf Course is located on Milwaukee Avenue (Route 21), north of Lake Cook Road and south of Deerfield Road.  Milwaukee Avenue is about 1 mile west of 94/294.  The subsidized price of the outing ($40) includes 18 holes of golf, cart, beverage tickets, prizes, and lunch.  Please be sure to arrive at least 30 minutes before your tee time in order to ensure that you get your box meal, your golf cart and your foursomes in place.

We will once again promote networking with fellow Chicago actuaries by requiring participants to submit their applications with at most one other person.  Golfing foursomes will be based on blind bogey and requested time slot.  The blind bogey should be a number that when subtracted from your 18-hole score gives a result between 72 and 90.  Applications should be submitted along with payment to the Chicago Actuarial Association by Thursday, August 18th, to allow time for scheduling and notification of tee times.  You may register by mail, Fax, or E-mail.  Fax and E-mail registrations require the use of a credit card. 

Please send your registration and payment to:
Greg Sucher, 23rd Floor
BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois
300 E. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60601
E-mail: greg_sucher@bcbsil.com    /  Fax number: (312) 938-8538

If you have questions, please contact Greg at (312) 653-4431 or E-mail

Results of the Golf Outing:
Longest Drive Female = Marita Lareau  (177 yards)
Longest Drive Male = A.J. Tyll
Longest Putt = John Schwegel (2 yards)
Closest to Pin = A.J. Tyll (2 feet)
Blind Bogey = Andy Lareau
Lowest Score = A.J. Tyll ( 84 )

Event: June 2005 Meeting

Topic:  The ABCD (Actuarial Board for Counseling & Discipline)

As recent developments in the U.K. illustrate, meeting our professional obligations is extremely important to the public and to the profession's reputation.  The Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline is an integral part of the U.S. actuarial profession's efforts to ensure that our members do so.  Bill Falk, ABCD chairperson, will answer the questions: "What is the ABCD?" and "What does the ABCD do?"  He will then present case studies based on requests for guidance from fellow actuaries for the audience to discuss.

The three Case Studies:
     A New Practice Area;
     Missing Documentation;
     Oops! I Was Wrong.

Speaker: Bill Falk, FSA, MAAA, FCA, EA
Principal and Director of Actuarial Practice - H&W
Towers Perrin, Chicago.

Date:  Tuesday, June 14, 2005  
   3:30 Registration   /   4:00 Speaker   /   5:00 Hors d’oeuvres

Location: Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, Corporate Activity Level – Conference Room 5
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601. Hors D’oeuvres are in the CAL Atrium.
 

May 2005 Event:  Post Exam Fun
@ the Ballpark

Topic:  White Sox Game vs. Angels

Actuarial exams will be over, and it will be time to have some fun.  We are sponsoring an actuarial group outing to a baseball game at U. S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.  Seats will be located in the upper deck, right above third base.  Comiskey Cash will be provided at the game to exam takers, proctors, review class instructors, and, to welcome them to the CAA, Wisconsin actuaries.  Other attendees will be responsible for their own food & drinks.

Date:Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Game begins at 7:05 p.m.

Location:  US Cellular Field (New Comiskey Park), 333 West 35th Street, Chicago, IL 60616

We will provide tickets to exam participants* and members at no charge.  We will ask other guests to pay $15 per ticket. Payment can be made in advance by check or credit card.  At the ballpark, exam participants and Wisconsin actuaries will get $10 in Comiskey Cash by presenting their blue ticket, instructions to supervisors, or Wisconsin ID (as appropriate); members and others will be responsible for their own cash expenditures.

*Exam proctors and review class instructors may also attend for free.
    SOX WON, 5-4 !

EVENT: May 2005 Joint Meeting with Smaller Consulting Firm Section
Topic:  Networking Opportunities for Chicago Residents
 
The Smaller Consulting Firm Section is sponsoring a series of regional networking meetings in 2005. 

Each meeting will include an outside professional speaker on general business issues (marketing professional services, selling, economics, web-site marketing, etc.)  We will also have a heavy dose of networking opportunities for you to meet other local actuaries. 

The next opportunity is being cosponsored by the Chicago Actuarial Association for those in the Chicago area

Topic: RAIN MAKING IDEAS TO ENHANCE YOUR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SUCCESS

Speaker:  Gary Pines of Harding & Company

Gary Pines of Harding & Company is a trainer, coach and speaker, specializing in firms that provide professional services.
He assists “doers of the work” to also become “sellers of the work.” Harding & Company has published the books “Rain Making”, “Creating Rainmakers” and “Cross Selling Success”.

Gary is an F.S.A. and works with actuaries, accountants, consultants, engineers, architects, executive search, etc.

Gary will share ideas and explore strategies related to networking and face-to-face selling skills through interactive exercises and discussion.

Date:  May 10  (Note the different start time)
5:00 Registration  /  5:30  Presentation by Gary Pines with breakout groups and summary /
6:15 - 7:30   Networking reception with beer, wine, and hors d'oeuvres
Location: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, 300 E. Randolph St., Chicago

The April 2005 meeting was cancelled.

