Description: I volunteered to assist with the Actuaries Without Borders Global Mentorship Program both as a mentor and deputy program manager. This article summarizes the lessons I have learned from my first year of involvement. I hope to inform readers about the obstacles actuaries face in developing countries and to encourage them to consider participating in this program.

Description: Catastrophic exposure is on the rise owing to extreme weather and economic development of the past few years. Catastrophic claims peaked in 2017, but continue to pose a challenge to insurance markets. Global reinsurers seem to be well-capitalized despite the increase in CAT claims. But emerging insurance markets show a wide protection gap relative to more advance markets. Can reinsurance play a role in helping to narrow the gap? This article examines a few ideas.

Description: Microinsurance mechanisms provide coverage to low income earners, but a growing middle class is often lacking adequate access to insurance services. The author explores ways in which insurance may be more accessible.

Description: Andy Rallis delivers his speech at the presidential luncheon of the SOA 2019 SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit in Toronto.

Description: It's a given that actuaries have well-developed technical skills. Early career development for actuaries is focused on building a strong technical and industry foundation. However, once that development has occurred an actuary still has most of their career left. Many want to remain technical experts operating in an environment they love. Others, either by design or otherwise, end up in leadership and management roles. In fact, actuaries are typically very well positioned to become senior leaders within their organizations. However, while the technical development of actuaries is a well-defined path, leadership development is not. The competencies that make for good technical actuaries aren't necessarily the competencies that make good leaders. An actuary striving for a broad leadership role needs to build strong communication and influencing skills, as well as strategic and general business skills. They must be able to quickly adapt to being submerged in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment. This workshop is intended to educate mid-level actuaries on the key characteristics that define good leaders and how to focus on building the skills necessary to successfully transition into a leadership role. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to: - Determine if a leadership path is right for them - Learn the key competencies that make good leaders - Understand how to build the skills necessary to move from technical expert to leader

Description: This article by Carlos Arocha explores the protection gap throughout Latin America for coverage against natural catastrophic events. As climate change has increased both the frequency and severity of these events, coverage gaps have weighed on both household and public sector economics. In the article, Carlos highlights different methods for evaluating the size of this protection gap, and discusses a number of different ideas for closing this gap, through private sector initiatives, public sector changes, or private-public partnerships.

Description: This article outlines and summarizes research from Swiss Re about the prevalence of the Health Protection Gap throughout Asia, with a particular focus on China. Authors Robert Burr and David Zhang share key statistics on the scope of the gap, which is more than 800Bn USD in China alone, and discuss the role that technology and private-public partnership can play in reducing this gap over time. Readers will come away with an understanding of the scale of the problem within the Asia region as well as new ideas on how to solve similar problems within their own region.

Description: In this Get REAL workshop, you will work through sticky situations and discuss how to handle them, hear what the conversations sound like, be able to identify the stories you're creating and know what to do if you are the lone wolf on the topic.

Description: This report documents the “Constructing Occupational -Specific Life Tables for China” project under the “China Research Topics” proposal.

Description: Notes on the IAA meeting that took place in D.C. in May