Description: Describing background of SOA Committee for Middle East, Africa &Pakistan (MAP) region, activities and future actions.

Description: Discussion of the merger between the the Actuarial Education and Research Fund and The Actuarial Foundation. The named of the merged organizations will be The Actuarial Foundation. Legally, the AERF will go out of existence, but all of its functions will be continued by the new, merged organization.

Description: Discussion of the October 23 & 24 Meeting of the Society of Actuaries Board of Governors, at which two motions addressing matters of interest to academic actuaries were approved. 1. Undertaking a process of accreditation for academic actuarial science programs. and 2. SOA exam exemption for certain students attending certain institutions.

Description: Practical application of Marine Corps leadership in a corporate setting. This article covers the objectives of Marine Corps Leadership and 14 leadership traits identified by the Corps and how they relate to an actuarial setting.

Description: Best practices for a successful model conversion or transformation. It details the key stakeholders involved and the processes and tasks across various stages of the model conversion.

Description: Persuasion is as much about heart as facts and figures. Find out what you can do to develop your powers of persuasion.

Description: By expanding their knowledge base, actuaries can develop a broad business perspective which in combination with the analytical skills characteristic of the profession can help them succeed in the areas of strategy and general management.

Description: This article is an interview with Laura Bennett, FSA, CEO of Embrace Pet Insurance. Her company provides one–of–a–kind pet insurance. The Actuary recently asked Bennett some questions about her unusual use of actuarial training.

Description: The goal of the session was to provide actuaries with an overview of the experiences of being an independent actuary and several details to be considered when setting up your own business.

Description: This article is written in response to the article that appeared in the February/March issue of The Actuary entitled Better Standards for Setting Standards written by Dave Kass. It discusses the process itself, the time it takes to develop or change standards and how quickly new ideas should be incorporated in the standards.