Description: In this paper, Honorable Mention Essay for the Society of Actuaries' Entrepreneurial Actuaries Section 2010 Papers Competition, the author examines the rapidly increasing costs of maintaining the U.S. prison system and the fiscal pressures the federal and state governments are faced with, and proposes a plan for an early prisoner release program “with a rigorous, merit-based approach that can be expected to demonstrate favorable outcomes for the general public and the released prisoner.” This plan involves “an optimized process for evaluating the perils associated with freeing candidates eligible for early release - an individualized assessment and quantification of those risks…” The article goes on to describe the costs, benefits, risks, and critical success factors. The report includes two appendices.

Description: This article describes a ranking system for early prisoner release. It is intended to describe the framework and strategy needed for mitigating the risk of such programs and optimizing those programs’ outcomes.

Description: Full version of The Stepping Stone Newsletter, April 2001, Issue No. 6.

Description: Quality Measures - December 2000 In the Office and on the Floor - Similarities Between Refereeing and Consulting by Nickolas J. Ortner, ASA, MAAA from The Stepping Stone Newsletter, April 2001, Issue No. 6.

Description: This article discusses business risks in the National Football League - “NFL” - and the author describes a model his firm developed to address the risks of a player’s salary exceeding the value of the player, and the risks of the negative impact of off field behavior. The author refers to this as the Negate Failure and Legal, or “N-F-L,” player selection and pricing model, effectively a risk management tool for NFL teams.

Description: Chairperson description of current MaD section activity and upcoming webcasts and other emerging section content