Judy L. Strachan, FSA 1983, MAAA, FCA

Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting, LLP, Parsippany, NJ

Brief description of the type of work you currently do:

Providing consulting services to employers in all industries and to health plans and health care providers on plan designs, pricing, financial reporting, strategic planning, risk management and mergers and acquisitions.

Primary Area of Practice:

Health Benefit Systems

Other Areas of Practice / Interests:

Enterprise Risk Management

Professional Background:

My professional experience has been varied and interesting. I have both technical and management experience in all Health Benefit systems through working for and consulting to insurance companies, health plans and employers. In addition to responsibilities over the years at all levels of management and for all health and welfare benefits, responsibilities included underwriting, pricing, financial reporting, risk management, individual disability valuation, system management, and sales force compensation and management. The years I worked on staff with the Society of Actuaries as the Finance and Investment Staff Fellow provided a new perspective on the profession, the activities of the SOA and on finance, investments and risk management. During the time on staff with the Society I enjoyed assisting in the creation of the final courses of the Investment Track, the development of the Finance track and the beginning of the discussions of the enterprise risk management designation.

Volunteer Experience:

Volunteer experiences include serving as the Investment Section Chair and as the Health Section Secretary/Treasurer. During the five years served on the Society of Actuaries Board, I enjoyed working on the transition of the practice area activities to the sections and the development of the new role for the sections in the management of SOA activities. The new role of the sections in SOA activities has been successful at improving communications and coordination between the sections and the Board and added new energy to both Board and Section activities. While on the Board I also served as the Board liaison to the Investment Section Council and the Health Section Council, was a member of the Finance committee and a member of the Continuing Education Committee. In addition to section and Board Activities, I served on the Valuation Actuary planning committee and on Society of Actuaries E&E 2005 Task Force.

Vision Statement:

The current environment, with the turmoil in the global financial markets and with the downturn in the US economy highlighting the need for health reform, provides the actuarial profession with unique opportunities to position ourselves as key thought leaders in enterprise risk management and in Health Benefits Systems. SOA and health section activities such as recent calls for papers on the financial crisis and on health reform increase our intellectual capital and showcase our technical skills. The top priority for the next year, in addition to continuing to build intellectual capital in these two areas, is to focus on using this intellectual capital to make sure that the profession is recognized as thought leaders in the area of enterprise risk management and health reform and to make sure we have a seat at the table when these issues are discussed and solutions are considered. The SOA on its own and by working with other North American and global actuarial organizations to coordinate marketing efforts should focus on getting our messages out to the right audiences to ensure our voice is influential in the debates.

For more information please visit my web site at http://www.pensionfinance.org/fellows/judy/js.html.