CIA (e)Bulletin/(e)Bulletin de l'ICA

 

By Dave Dickson, FCIA
CIA President

After a very busy summer for many councils and committees, the Board had a packed agenda full of complex discussion items at its September 20–21 meeting. Extending the meeting to two days from the usual one allowed more time for strategic discussion of many of those items.

Here are some highlights from the meeting:

• Upcoming bylaw amendments on public statements: The Board approved the release of proposed bylaw amendments to members for consultation. These amendments will clarify the development process for future public statements. The proposed process calls for member input and Board ratification prior to the release of public statements that have elements that are beyond actuarial considerations. The consultation process runs through October 31, 2016. The Board will consider the input received and target formal adoption of the proposed amendments at its December 2016 meeting. Member confirmation of the amendments would likely be sought at a special General Meeting of members in February or March 2017.
• Potential upcoming public statements: Mike Hale, Chair of the Public Positions Committee presented five potential public statement topics. After a thorough discussion, the Board approved all of them for further investigation.
• CIA risk appetite: The Board’s Risk Committee presented a draft proposal on risk appetite for the CIA. The Board approved the proposal in principle and tasked the Risk Committee to finalize the document which will be applied to future CIA decisions.
• The future of CIA education: The Board debated alternative options for the future of CIA education. Educating future Canadian actuaries is a very complex issue, and the Board had a very good discussion. The Board asked for more information to be developed, which will be presented at our December meeting.
• Strategic plan, 2016–2019: Our strategic plan was reviewed and updates on strategic initiatives were provided. One of our strategic initiatives is a review of our corporate governance. A consultant hired to guide us through this process presented his comprehensive report. There are a large number of potential improvements to our governance processes for consideration. For example, we will look at the size of our Board, better ways to measure Board performance, and how to arrive at more effective committees and councils. This is a very important initiative that will impact the future of the CIA.
• Communications and member engagement strategy: Two of our communications professionals, Les Dandridge and Pascale Belleau, presented a plan to improve our communications and member engagement. They had done a lot of work on this strategy which was well-received and supported by the Board. One of the things they did was to measure member engagement at the individual level, by practice area, where members work, etc. There are a number of follow-up items to get us started, such as organizing focus groups with members to better understand what we need to provide, and how, so that members can better connect with the Institute.

This was the first time I chaired a CIA Board meeting and I found it gratifying to juggle items and deal with the issues around a full agenda. We addressed all our items and the Board was fully engaged in the discussions, which resulted in a very productive meeting.

We did identify some areas for improvement; changes we will implement at our next meeting. As an example, we will better frame future agenda items so that Board members know in advance whether they will be asked to make a decision, provide input, or if the item is being presented only for information.

If you have any questions or comments contact me at president@cia-ica.ca.

Dave Dickson, FCIA, is President of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.

 

 

By Marie-Hélène Malenfant, FCIA

The Member Services Council (MSC) has been busy these past few months. Here are the MSC’s current priorities, some of which are related to and in support of the Board’s strategic plan.

Emerging Practices Committee

Last April, the MSC approved the motion to create an Emerging Practices Committee with Claude Ferguson, Board member, as leader. The committee’s mandate includes developing, deploying, and monitoring a marketing strategy to identify new actuarial practice areas, increasing CIA member participation in emerging practice areas, and enhancing the hiring of actuaries in these areas. So far, eight members have been recruited, with a kick-off meeting expected this fall. They have identified 12 key documents related to emerging practices. The committee will connect with the committees related to emerging practices (Enterprise Risk Management Applications Committee, Health Committee, Climate Change and Sustainability Committee, and Predictive Modelling). It will report to the MSC in December on its ongoing work with communication, education, and involvement of Associates.

Influencing Public Policy

One of the main goals of the strategic plan is to influence public policy. The Public Positions Committee (PPC) reviewed a number of topics for public statements. Mike Hale, Chair of the PPC, presented five potential topics to the Board; the Board approved them all for further exploration.

