When:Thursday, May 19, 2016 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Where: Connecticut Convention Center 100 Columbus Blvd Hartford, CT 06103
Itinerary
click here
Detailed Agenda
click here
Attendee List
By Last Name
By Company
General Session #1 (9:00-10:00)
Professionalism & Ethics
Tanya Manning
Session Description:
Covers the basic premise of what 'ethics' are and then applies this to various case studies and difficult ethical situations faced by actuaries in their day-to-day practice. Situations covered include conflicts of interest, selection of assumptions, 'difficult' clients, and working with the prior actuary.
Tonya Manning is the Chief Actuary and US Retirement Leader for Xerox HR Services' Wealth Practice. In this capacity, she provides strategic direction, guidance and support to staff on emerging trends, consulting topics, technical issues, professional standards, and policies and procedures. Prior to joining Buck, Tonya worked as a policy actuary at the U.S. Department of Treasury, where she was involved in a number of activities related to employee plans, including participating in regulation projects, reviewing ruling requests, and providing technical support and public outreach. Prior to joining Treasury, Tonya worked for 22 years at Aon Consulting as a senior consultant and chief actuary for the U.S. retirement practice. Tonya has expertise in pension risk management and retirement plan design, governance, and compliance. She is also experienced in assisting other actuaries with quality assurance and compliance with actuarial professional standards.
Tonya has been fortunate to serve the actuarial profession in multiple roles. She has previously served as President of the Society of Actuaries and as a member of the Society's Board of Directors. She is vice-chair of the International Actuarial Association's Scientific Committee and a member of the Association's Strategic Planning Subcommittee. She serves as a member of the American Academy of Actuaries' Pension Practice Council and Pension Committee, and is co-chair of the Academy's Lifetime Income Task Force. She also represents the Society of Actuaries on the Corporate Advisory Council for the International Association of Black Actuaries and is a member of the SOA's Diversity and Inclusion Committee. In January 2016, Tonya joined The Actuarial Foundation's Board of Trustees. She has previously served as chair of the Society of Actuaries' Pension Section Council, as a member of the Society's International Committee, Leadership Development Committee, , and as a member the Pension Committee for the Actuarial Standards Board. Tonya frequently serves as a speaker and has made many presentations regarding pension funding, risk management and compliance at conferences and seminars to both peers and plan sponsors.
Tonya is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Fellow in the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, an Enrolled Actuary, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Tonya graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) in 1988 and resides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with her husband Kent.
Breakout Sessions AM (10:30-11:30)
A: Raising the Bar: An Assessment Framework for Big Data Analytics Program
John Wilson
Session Description:
The need to engage in "big data" and its concomitant assortment of analytics has become a rallying cry for most life insurance and financial services companies. However, the organization and implementation of an effective big data strategy has proven elusive for many
firms. According to a recent LIMRA report, 40 percent of companies feel that they are behind their competitors in data analytics. Primary reasons include lack of or limited management support and poor data integration as a result of multiple legacy systems. These reasons align with the challenges companies have in general in building/implementing an analytics program.
John Wilson, FLMI, AIRC, ACS is a Data Scientist for LIMRA. Prior to joining LIMRA, he enjoyed a 20+ year career in retail. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Central Connecticut State University and a Master's Degree in Business Analytics and Project Management from the University of Connecticut, where he is a member of the School of Business Hall of Fame. In addition to his consulting duties at LIMRA, John is an in-Residence faculty member at UCONN where he teaches both graduate and undergrad courses in Visual Analytics, Engineering Management, Cost & Risk Management and Operations Management, and Information Systems Management.
B: Claims Tracking & Monitoring - a GLM and Retrospective Reserving Approach
Jay Vadiveloo & Gao Niu
presentation
Session Description:
The session will describe two unique and practical approaches to tracking and monitoring claims experience for a life insurance company. The first approach describes a statistically rigorous and consistent approach to adjust industry expected assumptions based on actual experience when expected assumptions are derived from a GLM model. The approach also incorporates a credibility factor which could be based on either the significance of the individual GLM parameters or the size of the company relative to the entire industry database used to develop the expected assumptions.