EVENT: March 2005 Workshops

DATE:  Monday March 21, 2005 
 12:50 Registration begins
   1:50 Workshop sessions begin
   5:10 Bar opens (drinks and hors d'oeuvres - all attendees welcome)
   5:45 Dinner

PLACE:           BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois (see directions, below)
                        300 East Randolph Street, CAL level
                        Northeast corner of Randolph and Columbus Drive, Chicago

COST:             $60 with dinner, $50 without dinner 
        (unemployed members, retirees, and full-time students: $35 with dinner, $25 without dinner)

Workshops cover a variety of hot topics in each of the time slots.   Please identify the workshop sessions that you would like to attend on the registration form. Make your reservation by faxing your registration form to Pat Pruitt at 603-452-8018 by Tuesday, March 15, 2005.  If you have questions, please call Pat at 312-751-3392 or Achilles Natsis at 312-653-6453.  Information, including late updates, are posted at our website: http://meeting.ChicagoActuarialAssociation.org .  Please register promptly.

Many sessions are eligible for EA and/or PD credit.  See the session descriptions.

We welcome and encourage non-actuaries to attend our workshops because information covered is relevant to a wide range of work within the insurance and consulting businesses.  Please share this with others who may be interested.

Please fax your registration form by March 15 (or E-mail the same information) to Pat Pruitt at 603-452-8018 (PatPruitt60302@yahoo.com ).  If any sessions need to be canceled due to low attendance, we will contact you.

Event: February 2005 Meeting with SoA President Steve Kellison
Topic:  The Society of Actuaries Image Campaign Initiative
Steve Kellison, SoA President, will discuss the SoA Image Campaign Initiative.  Mr. Kellison has held a broad range of actuarial positions during his career.  In 1976 he opened the Washington, D.C. office for the American Academy of Actuaries and served as its Executive Director for 13 years.  He also has served on the faculties of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and Georgia State University in Atlanta. He retired as a Senior Vice President from American General Retirement Services and he currently has his own consulting firm in Orlando.  Mr. Kellison has served on several committees and the governing boards of both the SoA and the AAA.  Since 1990 he has participated in several panels in Washington, D.C. working on Social Security and Medicare issues.  He is an author of two textbooks, including The Theory of Interest, which is currently on the actuarial exam syllabus. 

Speaker:  Steve Kellison, FSA, FSA, EA, MAAA Consultant, Society of Actuaries President.

Date:  Tuesday February 22, 2005 
3:30 Registration  /  4:00  Speaker  /  5:00  Hors d’oeuvres

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, CAL Level – Conference Room 5.
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

Cost: Free

Event:  January 2005 Meeting - 2 TOPICS with Consecutive 1-Hour Sessions
 
Session 1:  Balancing Work, Exams, and Personal life
Is it really possible to "have a life" while you are trying to pass actuarial exams?  Four local actuaries who earned their FSA credentials in 2004 (Tony Condon, Connie Lam, Anne Van Wart, and Mark Yoest) will share their experiences and discuss their insights and approaches to balancing work, exams, and personal life. 
Attendee feedback and questions are strongly encouraged during this session.

Tony Condon received his B.S. in Mathematics from Villanova University in 1980 and has worked for over 15 years at Mercer Human Resource Consulting.  He is now a Principal and senior retirement consultant, advising clients on all aspects of financial management of their retirement programs.  Tony is married with four children.

Connie Lam received her M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Minnesota in 1991 and now works as a Senior Associate in the Global Human Resources Solution practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago.  She has six years of experience assisting clients with the design, actuarial valuation, administration and compliance testing of their defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans.  Connie is married with two children, ages 6 and 4.

Anne Van Wart received her B.A. from Smith College in 1988 and has been working at Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL for the past 12 years.  She is now an Associate Actuary doing National Account pricing and expense analysis.  Anne is single.

Mark Yoest received his B.A. from DePaul University in 1996 and now works as a Manager at Deloitte Consulting LLP, where he consults to insurance companies, managed care organizations, large employers, and state regulators.  Mark has been married since 2002.

Session 2:  SOA Education Redesign
Speaker:  Dale Yamamoto, FSA, FCA, EA, MAAA Consultant, Hewitt Associates
     Dale will discuss the new education syllabus being phased in from 2005 through 2007. Get an update on what's tested and what's not, how future actuaries will be educated and the overall goals of the education redesign.  Dale is a health actuary in Hewitt Associates national practice in Lincolnshire, Illinois.  He serves as the national practice leader for the actuarial practice in the Health Management line of business.  Dale has testified before Congress on the topic of health care and Medicare reform. Dale was one of four senior health actuaries who reviewed the Administration’s pricing of the Health Security Act premium estimates for the American Academy of Actuaries. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Society of Actuaries and the Board of Directors of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.

Date:  Tuesday January 18, 2005
  2:15  Registration Opens
  2:45  Session 1 Begins (CAL conference room 5)
  3:45  Refreshment Break & Registration
  4:00  Session 2 Begins (CAL conference room 5)
  5:00  Hors d’oeuvres & drinks reception (CAL Atrium)

Location:  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of IL, CAL Level – Room 5
300 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601

Thank you for reading this far. 
For a list of events PRIOR to 2005, click here.