Volunteering

The Volunteer Management and Development Committee (VMDC) revised its mandate, which the MSC approved on September 13, 2016. It is also in the process of revising the Volunteer Management Policy. Under the leadership of the new Chair, Claire Bilodeau, council and committee chairs were consulted on two occasions. This effort produced an ambitious report featuring important recommendations for action.

This report was presented at the MSC meeting in June, and included very interesting recommendations.

The committee is also in discussions to implement a developmental role on most councils and committees. This project has not yet started, but should before the end of the year.

Research

The Research Committee has recently approved phase one of a report on population aging and the 2005–2014 Critical Illness Insurance Morbidity Experience Study. It has also contracted six projects:

• Impairment and insolvency (2016–2017);
• Life mortality study (2014–2015);
• Annuitant mortality study (2003–2015);
• Consumption and bequests for Canadian retirees;
• Two-dimensional mortality improvement scales; and
• Markov Model for mortality.

The Research Committee has presented a proposal to restructure. It has identified the following reasons for change:

• Sustainability of the committee (getting new volunteers, succession planning, diversity);
• Heavy workloads for volunteers, especially for the chairs; and
• Several major gaps identified in current structure.

Communication

The Head Office consulted with the MSC on a draft strategic communications and member engagement strategy in order to improve those areas. As well, the Strategy Regarding Membership Surveys policy is currently being revised. It will soon be approved and published on the website.

Other Business

At its last meeting, MSC members voted on an issue regarding the CIAnet, in light of concerns presented by some CIA members. They agreed to restrict the CIAnet subscription to students and academics, who may subscribe at no charge. Paid subscriptions will be discontinued going forward and existing paid subscriptions (27 in total) will not be renewed as they expire. Subsequent to the MSC decision, the CIA Board agreed that students should be given a two-year grace period on their subscription upon completing their university education, to allow them time to meet the qualification requirements for Associate enrolment. As well, the MSC agreed that CIA meeting materials should be restricted to CIA members and CIAnet subscribers, and any non-members who register to attend a particular CIA meeting or seminar.

During the summer, the MSC was asked to decide on the future of the discussion listservers, such as the General List, under the customer relationship management (CRM) system: whether to merge it into a discussion forum or keep it as is but with new technology. After a survey through the Member Listening Group (MLG), the MSC was comfortable to go with the latter approach. At its most recent meeting in September, the MSC created a working group to explore further improvements to the discussion listservers.

The MSC, as well as all the other Councils, will be busy in the next few months restructuring their business, reviewing mandates, and realigning committees. Stay tuned for more updates!

Marie-Hélène Malenfant, FCIA, is Chair of the Member Services Council.

 

Career Changes

Tom Ault is now a partner in the retirement practice at Aon Hewitt.

Rob Brown, Mark Campbell, and Pierre Plamondon were selected for the panel of actuaries to peer review the 27th Actuarial Report on the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).

Congratulations to Mike Lombardi, who was elected President of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) for 2017–2018. He will serve as President-elect in 2016–2017.

Eileen F. Luxton was elected to a three-year term on the SOA Board of Directors.

Sun Life Financial has appointed Larry Madge as CEO at PVI Sun Life in Vietnam.

Troy Milnthorp is now a partner at Aon Hewitt.

Sun Life Financial has appointed Kevin Morrissey as senior vice-president and chief actuary.

Actuaries in the Media

Networking is a key part of any successful professional's career, and the CIA is offering you a fresh opportunity to inform your peers about your achievements and progress.

Our (e)Bulletin section, Actuaries on the Move, is a chance for you to publicize your new job, title, credentials, or other information. This is an opportunity to tell thousands of fellow actuarial professionals—whether they are ex-colleagues, former college friends, potential employers, future clients, etc.—about, for example:

• Your new job;
• A change of title or area of responsibility;
• Your new qualifications;
• A change of contact details;
• Awards or other recognition; or
• Publication of academic papers or articles.

Simply send an e-mail—one line of information can be enough, but feel free to add more if you so wish—to the CIA's English editor at bonnie.robinson@cia-ica.ca and we will aim to include it in the next issue of the (e)Bulletin.