The second approach uses a reserving technique to determine how prospective reserves should be adjusted in a statistically rigorous and consistent manner using retrospective reserves. In order to develop this technique, the Goldenson Center has introduced a new random variable in the actuarial literature, namely the retrospective loss random variable. The adjustment to the prospective reserves of a company will be based on the deviation between the realized and expected retrospective loss random variable. Similar to the GLM approach, the retrospective reserving approach incorporates a credibility factor which recognizes that longer duration policies provide more credibility in determining how prospective reserves should be adjusted.
Both approaches represent current research work at the Goldenson Center which we plan to publish in an academic journal.
Jay Vadiveloo, as Professor & Director of the Janet & Mark L. Goldenson Center for Actuarial Research at the University of Connecticut, works on applied actuarial research projects using teams of academicians, students and industry professionals. Jay has a doctorate in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He has over 25 years of experience working in senior level management positions in the life insurance industry and more than 20 years of experience with UConn's actuarial science program.
Gao Niu is a Ph.D Candidate in Actuarial Science with Jay Vadiveloo as his major advisor. Gao has participated in and helped manage several of the Goldenson Center research projects over the past 4 years, including today's session. Gao is expected to earn his PhD sometime this year.
C: Pension Risk Transfer Pricing
presentation
Steve Rancourt
Session Description:
TBD
Steven Rancourt is a Director & Actuary for Prudential, and currently leads a funded buy-out pricing research & development team in the Pension Risk Transfer business. The team's primary focus is developing pricing methodologies, managing the model enhancement process, supporting select transactions, and assisting in product development. In his previous longevity underwriting role, he supported the largest longevity reinsurance transaction to date and several US pension risk transfer transactions. Before his current role, Steven led the valuation and hedging execution team for Institutional Income, along with being a member of Prudential's Actuarial Leadership Development Program (ALDP).
D: Reinsurance: Managing Group Life and Disability Risk
Amy Whinett
presentation
Session Description:
This session will provide an overview of the use of reinsurance and managing Group Life and disability risk from a reinsurer and a direct carrier's perspective. Some topics discussed will include:
Amy has worked in the insurance industry for 20 years and brings extensive pricing experience from both a direct carrier and reinsurer perspective. In her current role of AVP and Group Actuary at Munich Re in Atlanta, GA, Amy oversees the pricing of Munich Re's Group Life block of business, provides consultation to clients on group life and disability topics and is responsible for driving the group department's automated underwriting initiatives. Prior to joining Munich Re in 2013, she worked in a number of Group Pricing roles at Unum in Portland, Maine for over a decade. Amy is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and holds a Bachelor's of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Amy is the Vice Chair of the SOA Group Life Experience Committee and member of the Group Underwriters' Association of America Group Life Committee.
General Session #2 (12:45-2:15)
Update from the Chief Actuary of Social Security
Stephen Goss, Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration
Session Description:
Social Security Actuarial Status: Why there is a projected shortfall, what it means, and how it will be fixed
Steve Goss has been Chief Actuary at the Social Security Administration since 2001. Mr. Goss joined the Office of the Chief Actuary in 1973 after graduating from the University of Virginia with a Master's Degree in Mathematics. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree majoring in mathematics and economics. He has worked in areas related to health insurance and long-term-care insurance as well as pension, disability, and survivor protection.
Mr. Goss is a member of the Society of Actuaries, the American Academy of Actuaries, the National Academy of Social Insurance, the Social Insurance Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries, and the Social Security Retirement and Disability Income Committee of the Society of Actuaries.
Breakout Sessions PM (2:30-3:30)
A: Algorithmic Underwriting - A Game Changer
Mark Sayre and Sears Merritt
Session Description:
The explosion of new data sources and products is rapidly disrupting the Life Underwriting landscape and catalyzing product innovation. Come learn how credit data, electronic health records and predictive analytics will drive the future of Algorithmic and Manual Underwriting techniques.
Mark Sayre is the Underwriting Product Manager for Haven Life. In this role, he oversees development of algorithmic and manual underwriting solutions to support all of MassMutual's Direct-to-Consumer efforts. He received a B.A. in Economics from New York University and a M.Sc in Economics and Management from Universita Commercial Luigi Bocconi. He is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries, a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Sears Merritt, as Chief Data Scientist, leads the Data Science Program at MassMutual. In various roles, including engineer, researcher, and technology advisor, he has spent the past 12 years working with data and big data systems in industry and academia. Sears holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science, an M.S. in Telecommunications and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, all from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
B: Late Breaking Developments in Pensions
presentation
Tonya Manning
Session Description:
Attend this perennial favorite for a review of guidance and other developments from the past year, with a special focus on events that occur shortly before the meeting. The speaker may address rulings, regulations, litigation, accounting changes and other news. Note that the allocation between core and noncore credit depends on the actual content of the session.
