Description: A regularly occurring column in this Leadership and Development Section publication, it is a platform for the Section Chairperson to communicate with the readership regarding upcoming important topics that this Section will focus on in the current year. This article provides an overview of the new plan of focus for the newly-elected Leadership and Development Section Council for 2023.

Description: In this real life case study, an actuarial candidate tried to get the hiring manager to increase the level of the position for which she was interviewing. Did that raise red flags about her candidacy? A compilation of reader responses is presented, along with what actually happened.

Description: This article is the result of the Leadership & Development book club on Dare Lead. The article talks about major themes in the book and relates them to other podcasts and authors thought on those themes.

Description: The article highlights the importance of learning and development (L&D) for personal and professional growth. While many have access to resources like seminars and online courses, few fully utilize them. Genuine curiosity, behavior shifts, priority management, and discipline are key to effective L&D. Learning is an active, deliberate process, requiring consistent effort and time management. It’s important to set clear goals, create a timeline, and schedule regular progress checks. Rather than relying on motivation alone, building disciplined habits is crucial for sustained improvement. Ultimately, personal growth is a self-driven journey, not dependent on external validation.

Description: This article gives examples of good and bad prompts for actuaries to use when using large language models.

Description: It is with great pleasure that we announce the winner of the “2024 Best Article” in Reinsurance News. Amongst a pool of exceptional articles, the article “What Does the Future of Mortality Look Like?” submitted by Adam Jedynak and Connie Cheng was chosen by the jury as the victorious submission. The article appeared in the June 2024 issue of Reinsurance News. It explores recent shifts in mortality, including post-COVID excess mortality, and looks at the impact of medical advancements and societal changes on mortality.

Description: The Best Article in the Reinsurance News 2023 and News from the Reinsurance Section Council

Description: The article “IFRS 17, Economic Volatility, and Reinsurance” (IFRS 17, Economic Volatility, and Reinsurance | SOA) was designated the best article published in Reinsurance News in 2022. It looks at providing industry insights on preparing for the new global accounting standard. The article was submitted by Paul Sauvé (RGA) and it appeared in the June 2022 issue.

Description: The SECURE Act of 2019 requires an annual disclosure to participants in defined contribution plans. The intention is to help participants understand the relationship between their account balances and the estimated retirement income—that might be provided from those balances. But the disclosure requirements lack the features needed to provide meaningful information to many participants, which can be misleading if not well understood. Consequently, this provides an opportunity for actuaries to work with retirement plan sponsors to improve the disclosures.

Description: We explore the question of how an actuary–artificial intelligence collaboration might look in the future and how actuaries should be trained to best leverage this technology. It felt fitting to accomplish this through a conversation with an AI system, as AI involvement is warranted to ground the analysis in the technology’s true capabilities.