For more news of CIA members and their activities, follow the CIA on Twitter.

 

The CIA’s Academic Research Grant Program, launched in September 2015 by the CIA Research Committee’s Academic Research Subcommittee (ARC), offers funding for scientific research projects in actuarial science with a potential impact on actuarial practice in Canada. The results of a funded project should lead to the submission of a refereed article in a scientific journal.

The program has four objectives: promote scientific actuarial research that helps solve practical problems faced by Canadian actuaries; help transfer knowledge to graduate students and practitioners; strengthen the relationship between the CIA and Canadian academics in the actuarial field; and foster partnerships between academics and practitioners.

Selection Process

The proposal selection process for funded projects kicks off in the fall, in anticipation of the coming year. Interested candidates submit a notice of intent that describes the context and objectives of the research project. A brief biography on the researchers is also submitted. These applications are examined and ranked by the ARC. The selection criteria that the subcommittee applies to research projects include the project’s interest and potential impact, the research team’s field of expertise, compliance with the budget set by the CIA, and the participation of at least one graduate student or practitioner in the research project.

Based on this process, the Research Committee conducts a preselection of qualified projects. This selection is communicated to the interested researchers, who submit a complete application including a review of the professional and scientific literature and an explanation of the methodology to be followed to meet the research project’s objectives. The projects are then assessed on the basis of the same criteria used by the Research Committee for the assessment of any other research project; namely, impact, cost-benefit analysis, uniqueness, quality, and feasibility. The final decision on which research projects will be green-lighted is taken in February of the following year.

Funded Proposals for this Year

The Research Committee received 12 notices of intent earlier this year, and invited seven proposal teams to submit a complete application. Three of those seven proposals received funding under the program this year:

• Constructing Two-Dimensional Mortality Tables (University of Waterloo): Members will benefit by the creation of a stochastic mortality model that has two-dimensional mortality improvement scales and by the development of specifically tailored measures of uncertainty for mortality projections. The researchers for this project are Johnny Li, Yanxin Liu, and Yuanpei Ma. The research team presented some preliminary results of the study at the 12^th International Longevity Risk and Capital Markets Solutions Conference held in Chicago in late September 2016.
• A Markov Model for Mortality (Western University): Members will benefit by the creation of a Markov mortality model where the dynamic relationship between the general health state of an insured and several dimensions of its health can be incorporated into a common framework. The researchers for this project are Xiaoming Liu, Jiandong Ren, and Boquan Cheng.
• Assessment of the Consumption and Bequest Preferences and Risk Aversion of Canadian Retirees and Pre-Retirees (University of Waterloo): Members will obtain a more complete picture of  the retirement objectives of Canadians to compare and contrast them with those that are commonly assumed in portfolio selection models. The researchers for this project are Mary Hardy, David Saunders, and Saisai Zhang.

The Academic Research Grant Program is kicking off its second year this fall. Some improvements have been made to the application process following year one, and the subcommittee will harmonize its calendar with that of the Society of Actuaries to better coordinate project selection and ensure diversity by ensuring that the same project is not funded by both organizations.

Encouraging Partnerships between Universities and Companies

In the medium- and long-term, the subcommittee plans to examine how the CIA can promote government programs that encourage partnerships between academia and companies. These partnerships would be beneficial to the actuarial community in that they would develop new knowledge, speed up the transfer of knowledge to practitioners, and foster scientific research. Two entities in particular offer partnerships between universities and companies; namely, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), which seeks partnerships to establish contacts with specialists from Canadian colleges and universities, and Mitacs, a national not-for-profit organization that establishes partnerships to support industrial and social innovation in Canada.

The subcommittee would like the CIA to promote such programs and opportunities for collaboration with companies, as well as taking on a leadership role as an intermediary between the universities and companies in the creation and promotion of these partnerships.

The subcommittee is composed of researcher professor members from across the country: Mathieu Boudreault (Chair), Alexandre Badescu, José Garrido, Bruce Jones, Yi Lu, and Chengguo Weng. For further information, visit the Academic Research Grant Program web page. For any questions on the program, please contact Mathieu Boudreault at boudreault.mathieu@uqam.ca.