Tonya Manning is the Chief Actuary and US Retirement Leader for Xerox HR Services' Wealth Practice. In this capacity, she provides strategic direction, guidance and support to staff on emerging trends, consulting topics, technical issues, professional standards, and policies and procedures. Prior to joining Buck, Tonya worked as a policy actuary at the U.S. Department of Treasury, where she was involved in a number of activities related to employee plans, including participating in regulation projects, reviewing ruling requests, and providing technical support and public outreach. Prior to joining Treasury, Tonya worked for 22 years at Aon Consulting as a senior consultant and chief actuary for the U.S. retirement practice. Tonya has expertise in pension risk management and retirement plan design, governance, and compliance. She is also experienced in assisting other actuaries with quality assurance and compliance with actuarial professional standards.
Tonya has been fortunate to serve the actuarial profession in multiple roles. She has previously served as President of the Society of Actuaries and as a member of the Society's Board of Directors. She is vice-chair of the International Actuarial Association's Scientific Committee and a member of the Association's Strategic Planning Subcommittee. She serves as a member of the American Academy of Actuaries' Pension Practice Council and Pension Committee, and is co-chair of the Academy's Lifetime Income Task Force. She also represents the Society of Actuaries on the Corporate Advisory Council for the International Association of Black Actuaries and is a member of the SOA's Diversity and Inclusion Committee. In January 2016, Tonya joined The Actuarial Foundation's Board of Trustees. She has previously served as chair of the Society of Actuaries' Pension Section Council, as a member of the Society's International Committee, Leadership Development Committee, , and as a member the Pension Committee for the Actuarial Standards Board. Tonya frequently serves as a speaker and has made many presentations regarding pension funding, risk management and compliance at conferences and seminars to both peers and plan sponsors.
Tonya is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Fellow in the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, an Enrolled Actuary, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Tonya graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) in 1988 and resides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with her husband Kent.
C: May19-2016-Impact of DOL Fiduciary Standard Proposal
presentation 1
presentation 2
Guillaume Briere-Giroux and Tina Campbell
Session Description:
In this session, a legal expert will introduce the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary standard proposal and explain potential implications for the life insurance industry. An actuarial consultant operating in the annuity space will cover potential downstream impacts of the rule on product offerings, pricing and policyholder behavior.
Guillaume Briere-Giroux is Principal and Hartford Office Leader at Oliver Wyman. Guillaume joined Oliver Wyman in 2013. He has worked with most top annuity writers on issues related to product development, financial reporting, ALM, financial modeling and risk management. His areas of practice also include mergers and acquisitions, model validation, experience studies and stable value products. He is a frequent speaker at SOA meetings and his work and research have been featured in the press and many actuarial publications. Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, Guillaume was Senior Consultant with Towers Watson's Risk Consulting practice. Prior to joining Towers Watson, Guillaume was corporate risk director at Allianz Life. Guillaume has a degree in actuarial science from the Ecole d'Actuariat de l'Universite Laval, located in Quebec City. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a CFA Charterholder.
Tina Campbell is an expert in the areas of employee benefit program, financial products, and services, with particular focus on the development of benefit programs, products and solutions that are focused on successful retirement planning while ensuring compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, including emerging fiduciary liability concerns for employers, financial institutions and broker dealers. Tina is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, having earned a BS in Psychology, and she was awarded her JD from New England School of Law. Ms. Campbell engaged in private practice in the Greater Boston area for a decade prior to securing in-house positions with mutual fund and insurance product financial institutions focusing on the development and delivery of programs, products and services for retirement benefits made available by employers for their employees as well as retail products and services. She is currently engaged in providing consulting services regarding the legal and tax implications of the development and delivery of employee benefits and financial advice, with particular focus on fiduciary liability associated there with.
D: Value Based Reimbursement - How CMS is Changing the Game
Marla Pantano
presentation
Session Description:
CMS recently announced that they achieved their goal of 30% of Medicare payments tied to alternative payment models by 1/1/16, one year ahead of the schedule laid out by HHS Secretary, Sylvia Burwell. The expectation is by end of 2018 for that to grow to 50% of payments. In addition, many states under Medicaid are pursuing their own alternative payment strategies. The public sector in collaboration with private sector colleagues has formed the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (HCP LAN) which is outlining common principles on alternative payment methods to ensure more consistency in the marketplace. This session will cover the most critical new models and principles being addressed to drive to changes in how health care is reimbursed.
