American Academy of Actuaries
www.actuary.org
Midwest Actuarial Forum
Presentation by Dan McCarthy
March 12, 2003
The American Academy of
Actuaries
What’s Going On
 Why You Should Care
 It’s Your Academy - leadership and staff
need to hear from you
 Don’t forget about www.actuary.org

What’s Our Mission?
Represent the entire U.S. actuarial
profession
 Serve the public and the profession,
nationally and internationally
 How?

Professionalism

Establish, maintain and enforce high
standards of:
 Practice
 Qualification
 Conduct
Public Policy(Fed/State etc.)

Provide :
 Information
 Analysis
 Education
Protect/Expand Actuarial Turf
(with other organizations)

Represent and advance the actuarial
profession

Increase public recognition of the value of
what we do
How Do We Go About Doing
Those Things?
Let’s Look at the Major Ways
Increase our Public Policy
Influence
Be sure that centers of influence know who
actuaries are and who the Academy is
 Some old, some new
 “New” includes:
 The Fed
 Think tanks
 International organizations

Increase our Public Policy
Influence (cont’d)

“Old” includes:
 NAIC (lots going on, as always)
 Congressional Staffs (their level of
interest in what we bring to the table
continues to increase)
Increase Recognition of the Value
of What We Do



Capital Hill Visits
 Briefing sessions
 Crisp communication needed (“issue brief”)
Regulatory Agencies - Federal, State
The Fellows:
 Ron Gebhardtsbauer (Pension)
 Cori Uccello (Health)
“Actuarial” vs. Political”
Activities
A recent topic on Casnet
 A recent subject of discussion at an
Academy Leadership meeting
 “Actuarial” and “political” are not totally
distinct
 We need to be research-based
 We have several internal constituencies

Increase Advocacy for the
Actuarial Profession
Legal/regulatory recognition of the
Academy and of ASOPs, etc.
 Help to assure that “public service”
actuarial positions are staffed.
 Promote recognition of actuaries in new
areas and before new audiences

Strengthen/Improve Standards
and Discipline
Get actuaries more involved in the
development of ASOPs.
 See that ASOPs are regularly thought of by
key publics.
 Develop Practice Notes.
 Get the discipline process better-understood
by key publics.

Build Awareness/Support for
Standards and Discipline
Applies both to actuaries and to our publics.
 Build educational programs around ASOPs,
the Code of Conduct, etc.
 Review ABCD operations.
 Get the ASB, ABCD leaders more visible.

ENRON

A potential wild card for all professions
Expand Academy Financial
Resources/Efficiency
“Efficiency” means, among other things,
looking carefully at the need for travel.
 The revision of the website enables us to
develop new habits of communication and
member service.
 Development and fair pricing of educational
programs is both a member service and a
profit center

Improve Academy<>Member
Communications
We learned a lot from an outside
Communications Audit.
 Better graphics and design, sharper content
 Redesigned Web Site (www.actuary.org)
 We are and will be be at more meetings in
more places, talking and listening.

Improve Academy
Organizational Effectiveness
This is a job that is never completed.
 Rick Lawson has made a big difference.
 Inter-organizational support is crucial.
 “Organizational Effectiveness” in the long
run means serving YOU better.
 “International” is still, in part, a work in
progress: IAA, IASB, cross-border
practice, etc.

What are YOUR Thoughts?
American Academy of Actuaries
www.actuary.org