Description: Presenters examined the importance of good data management in the current competitive marketplace. Analysis of your data can be split into three components: 1. Are you getting the quality and timely data? 2. Are you able to process it? 3. Are you able to use the information?

Description: 1993 SOA Annual Meeting, New York. This session was about defining lifetime marketing, a calculation of the lifetime customer value, and database marketing.

Description: 1992 SOA Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. The stated purpose of this session was to discuss specifically how a company can manage and improve its financial performance as measured by the statutory financial statement. Eleven strategies to improve performance were addressed.

Description: 1993 SOA Meeting, Quebec. This session was geared towards goal setting for actuaries who manage functional areas, departments, or divisions. Topics included: the reasons why goal setting and achievement are often ineffective, the key success factors in setting and achieving goals, and a proven methodology for setting and achieving goals.

Description: Panelists discussed the implications of the growing trend in Canada toward demutualization of mutual companies into stock companies. Topics covered include: 1. The Canadian demutualization process and some interesting differences between companies and across borders. 2. How is eligibility determined? 3. What process is being used to determine allocation of shareholder value? 4. What mechanisms are in place to protect policyholders' reasonable expectations? 5. What internal and financial structural changes are driven by demutualization? 6. How financial markets assess stock value for companies operating internationally.

Description: This panel addressed the multitude of issues companies face as banks and insurers become partners. Panelists discussed: 1. Legal issues surrounding mergers of banks and insurers, including the focus of federal regulators. 2. Recent applications by insurers for thrift charters and acquisitions of thrifts. 3. Successful bancassurance models in other parts of the world and best practices applicable in the U.S. 4. U.S. bank distribution models. 5. Financial implications of the manufacturers and distributors having the same parent, including impact on product development, underwriting, and transfer pricing. 6. Impact on carriers relying on banks for distribution when those banks merge with other carriers.

Description: 1998 SOA Spring Meeting, Maui. Panel discusses the some of the newer outlets that portfolio managers have been using for their investable cash. Topics discussed: 1. New risk classes. 2. Update on insurance and catastrophe risk bonds. 3. Capital-efficient structured notes. 4. Leveraged debt and equity plays. 5. Other risk/reward enhancement techniques.

Description: 1994 SOA Spring Meeting, Orlando. In this teaching session, techniques were presented to get the optimal result with the least effort. Techniques discussed: 1. Look at the whole process, working backwards from the result. 2. Look at all of the pieces of the job and redesign. 3. Bring technological tools into the process.

Description: 1993 SOA Meeting, Quebec. This session is about implementing new technology, choosing between competing technology, problems to watch out for, unexpected benefits, migrating from mainframe to client/server, automating the field force and large-scale networks.

Description: 1998 SOA Spring Meeting, Maui. The panelists discussed the many factors involved with insurance company decisions on whether they are putting their money to work in a most prudent fashion. This session focused on the practical aspects of asset allocation.