Description: The Board of Governors of the Society of Actuaries unanimously approved a proposal from the Nontraditional Marketing NTM Section Council to change the name of the section to the Marketing and Distribution MAD Section. From News Direct, September 2005, Issue No. 51.

Description: To better understand the product development process and practices currently used at insurance companies, the Society of Actuaries Marketing and Distribution Section Council initiated a Product Development Survey in the summer of 2006. The goal of the survey was to identify company practices for product development by asking individuals with product implementation responsibilities about the process followed at their companies. For this survey, the “product development process” was viewed holistically – encompassing everything from how ideas are generated through to how products are monitored post-launch. Also, all aspects of the product development process were considered – marketing, actuarial, underwriting, finance, customer service, IT, legal/compliance, etc.

Description: This is an editorial about the new format of the newsletter and impetus behind it.

Description: This article explains how the use of technology and data can help a company be successful in the simplified issue life insurance market. Prescription drug profiles are a valuable new source of data for this purpose.