Description: In the spring of 2019, Dr. Cai started to serve as the Actuarial Science Program coordinator at Salisbury University, a medium-sized public teaching school in Maryland. At that time, the program was small, with only two faculty members who focused on both statistics and actuarial science, with approximately 10 students. During the next five years, the program did make some achievements in curriculum development, student exam preparation, job placement, and recognition, but Dr. Cai continued to have a dream to make the program unique. Dr. Cai believed that the skill sets students learned, even from a small program, could enable them to compete with anyone on a global basis. In spring 2024, Dr. Cai advised a group of exceptional actuarial students to participate in the 2024 Society of Actuaries (SOA) Student Research Case Study Challenge (SRCSC), and the team won third place – —behind two teams from the University of New South Wales, Australia. This article is the story of the journey.

Description: It highlights key initiatives and leadership changes within the SOA Education and Research (E&R) Section in year 2025.

Description: An article summarizing the SOA Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium held June 12 - 13, 2024.

Description: Study, discuss and explore the professionalism practice, code of conduct and application of the actuarial profession. Hear from seasoned presenters from mainland China as they cover several issues encountered in daily actuarial working environments through business cases and interactive discussions.

Description: This paper delves in the four pillars that support the professional exercise of an actuarial mathematician: operating, teaching, consulting and researching.

Description: The Ecuadorian Actuarial Association (AEACT) was admitted, as a Full Member (FMA) of the International Actuarial Association (IAA) in October 2021. This constitutes a great achievement for a small country like Ecuador with 17 million inhabitants, a GDP of 100 billion U.S. dollars, and no more than 20 professional and registered actuaries. This important goal was a challenge both personally and for the team that worked hard to achieve it. I remember that it all began 28 years ago, when I attended as a guest to present a summary about the actuarial profession in our country at the World Congress of Actuaries that was held in Montreal, Canada. This congress was the opportunity to learn about the functions and activities of the associations of more developed countries with a significant number of actuaries and whose profession already had an acceptance in professional societies such as the Society of Actuaries in the United States, the Faculty of Actuaries of the United Kingdom, or the Institut des Actuaries of France.

Description: Interview with the current Chair of the Retirement Section Council, describing the work of the Council and other topics.

Description: A real-life situation is posed involving a management, leadership, or other business decision, and readers are invited to submit their responses to "What Would You Do?" This issue’s case study found amid-career actuary uprooting his family for a new job that involved promotion to Chief Actuary. Shortly after, he found that the company was in serious financial difficulty, and he felt he'd been deceived during the interview process.

Description: Learn from panelists from different companies as they come together to discuss their experiences.

Description: How do Professionalism and the Actuarial Standards of Practice apply as the way we work and tools we use continue to change? Business is conducted via social media and messaging and Generative AI allows for additional scenarios, analysis and oversight. Join us for an interactive session to go deeper into these topics including case studies, polls and a panel discussion.