 

 

The CIA is looking for members who possess excellent collaboration skills, can fairly represent the interests of the Canadian actuarial profession, and can bring energy and enthusiasm to their volunteer role as a representative on the following International Actuarial Association (IAA) committees:

• Accreditation;
• Advice and Assistance;
• Insurance Regulation; and
• Professionalism.

The CIA representatives on these committees would be expected to do the following:

1. Participate in the work of the committee;
2. Be prepared to travel internationally, probably twice a year, to participate in committee meetings;
3. Communicate key issues and developments to relevant CIA committees; and
4. Participate in conference calls in advance of and following each IAA meeting.

The terms of reference for these committees can be found at the IAA website. Successful applicants will be expected to make a three- to five-year commitment to this role, beginning in the spring of 2017. As well, preference will be given to applicants who are able to secure a sponsor (such as an employer) to fund any travel expenses.

Interested members are asked to contact Chris Fievoli at chris.fievoli@cia-ica.ca by October 9, 2016. Applicants will be reviewed by a selection committee, which will then make its recommendations to the CIA's International Relations Council.

 

 

Each spring, the CIA President-elect visits Canadian actuarial clubs. Scattered across the country, they include clubs in Alberta, Montréal, Québec City, Toronto, Vancouver, Waterloo, and Winnipeg. These clubs differ in size and activity level, but they all provide local opportunities for actuaries to meet and socialize. This month, the (e)Bulletin takes a look at three of them.

Vancouver Actuaries Club

The Vancouver Actuaries Club is an informal, social club with upwards of 100 people on its mailing list, and about 60–70 people who regularly show up to club events. About half of the members are students new to their careers; the rest are more established professional actuaries.

The club hosts four annual events, one each quarter:

• Winter (February or March) pub night;
• May luncheon as part of the CIA President-elect’s tour of actuarial clubs;
• August golf tournament; and
• Fall luncheon or other event.

Allen Furlong, President of the club, says the social aspect is important. "It’s all about being social with other people in the profession," he says. "Having a sense of belonging and being with other people who are going through the exams, or going through other similar experiences."

Each event has its own flavour and mix of attendees. The self-funded pub night (participants cover their food costs while the club provides the space and name tags) is a very popular social and networking event, well-attended by actuaries and students. The May luncheon focuses more on education and hearing about what the CIA is doing and less about networking; a lot of senior members attend this event as well.

While the club has historically operated through a mailing list and connections at Vancouver companies, Mr. Furlong says they are looking to establish a more accessible way of operating. "We would like to foster a more visible community, rather than just being contacts for a mailing list," he says. The club is considering creating a website and social media presence, more informal activities such as participating in the CIA’s Back to School program, and outreach to actuarial students at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia. "But we want to maintain the social aspect of the club," he says. "The club isn’t just somewhere you seek jobs."

Winnipeg Actuaries Club

The main focus of the Winnipeg Actuaries Club is continuing professional development (CPD). Members must be an ASA or ACIA to join. The club has 171 members. "We have a large contingent of younger actuaries," says Clayton Zaluski, President of the club. "They are the ones who show up most often. The older members often have other commitments."

The club holds a spring and fall meeting as well as an annual golf tournament in June. "The point of the club is to provide CPD training," says Mr. Zaluski. "We try to get a speaker who is CPD-relevant, to help provide our members with one-to-two hours of structured content for CPD." The meetings are usually luncheons, and also include any formal business and new initiatives the club wants to discuss. The golf tournament allows for networking, with a dinner and games after the event.

Outreach is important to the Winnipeg club. It has a strong relationship with the University of Manitoba, partnering with it to make connections with and provide support for actuarial students. The club sponsors a student scholarship and holds math contests with prizes.

The club has grown substantially in the past five years, a result of increased hiring of actuaries in Winnipeg. "We are probably similar to other areas of the country," says Mr. Zaluski. "Actuaries are in demand."

