Lifetime Volunteer Award Recipients
The SOA Lifetime Volunteer Award is presented to a volunteer who has shown their ongoing commitment to the SOA for more than 15 years and whose dedication and contributions have helped to advance the Society of Actuaries’ mission as well as the actuarial profession.
2020 Award Recipients
Joan C. Barrett, FSA, MAAA
Senior Consulting Actuary
Joan serves as senior consulting actuary for Axene Health Partners. Previously, Joan led the National Accounts Actuarial area at UnitedHealth Group for many years. In that role, she was instrumental in developing several innovative concepts in risk analysis and consumer analytics. She was a member of the SOA Business Analytics Task Force, the group that developed the SOA’s initial strategy for promoting the use of predictive analytics in the profession. She chaired the SOA’s International Committee and the Value of the Credential Task Force. She was also chair of the Evolution of the Health Actuary Task Force sponsored by the SOA Health Section Council, and a member of the planning committee for Initiative 18/11, sponsored jointly by the SOA and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Joan is a frequent speaker at industry events and has also been a prolific writer. She speaks and writes often about health care costs and trends and predictive analytics. She led an SOA Health Section project a few years ago that specifically looked at the future of the actuarial profession and what actuaries will need to do to remain relevant and in high demand. Joan has tirelessly contributed to the SOA and the actuarial profession for decades. Her contributions included Education, Professional Interest Sections, and serving on the SOA Board of Directors. Joan has truly spent a lifetime volunteering, and she's done it in a way that has inspired countless others.
Marcus A. Robertson, FSA, FCIA
Retired
Starting in exam work the year after he obtained his FSA in 1990, Marcus became an exam vice chair within two years and served as chair or vice-chair for the next 6 years. He has also been a General Vice-Chair and Chair for Education. Marcus has also been involved in section work for multiple sections and has served as vice-chair and chair for each. He has also been on multiple task forces and committees for Education, Retirement/Pension and ERM initiatives. Marcus has served two stints on the SOA Board. Marcus was instrumental in developing a Canada strategy and the subsequent creation of a Canadian staff fellow role. He was part of an SOA task force to reinforce our education relationship with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, which resulted in a memorandum of understanding between the two organizations. Marcus was also a charter member of the SOA's Canadian Advisory Council, helping create a Canadian member engagement strategy. He also was an active presenter on the SOA's strategic plan at Listening Tour events in Canada.
He is a genuine leader, by gentle persuasion, personal connection, and great ideas. His involvement has been at extremely engaged levels for three decades. Marcus has been a pioneer in the entrepreneurial work of actuaries, and was an early leader in the enterprise risk management (ERM) space. He is also a strong proponent of collaboration between actuarial organizations.
Kathleen R. Wong, FSA, FCA, MAAA, CERA
Retired
Kathleen’s nearly 30 years of volunteer work for the SOA began in the mid-1990s when she joined the Finance and Investment examination committee. She held many roles on education committees including terms as Exam General Officer and General Chairperson of the Education Executive in 2010-11, the highest role with the Education committee structure. She was a member of the Joint Risk Management ERM Working Group, which led to the chairmanship of the Risk Management Basic Education Team. These groups along with the Knowledge Management Strategy Action Team developed the curriculum and framework for the Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA) credential introduced as a formal credential in 2007. Kathleen used her extensive exam and curriculum experience as the SOA’s representative on the CERA Global Association’s Review Panel and serves as the SOA’s representative on the CERA Treaty Board.
Kathleen has also served on the Centers of Actuarial Excellence (CAE) Evaluation Committee, the CAE Grants Committee, the CAE Appeals Board, the CAE Review Task Force, FAC Course Director, as a member of the Professionalism Education Management Committee (PEMC) and as a member of the Professionalism Case Study Working Group. On the CAE committees, Kathleen helped ensure that the CAE standards were met and was an excellent representative of the SOA at site visits. As an APC and FAC facilitator she has an opportunity to share her expertise with younger actuaries and stress to them the importance of professionalism and ethics.
2019 Award Recipients
Robert W. Beal, FSA, MAAA
Disability Insurance Consultant
For the last 32 years, Bob has made volunteering at the SOA an important part of his professional career. Volunteering for the SOA has been a natural extension of his professional interests. He enjoys the many opportunities he has had to share his knowledge and insights on disability insurance (DI) speaking at SOA and other industry meetings.
Though he served on several SOA education committees early on, Bob’s participation on the SOA’s Individual Disability Experience Committee (IDEC) has been his number one volunteering effort since 1999. The IDEC’s mission is to analyze individual disability experience data and to produce experience studies and tables on this business. Bob’s considerable knowledge contributed to a comprehensive experience study report, released by the IDEC in 2013, which led to the creation of new valuation tables for the individual DI industry. Bob has also served as the IDI industry’s historian for almost 40 years and his Individual Disability Income Insurance in the United States workpaper serves as the industry bible.
Bob has been instrumental in moving the IDI industry forward throughout his career and still participates on SOA’s IDEC. He continues to support the IDI marketplace with his technical knowledge, insatiable thirst for identifying trends in the IDI industry, and his market savviness. With his drive and commitment, the industry now routinely produces reports to help the industry better understand risk on a more timely basis.
Stephen A. Eadie, FSA, FCIA
Robertson Eadie & Associates
Steve has been an asset to the SOA and the profession through his volunteer efforts over the last 31 years. His long-term dedication and contributions to the education of actuaries has been significant. Steve has been an integral part of multiple SOA education committees with increasing levels of responsibility up through chairperson of the Education Steering Committee.
Steve has been instrumental in the growth of the SOA’s education programs. Taking on leadership roles, he helped guide the redesign of the SOA’s entire education pathway; spearheaded the development and implementation of the SOA’s e-Learning program and introduced improvements to the SOA education system such as offering all fellowship exams twice per year and adding an option for all fellowship candidates to earn a CERA. Steve also served on numerous board task forces for key issues such as Global CERA and represented the SOA on the International Actuarial Association’s Education Committee.
Steve is a collaborative leader who listens to others and gets everyone to work together for a solution. He is an innovator and makes leading look easy and natural. Steve is a strong believer in the actuarial profession and encourages others to volunteer. He inspires others to do their best and go beyond what is expected.