Description: Creating an effective team is core to actuarial transformation. This involves establishing teams with jobs that line up to achieve the company's goals, with clear roles that engage people and enable them to develop. Coupled with this, effective teams need to harness the benefits of diversity. This is done both directly and through sponsorship and allyship to ensure that the full benefit of diverse teams can be realized with multiple viewpoints and perspectives strengthening teams. During the sessions, the speakers will draw on their experiences from around the world on, building global and diverse teams. By attending this session, you will:•Be able to gain insight on the benefits of embracing diversity when creating an actuarial team across the globe, and how sponsorship and allyship in workplace foster an inclusive environment.

Description: Burnout is impacting the business world now, and even prior to the pandemic. Burnout is a state in which motivation declines markedly, leading to stress, increased use of sick leave, potential illness and lowered work performance. To be effective people leaders, or to simply manage one’s own situation, it is important to gain insight into the symptoms of burnout, the causes, prevention and how to effectively deal with it. By attending this session, you will gain understanding of employee burnout, how to help yourself and your team members effectively deal with it, and how to refresh.

Description: This training session will include lessons learned in 2021 and revisit a presentation given last year, discussing the new Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP56), which fills in the gap for guidance on Actuarial Modeling. Prior to ASOP 56, actuarial judgement reigned where standards and guidance lacked. Learn the foundation for designing, developing, modifying and validating a model according to SOA guidelines. By attending this session, you will: • Learn how to identify model’s intended purpose. • Strategically extract input data and assumptions. • Use the level of detail required in output data as a consideration for model design. • Choose from SOA recommended validation techniques.

Description: As organizations continue to reevaluate business needs and strategize how to best move forward in an evolving industry, technology and innovation are becoming competitive differentiators. Insurers are reimagining processes and accelerating modernization initiatives, and the role of the actuary is transforming in both scope and demand. It's vital actuarial leaders recognize the impact of modernization efforts on their employees, are empathetic to their needs, and create strategies to promote engagement, development and retention during technological transformations. Discover how leaders can prepare their teams emotionally and psychologically for change, gaining their buy in and support for new initiatives while increasing long-term loyalty. A panel of actuarial leaders who have successfully led their teams through change initiatives will also offer their lessons learned and best practices. Leave with the tools and insights necessary to take an empathetic approach to modernization that eases concerns and cultivates a productive and engaged actuarial team.

Description: Hear from three actuaries on their experiences working remotely in 2020 and beyond. Each participant will have a distinct viewpoint on remote work based on their situation, including: Liz Dietrich, who led her Prudential team through the initial shift to remote work during the pandemic and will address the team’s next steps. Amanda Hug, who joined Willis Towers Watson during the pandemic by interviewing remotely and then learned to integrate into the corporate culture the same way. Vincent Xuan, who will provide insight around how his team at Equitable adapted to remote work. During this webcast, the panel will share: Their perspectives based on their unique situations Best practices and leadership tips for managing teams and workloads remotely Thoughts on how we did as an industry with the shift to remote work Leadership skills that are critical for moving forward in a hybrid (remote and in-person) world

Description: How can we maintain our sanity while staring at the same screen all day, clicking into and bouncing out of meetings? To be successful in today's (remote) world, we must learn how to relate to individuals virtually. Topics include: How can we best establish a professional and dynamic presence while working remotely? How can we develop rapport with our virtual colleagues as well as with those working in the office? What is considered to be appropriate etiquette when interacting with a co-worker via a computer screen? How can we effectively collaborate while working from home? What is the best way to present to senior management without the ability to be in the room to read their body language? Hear from a panel of actuaries discuss their perspectives and lessons learned over the last few years on how to optimize our communication effectiveness in the virtual work environment.

Description: Court is in session and you're the jury! Follow along as challenging aspects of actuarial professionalism are explored in a court-like setting. Deliberate based on what you already know from your own experience, as well as what you learn in this session. Challenge yourself to evolve and diversify your thinking as new trials are presented in the form of case studies. Then, deliver your verdict accordingly. Who says the actuarial professionalism is an open and shut case? Let's interact together to be innovative while ensuring that we uphold our professionalism standards. There will be a mix of new and updated cases. There will be one case repeated from the 2021 ImpACT Annual Meeting.

Description: Almost every actuary will, at some point in their career, be called upon to perform work described as business as usual (BAU). BAU work takes on many forms, ranging from daily pricing or hedging exercises to annual valuation or audit support and nearly everything in between, however, a common thread among most BAU activities is that unusual issues have a tendency to arise, resulting in inefficiencies, long hours, and sometimes missed deadlines. Learn from a panel of actuaries that will relate tales of unusual issues that derailed BAU routines. Examine how these issues arose, the impact they had on the actuary's work and life, and steps that could prevent similar issues from occurring in the future, with a focus on governance, controls, and analytics. By attending the session, you will: Understand some of the common pitfalls that can interfere with smooth BAU operations, as well as some strategies that can be employed to mitigate or prevent issues in their own BAU work.

Description: Competition for talent is at an all-time high and the “Great Reshuffle” continues to permeate the industry, redefining the employee/employer relationship and making it vital for actuarial leaders to focus on retaining individuals at all professional levels. At the same time, hybrid and fully remote environments are transforming how managers approach employee engagement and requiring them to be more intentional in building a sense of connection with their teams. Savvy managers are identifying high-potential employees, facilitating stay interviews to uncover unique motivators, and creating individualized retention plans. Learn how leaders are adapting traditional retention tactics and rethinking strategies to engage employees in the evolving environment. Gain first-hand insight into building tailored retention and development plans that align with an individual’s values, personal priorities and career aspirations, ultimately increasing employee engagement and loyalty.By attending the session, you will:•Explore how the challenging recruiting environment and the “Great Reshuffle” have shifted the traditional employer/employee relationship and what it means for managers.•Identify high-potential actuaries and recognize their individual contribution levels.•Discover tools for uncovering the values, needs and career aspirations of individual team members.•Recognize how to tailor retention and development plans for individual employees to increase engagement and productivity.

Description: Join us for an exciting session as Actuarial Innovation & Technology Strategic Research from the SOA's Research Institute unveils two recently published research reports: ""Unveiling the Life Insurers' Actuarial Transformation Journey and the Impact of Analytics"" and ""Exploring Revolutionary Advances in Underwriting: An Initial Assessment of Epigenetics, Medical Tests, and Wearables"". In the first report, we delve into the evolving landscape of life insurers' Actuarial Transformation efforts, shedding light on their future prospects and emphasizing emerging Advanced Analytics techniques. The second report serves as the inaugural installment of a series dedicated to identifying promising innovations for underwriters and actuaries, and it promises to alert the SOA to the latest developments. During this session, our presenters will provide an insightful overview of the key findings and key takeaways from both research reports. By the end of the session, attendees will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the invaluable research conducted in these areas.