The club is looking at increasing the CPD they have to offer and is in the process of developing a website. "We have a strong commitment from the people involved in the club," says Mr. Zaluski, "so we haven’t needed a website up until this point."

Pacific Rim Actuaries Club of Toronto

The Pacific Rim Actuaries Club of Toronto is an active club for actuaries with an interest in the Pacific Rim region. Founded in 1993, it has over 150 active members representing the major insurers, reinsurance companies, and consulting firms in and around Toronto. Members are a mixture of Fellows, Associates, and other actuarial students.

The club holds two to three meetings each year with speakers, two dinner meetings in the winter (Chinese New Year) and fall, and a summer social event. The club sends blast e-mail announcements before the events, which are ticketed through the use of Eventbrite. "This eliminates financial losses from no-shows, as tickets are sold prior to the events," says Paul Chow, President of the club.

 
An event sponsored by the Pacific Rim Actuaries Club of Toronto. 

The club has been successful in securing corporate sponsors for its events. A typical meeting includes a 45-minute reception, which allows people to network. A slide show occurs during the reception that includes pictures from prior meetings and logos from each sponsor. Gold sponsors draw prizes at the Chinese New Year’s meeting and have an opportunity to address the crowd for one minute while on stage.

"We are different from other actuarial clubs in that the topics discussed usually are applicable to business in the Pacific Rim countries and the dinner meetings usually include a Chinese banquet," says Mr. Chow. The club’s mandate is "to establish a platform for actuaries in the greater Toronto area to share thoughts and ideas on business and financial issues related to the Pacific Rim region. Although life insurance is discussed the most, our past meetings also included topics on pensions, investments, economics, government regulations, property and casualty insurance, and others." Some speakers are actuaries; others are not.

"CPD credits may be earned by some attendees," Mr. Chow adds, "But our meetings are to obtain knowledge about, and applicable to, business in the Pacific Rim countries and opportunities to network and socialize."

The club’s website includes the following:

• Meeting announcements, links to registration, and meeting information;
• Logos for all the club’s sponsors and links to their company websites;
• Photo albums from prior meetings and events;
• Information and notes from prior meetings; and
• Career ads for actuarial positions available. 

"Whether members or not, we invite all actuaries and actuarial students to attend our meetings and other events to obtain knowledge from presentations by talented people and to network and socialize with the Toronto actuarial community," says Mr. Chow.

The Pacific Rim Actuaries Club of Toronto’s next event is a dinner meeting on November 17, with details for the event to be released in mid-October.

Check out the CIA website for more information on Canadian actuarial clubs.

 

 

Former CIA president John Birkenshaw passed away August 23, 2016. He was 88.

Mr. Birkenshaw studied at the University of Toronto, earning a degree in math and physics before embarking on a career in the life insurance industry. He spent 23 years at Confederation Life. In 1973, he founded MONY Life Insurance of Canada, the first in Canada to introduce lowered premiums for non-smokers.

"I enjoyed my years as a volunteer working with John, and his leadership style as President," said Yves Guérard who himself served as CIA President from 1982–1983. "I remember his original initiative of organizing a contest to design the first CIA logo. The winner was an actuary, Gilles Lachance, from Québec, who created the unique acronym symbol that was used successfully to promote the profession until 2005."

Mr. Birkenshaw served as CIA President from 1979–1980. An active volunteer since the founding of the CIA, he also served as Chair of the Elections Committee, Chair of the Publications Committee, Editor of the Board, and a member of the Actuarial Careers Committee. He was honoured with a Bronze Volunteer award at the 2015 CIA Annual Meeting.

John Birkenshaw obituary

 

 

 

Here is this month’s free archived webcast:

Enhancing Pricing Precision for Today’s Market: The Path to Consumer Centricity

Speaker:
Reuven Shnaps, PhD, VP professional services, Earnix

In response to new market realities, a growing number of North American insurance companies have recognized the need to establish tighter and more engaging relationships with their customers, and are doing so with improved use of analytics.

