Edition

Education and Research Section Council Notes

Participants present:

  • Sheree Baker
  • Ph: 847.706.3565
  • e–mail: sbaker@soa.org
  • Ian Duncan, Chairperson
  • Ph: 860.951.4200 x10
  • e–mail: iduncan@soluciaconsulting.com
  • Len Asimow
  • Steve Craighead
  • Chuck Fuhrer
  • Michel Jacques
  • Jeffrey Pai
  • Frank Reynolds
  • Aaron Tennenbein
  • Arnold Shapiro
  • Claire Bilodeau
  • Tom Edwalds
  • Mary Hardy
  • Curtis Huntington
  • Absent:
  • Jim Daniel
  • Enrique de Alba
  • Eli Donkar
  • Stuart Klugman
  • Warren Luckner
  • Krzysztof Ostaszewski

Objective(s)

  1. Halmstad Prize nomination and selection process
  2. 2007 Annual Meeting Session ideas

Welcome and Roll Call, Ian Duncan–Chair

  • Notes November 13, 2006 and section membership numbers were reviewed by the Section Council. Action: There was no motion to accept the notes. There was some discussion regarding the 2006YE section members of 677 which is down by 25 from the 2005YE number of 702. The section council discussed the current make up of the E&R Section and that there could be some marketing efforts made to the nonmember academics to let them know that they could join this section. The section council will continue to watch the membership numbers.

Consent Agenda:

Topic Item 1: Jeremy Gold/Ian Duncan

  • Changes at the SOA: Jeremy Gold–Board Partner, mentioned that there is a new interim Executive Director at the SOA, but this will not impact the section.
  • Staff Partnership Plan 2007: The document was attached to the agenda for the section council to review. The first BOG meeting that Jeremy will attend as staff partner to E&R will be in March 2007.

Topic Item 2: Ian Duncan

  • Working Draft Sections Scorecard from December 6, 2006 Section Council Chairpersons Meeting Action for the Next Conference Call: Ian would like the Section Council members to think about what progress or goals that they would like the Section to consider for 2007. They should write them up to discuss at the next conference call.

Topic Item 3: Chuck Fuhrer

  • The section determined the moderators at both spring meeting Continental Breakfasts. See the listings below.

    2. Moderator: Aaron Tennenbein volunteered to be the moderator. May 11, 7–8 a.m.

  2. What is Option Pricing and Why Should I Care?

    3. Moderator: Aaron Tennenbein volunteered to be the moderator. May 11, 7–8 a.m.

    Presenters: Chris K. Madsen and Hal W. Pedersen

    Coordinator: Steven A. Craighead

Topic Item 4: Research Updates

  • CKER: The 2007 AERF/CKER Individual Grants competition invited 16 researchers to submit full proposals by January 3. CKER will review 11 of those proposals and The AERF Committee of The Actuarial Foundation will review 15 them. Grant awards will be announced by March 15, 2007. Curtis also reported that the CAS has joined the grant competition both financially and to aid in the review of the proposals.
  • International Research and Education Section: Curtis reported that this IAA section will meet in mid April and he is hoping that the E&R Section Council will be one of the founding units.
  • CLIR: No report.
  • Health Research: No report.

    • Action: Discuss the official alignment of the Committee on Knowledge Extension Research (CKER) with the E&R Section. Jeremy Gold, E&R Board Partner, reported that it is still too premature to discuss this possible alignment because research budgets are still currently being investigated and everything is in the beginning stages. He will report more as information becomes available.

Topic Item 5: Mary Hardy/Curtis Huntington

  • Exam P and Computer–based test sites: This topic was an addition to the agenda. Mary Hardy gave an update that she is working with Cheryl Krueger to find some solutions on this.
  • May Exam deadline: This was another topic that was an addition to the agenda. Curtis mentioned that he was unable to get the deadline date for the May exams and that there was nothing listed on the SOA website. Action: Sheree sent an e–mail later on January 9 that the May Exam information and registration will be up on the SOA Web site next Tuesday, January 16, and the deadline for registration will be April 1.

Business Agenda:

Topic Item 1: Claire Bilodeau

  • Halmstad Prize Subcommittee selection process

    • Action: Discuss the progress on the nomination and selection process of the Halmstad Prize

    Claire Bilodeau discussed the outcomes from the December 1 subcommittee conference call. The nomination process will be revised so that the paper that receives the prize is indeed the best. There will be people responsible by specific areas, and they could recruit others to help them review the papers. Other people could nominate papers. Each area will nominate their best paper(s) and no more than two papers can be nominated. Only a small number of people will be held accountable for the nominations. CAS has been responsible for the administration and that arrangement will stay the same. The nominating process has to be comfortable to the E&R Section Council and the AERF Committee. It needs to be proposed quickly because the initial nomination e-mail is usually sent out in early February. The initial group will come up with one or two, but no more than three papers to present to the E&R Section Council for their prize recommendation. The E&R Section Council will appoint the chair of the Halmstad subcommittee and both the E&R Section Council and the chair of the Halmstad subcommittee will appoint the rest of the Halmstad subcommittee.

    Motion: Michel Jacques made a motion to accept the Halmstad nominating process outlined in the December 1 notes after the discussed changes are made. Frank Reynolds seconded the motion. Changes were made to the notes and sent out to the Section Council the same day as this conference call. Next Step: Ian Duncan will contact Elias Shiu to discuss these changes with him. Sheree Baker will contact Mike Boa at the CAS office to discuss the nomination changes with him.

Topic Item 2: Chuck Fuhrer

  • 2007 Annual Meeting Sessions - SOA 07 Annual Meeting & Exhibits Planning Committee is meeting January 18, 2007 at the Westin O'Hare Hotel, in Rosemont, IL.

    • Action: Discussion of possible 2007 Annual Meeting Sessions This was deferred to the next meeting due to lack of time.

Strategy: Topic Item 1: Ian Duncan

  • How to get more people involved in research?

    • Action: Discussion from E&R Section Breakfast at Annual Meeting There was some discussion about research budgets but this topic will be discussed at future meetings.