Description: This newsletter suggests that the building and maintaining relationships the is key to success in both personal and business relationships, particularly in the employee benefits consulting business. In addressing the need for actuaries to build these skills a series of workshops is planned and presented.

Description: July 2019 issue of Small Talk by the Smaller Insurance Company Section. Practical information for actuaries, trends that impact section, and section activities.

Description: This article, based on the book, True Professionalism by David H. Maister, offers four tests that a leader must meet.

Description: This article examines the application of a twelve-step program to managerial situations thereby achieving more productive managerial behavior and greater effectiveness.

Description: There is a growing amount of “off-balance sheet” talent in the US and Global workforce. This spans from consultants and contractors, to gig workers and the crowd (both curated crowd and open crowd). One such example is Uber and Lyft workers. Insurance companies and the Actuarial profession have started to experiment with platforms such as Kaggle and this will continue to grow and evolve. This article explores these new sources of talent for companies, the implications to the actuarial function, benefits and challenges of the evolving workforce.

Description: This article reports on the latest annual survey about the relationship between reinsurers and their cedant clients. Some improvement was seen in 2011 from both actuaries and underwriters.

Description: Gearing up-- exploring the rewards for completing the SoA Competency Framework tools of Self-Assessment and Personal Development Plan.

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: As part of the 2019 Disruptions to the Actuarial Profession Contest, this essay posits that the actuarial profession should respond to other fields encroaching on its space, particularly software development and data science, not by a defensive reaction to establish a boundary between fields but instead by a welcoming attitude that seeks to utilize expertise from other fields while maintaining the actuarial role of comprehensive risk management and its hard-earned professional trust.

Description: LDTI’s introduction has forced many insurers to examine their existing operations and technologies. They must determine how to optimize compliance efforts while balancing data, analytics and system modernization considerations to achieve maximum value. This article will examine the four key facets—the data, technology, processes, and people—essential to any successful LDTI exercise. It will also touch on the various approaches for tackling LDTI and how a modernization mindset can help insurers realize much greater transformation for the business.