In the modern age of insurance, financial institutions collect large amounts of customer data. Utilizing a variety of different channels, insurance companies have more information than ever before. However, to improve customer experience, they need to use this information intelligently. The implementation of customer-centric processes and technology does not happen overnight. In the North American insurance industry, a successful implementation necessitates a robust process and technological solution that can cope with a number of specific challenges including the following:

• Effective ways of dealing with "big data";
• Lack of in-house analytical sophistication;
• Limited time-to-market capabilities; and
• The ability to measure the impact of pricing decisions.

This session reviewed common hurdles to adopting these advanced analytics techniques and proposed effective solutions to address some of the challenges along the path to customer centricity:

• How can insurance companies use data they already collect to improve their understanding of customer behavior and experiences?
• How can insurance companies establish a tighter and more informed relationship with their customers through improved use of analytics?
• What are the most common challenges that must be overcome and what are the best practices that should be applied?
• What techniques can be used to measure the results?

To access the webcast, click the link and log in: free CIA webcast.

 

      

The 2016 Pension and Investment Seminars are fast approaching.

On November 8, actuaries will gather in Montréal for the Pension Seminar. The seminar includes sessions on the following: 

• Samoisette v. IBM Canada Inc., a recent Québec Superior Court judgment on the right of a sponsor to amend a pension plan and post-retirement benefits;
• Issues and trends for pension plan accounting;
• Legal issues surrounding participant investment decisions in defined contribution pension plans; and
• Expansion of the Canada Pension Plan: how much is enough?

The luncheon guest speaker is Canadian Paralympic medallist and actuary Dean Bergeron, who will share his inspiring story of overcoming adversity to become a medal-winning para-athlete and successful actuary.

The next day, November 9, delegates at the Investment Seminar, also in Montréal, can attend sessions on a number of interesting topics including the following:

• Private debt and equity as a substitute for public investments;
• Investing in frontier and emerging markets;
• Strategies to hedge inflation-linked liabilities in Canadian dollars; and
• Using new technologies and tools for asset management.

Early-bird registration for the Pension Seminar and the Investment Seminar ends October 18. Online registration for both seminars closes November 2.

On December 8, the English-language Professionalism Workshop takes place in Toronto. The workshop is a 3/4-day session that makes extensive use of the case study method. The workshop is a requirement to become an Associate of the CIA (ACIA) and for property and casualty candidates applying for Fellowship in the CIA, unless they have attended the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Professionalism Course offered in Canada. Some of the topics the workshop covers include the following:

• What is a professional;
• The CIA structure;
• The CIA's views on professionalism;
• The CIA's discipline process; and
• Malpractice and legal liability.

Dates for 2017 will be announced soon.

 

It’s not too late to register for the 2016 In Focus Seminar: The Gathering Storm – Digital and Climate Disruptors to be held in Montréal, Québec from October 27–28 at the Montréal Marriott Château Champlain. This event is jointly sponsored by the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and the CIA.

The program will foster collaboration among risk management professionals on the following topics:

• Internet of things;
• Big data;
• Cyber liability;
• Climate change;
• Self-driving cars; and
• Drones.

 

September featured two CIA seminars: the Seminar for the Appointed Actuary and the Actuarial Evidence Seminar.

Delegates at the 2016 Seminar for the Appointed Actuary.       

This year, over 330 people attended the Seminar for the Appointed Actuary in Toronto. The seminar featured a variety of sessions covering a wide-range of topics, from the value of external peer review and internal audit to insurance fraud detection and risk management.

Chris Mathers, keynote speaker and best-selling author or the non-fiction book, Crime School: Money Laundering, brought his expertise as a crime and risk consultant to his presentation on what actuaries should know about data gathering, cybercrime, and privacy laws. Mr. Mathers also examined trends in personal information gathering by insurance (life and P&C) companies and the safeguards that companies should use to store this information.

