Description: This 1977 session discusses management of the actuarial resource, primarily in Life Insurance Companies. It includes questions such as: 1. What is an Actuary and What is his Function in a Life Insurance Company? 2. Is there a place for the highly skilled technician who does not care to manage people?

Description: This discussion at the 1989 Valuation Actuary Symposium focuses on methods and considerations that are currently being used in analyzing various risks of concern to the health valuation actuary. The session looks at concepts and types of risks, considerations and influences affecting the actuary, formulas and methods for evaluating risk, and the present status of the health insurance valuation actuary concept.

Description: The author discusses a definition of an actuary that he suggested several years earlier, noting that the public has a right to know why we think we constitute a profession, and why it should care. The author’s definition is: “that professional who is trained in evaluating the current financial implications of future contingent events.”

Description: This paper is the report of a survey intended to provide the Society of Actuaries with information from traditional and non-traditional employer markets - testing opportunities for non-traditional employer markets and for expanded roles in the broader financial service markets. This information will enable the SOA to better define the value of its credentials as well as that of future actuarial skill sets and attributes to these targeted employer markets.

Description: 1956 Transactions of the SOA, Volume 8. This section contains book reviews and summaries of recent publications.

Description: 1993 SOA Annual Meeting, New York. In this session senior insurance executives discussed a wide variety of topics including: 1. Image of industry. 2. Technology. 3. Complex competitive environment. 4. Expense and profitability problems. 5. Expansion of government programs. 6.Positioning for potential health insurance reform. 7. Maximizing profitable use of information technology. 8. Downsizing, outsourcing and lean staff. 9. Product focusing and niche marketing. 10. Joint ventures versus mergers. 11. Improving the image of the industry. 12. Managing employee relations in a climate of change. 13. Motivation and empowerment of employees.

Description: This article contains reviews of the following books: 1. 'Fundamental Mathematics of Life Insurance' by Floyd S. Harper and Lewis C. Workman, 2. 'Mathematics of Compound Interest' by Marjorie V. Butcher and Cecil J. Nesbitt, 3.'Compound Interest and Annuities-Certain' by D. W. A. Donald, 4. 'Demography' by P. R. Cox, 5. 'The Spirit and the Uses of the Mathematical Sciences' edited by Thomas L. Saaty and F. Joachim Weyl, 6. 'Ethics, Morality, and Insurance' by John D. Long, 7. Reports of the 1971 Advisory Council on Social Security, 8. 'Medical Care at Public Expense' by Mark V. Pauly 9. 'Eleventh Actuarial Valuation of the Assets and Liabilities under the Railroad Retirement Acts as of December 31, 1968, with Technical Supplement' by the Railroad Retirement Board, 10. 'Nouvelles tables-types de mortalité' by Sully Ledermann, 11. 'A Table of Expected Working Life for Men, 1968' by Howard W. Fullerton, 12. 'Disability-Determination and Evaluation' by Henry H. Kessler, 13. 'Industrial Safety Statistics: A Re-examination' by Jerome B. Gordon, Allan Akman, and Michael L. Brooks, 14. 'Pensions and Severance Pay for Displaced Defense Workers' by Hugh Folk and PauI Hartman, 15. 'Trends and Variations in Fertility in the United States' by Clyde V. Kiser, Wilson H. Grabill, and Arthur A. Campbell, 16. 'Benefit Plans in Junior Colleges' by Francis P. King, 17. 'The Consumer's Guide to Insurance Buying' by Vladimir P. Chernik, and 18. 'Private Pension Scheme Finance' by Sylvia and Leslie Tutt. Notices of other studies and articles are also included. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1971, Vol. 23, Pt. 1, No. 67.

Description: This session at the SOA 2001 Annual Meeting explores diversity in the work place, understanding diversity and managing it so that differences are valued and respected.

Description: This section provides multiple book reviews and summaries of recent publications. Many of the books reviewed deal with pensions, retirement and Social Security. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1973, Vol. 25, Pt. 1, No. 72 AB.

Description: Over the last year or two, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of U.S. news topics that involve actuarial thinking such as Obama-care and long-term health of Social Security. While it is a nice feeling to see actuaries at the center of the action, much, or even most of the debate is conducted without any understanding of the actuarial concepts involved. This article is about the challenge of actuaries educating the public on these issues, especially when the profession is still working hard to bring its communication skills up to the level of its technical expertise.