Mr. Mathers’ thoughts on crime risk included the following:

• Criminals take advantage of human nature.
• There is no new crime, just new ways of doing crime.
• Cybercrime is the number one national threat to Canada, ahead of terrorism, espionage, and weapons of mass destruction.
• Wouldn’t it be cool if actuaries had a time machine?
• Government is not tracking us. Businesses, banks, mobile providers, apps, social media, and employers all do.
• If you have an opinion on something, share it with your friends, don’t put it online—it’s a dumb idea.

Actuarial Evidence Seminar

 Delegates at the 2016 Actuarial Evidence Seminar.

Over 50 people attended the Actuarial Evidence Seminar, also held in Toronto. Speakers discussed numerous issues, including the new Ontario auto insurance regulations, the methods to project the educational attainment of minors, inflation in the cost of healthcare, the draft standards on use of models, and tax adjustment calculations in Ontario marital breakdown.

Chris Bentley, former Attorney General of Ontario presented at an AE session called Innovation and the Actuary – Towards a 21^st-Century Justice System. "I have no clue what actuaries do," he said. "But don’t think that people who don’t know anything about actuaries have no influence on your work. I’m the Bill-133 guy." Among other things, Bill-133 covered regulation of pension division and valuation provisions in Ontario’s Family Statute Law Amendment Act, 2009.

The Committee on Continuing Education, chaired by Jeremy Bell, continues to plan top-notch programming for CIA members each year through the AE and AA Seminar, the Pension and Investment Seminars, the Annual Meeting (which is in Québec City next June), and regular webcasts. The committee and CIA staff greatly appreciate members’ support and attendance at CIA events.

In 2017, the Seminar for the Appointed Actuary will take place in Montréal. Stay tuned for information on the 2017 Actuarial Evidence Seminar.

 

Practice Council

The following people have been appointed to the (sub)committees named below:

• Committee on Risk Management and Capital Requirements: Marco Fillion (Chair), Hélène Baril, Nicolas Beaudoin, David Gourlay, Marc-André Harvey, Richard Houde, Kelvin Lam, Jennifer Meng, and Pierre-Alexandre Veilleux, effective July 25, 2016; and
• Committee on the Appointed/Valuation Actuary: Wally Bridel (effective July 1, 2014), Manon Débigaré (effective August 23, 2016), Ty Faulds, Éric Jobin, Larry Madge (effective July 1, 2013), Daniel Pellerin (effective July 1, 2012), Les Rehbeli (effective July 1, 2014), Phil Watson (effective July 1, 2011), and Maria Zaharia (effective August 2, 2016).

The following people have completed their term with the (sub)committees named below, and leave with thanks:

• Committee on Risk Management and Capital Requirements: Jessi Gaulin, Pierre Laurin, Diana Pisanu, and Leonard Pressey;
• Committee on the Appointed/Valuation Actuary: René Chabot, August C. Chow, Stephen Haist, Ben Meckler, Lesley Thomson, and Douglas Tozer;
• Committee on Property and Casualty Insurance Financial Reporting: Maja Dos Santos; and
• Committee on Pension Plan Financial Reporting: Jennifer Schoenfeld.

Member Services Council

The MSC approved a new mandate for the Volunteer Management and Development Committee as follows:

• Supporting the CIA Head Office staff in promoting and coordinating all of the CIA’s volunteer initiatives;
• Working with chairs and leaders to identify and recruit volunteers to meet the CIA’s strategic and operational needs, while fostering members' interests with the goal of balancing member representation;
• Enhancing the volunteer experience with the objective of engaging more members;
• Supporting the CIA Head Office staff to maintain a database of current and potential volunteers, including up-to-date volunteer profiles;
• Ensuring the website content and tools related to volunteering, and in particular, the Volunteer Centre, are adequate and timely;
• Implementing, enforcing, updating, and reviewing the CIA’s Volunteer Management Policy and associated documents;
• Working with the CIA Head Office staff to identify, recognize, celebrate, and reward outstanding volunteers; and
• Reporting to the MSC and the Board (where appropriate).

Eligibility and Education Council

The following people have been appointed to the (sub)committees named below:

• Committee on Continuing Education: Jeremy Bell (Chair), Stephanie Banfield, and Deborah McMillan, effective July 1, 2016;
• Individual Life and Health Insurance Subommittee: Jean-Pierre Cormier (Chair), Laura Anders, Yiru Chen, and Debbie Chiu, effective July 1, 2016;
• Property and Casualty Insurance Subcommittee: Ghislain Brault-Joubert;
• Corporate Life and Health Subcommittee: Alison Rose (Chair), Irawati Chen, and Simon Girard, effective July 1, 2016;
• Reinsurance Subcommittee: Stephanie Banfield (Chair), Patrick Charbonneau, Graham Sutton, and Elena Stoyanova Tonkovski, effective September 1, 2016;
• Enterprise Risk Management Subcommittee: Ella Young, effective July 1, 2016;
• Investments Subcommittee: Martin Bélanger, François Bourdon, Ashley Goorachurn, and Benny Wan, effective July 1, 2016; and
• Webcast Champions Subcommittee: Deborah McMillan (Chair), Craig Allen, Laura Anders, Jeremy Bell, Claudia Gagné, Daniel Klein, Satnam MacLean, June Smyth, and Andrei Titioura, effective July 1, 2016.
• Committee on Education: Bruno Gagnon (Chair), Mathieu Boudreault, Sophia Banduk, Claudia Gagné, Bruno Gagnon, Minaz Lalani, Bruce Langstroth, Isabelle Larouche, Joel Li, and Stéphane McGee, effective immediately;
• Exam 6 Canada Syllabus Subcommittee: Stéphane McGee (Co-chair), Sophia Banduk (Co-chair), Mei-Hsuan Chao, Sarah Chevalier, Brian Yung Man Choi, Alana Farrell, Jacqueline Friedland, Patricia Hladun, Henry Lim, Ryaz Mohamed, Lydia Roy, Sean Satar, Erika Schurr, Lleweilun Smith, Zander Smith, and Gang Xu, effective July 1, 2016.
• Committee on Examinations and Assessments
• University Accreditation Program Subcommittee: Jeremy D. Shoemaker (CAS observer), effective immediately;
• Group Benefits Examination Subcommittee: Bruno Gagnon (Chair), effective September 15, 2016;
• Exam Translation Subcommittee: Olivier Fafard (Chair), effective September 15, 2016; and
• Committee on Eligibility: Terence Narine (Chair), Marie-Eve Nadeau, effective July 1, 2016.

The following people have completed their term with the (sub)committees named below, and leave with thanks:

• Committee on Continuing Education: Mayur Shah;
• Reinsurance Subcommittee: Mayur Shah, Maria Semak;
• Property and Casualty Insurance Subcommittee: Lisa Guglietti, Sylvain Nolet and Fiona So;
• Pension Subcommittee: Charlene Moriarty; and
• Committee on Examinations and Assessments: Amy Waldhauer.

 

By Kelly Fry and Josée Gonthier

The CIA wants to improve the appearance, content, and delivery of its digital communications. First, though, we want members to tell us what changes they would like to see to ensure that we deliver materials they want, in the format that is most accessible to them.

Members have received an e-mail about the CIA’s communications survey. We encourage you to participate in the survey by Friday, October 21, 2016. It should take a maximum of 15 minutes to complete. We value your input as we move towards modernizing our digital communications.

The CIA produces a wide variety of materials including educational notes, continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities, research papers, and newsletters. A 2012 study by McKinsey Global Institute and International Data Corporation found that employees spend 28 percent of their time on e-mail. The CIA wants to make sure that we communicate in the most efficient way possible because we value your limited time. The more members who respond to the survey, the better our communications will be.

The survey covers topics including how valuable you find the content of different types of CIA communication materials, the format in which you prefer to receive them (e-mail, website, social media), and improvements you would like to see.

Going forward, members can expect CIA materials to have a more streamlined, modern appearance, to be short, concise, and easier to read, and to provide targeted, relevant news to your practice area, or other areas you are interested in.

Kelly Fry is manager, marketing, and Josée Gonthier is manager, communications, at the CIA Head Office.