Marla Pantano is a consulting actuary with the Hartford, Connecticut office of Milliman where her primary focus is on assisting providers, health plans and other clients to be successful in the new world of value based reimbursement and practice transformation. Prior to joining Milliman, Marla was Vice President of Analytics at ConnectiCare where she worked collaboratively with a dozen provider organizations to develop contracting, analytics and practice transformation for both Commercial and Medicare Advantage members. Prior to ConnectiCare, Marla spent 25 years at Aetna where she held a wide variety of roles including leading Aetna's Medical Analytic Organization and co-leading Aetna's health care reform project management office.
General Session #3 (4:00-5:00)
What's New with Access Health CT and the ACA?
Steven Sigal
presentation
Session Description:
An overview of all the latest happenings with the ACA and Access Health CT, Connecticut's State-based Marketplace (SBM), will be presented. Access Health CT is not Healthcare.gov and has been one of the most successful SBM's in the nation. The session will cover 2016 open enrollment and what's in store for 2017, the impact Access Health CT has on the health plans offering private insurance plans on the exchange, as well as a view of the impact of the wave of health plan mergers might be. You will come away with a better understanding of what some say is the disruption caused by the ACA and Access Health CT.
Steven J. Sigal is Chief Financial Officer of Access Health CT, Connecticut's state based marketplace contemplated in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Steve is a CPA with over 35 years of diversified financial experience. His background includes senior finance positions for insurance entities Aetna and Travelers, including several involving turnaround and start up efforts. Steve began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was an Audit Manager. Mr. Sigal has a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Accounting from Georgetown University, and a certificate from the Advanced Management Program at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He is also a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and a Fellow of the Life Management Institute.
Where: Connecticut Convention Center 100 Columbus Blvd Hartford, CT 06103
Itinerary
click here
Detailed Agenda
click here
Attendee List
By Last Name
By Company
General Session #1 (9:00-10:00)
Professionalism & Ethics
Tanya Manning
Session Description:
Covers the basic premise of what 'ethics' are and then applies this to various case studies and difficult ethical situations faced by actuaries in their day-to-day practice. Situations covered include conflicts of interest, selection of assumptions, 'difficult' clients, and working with the prior actuary.
Tonya Manning is the Chief Actuary and US Retirement Leader for Xerox HR Services' Wealth Practice. In this capacity, she provides strategic direction, guidance and support to staff on emerging trends, consulting topics, technical issues, professional standards, and policies and procedures. Prior to joining Buck, Tonya worked as a policy actuary at the U.S. Department of Treasury, where she was involved in a number of activities related to employee plans, including participating in regulation projects, reviewing ruling requests, and providing technical support and public outreach. Prior to joining Treasury, Tonya worked for 22 years at Aon Consulting as a senior consultant and chief actuary for the U.S. retirement practice. Tonya has expertise in pension risk management and retirement plan design, governance, and compliance. She is also experienced in assisting other actuaries with quality assurance and compliance with actuarial professional standards.
Tonya has been fortunate to serve the actuarial profession in multiple roles. She has previously served as President of the Society of Actuaries and as a member of the Society's Board of Directors. She is vice-chair of the International Actuarial Association's Scientific Committee and a member of the Association's Strategic Planning Subcommittee. She serves as a member of the American Academy of Actuaries' Pension Practice Council and Pension Committee, and is co-chair of the Academy's Lifetime Income Task Force. She also represents the Society of Actuaries on the Corporate Advisory Council for the International Association of Black Actuaries and is a member of the SOA's Diversity and Inclusion Committee. In January 2016, Tonya joined The Actuarial Foundation's Board of Trustees. She has previously served as chair of the Society of Actuaries' Pension Section Council, as a member of the Society's International Committee, Leadership Development Committee, , and as a member the Pension Committee for the Actuarial Standards Board. Tonya frequently serves as a speaker and has made many presentations regarding pension funding, risk management and compliance at conferences and seminars to both peers and plan sponsors.
Tonya is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Fellow in the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, an Enrolled Actuary, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Tonya graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) in 1988 and resides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with her husband Kent.
Breakout Sessions AM (10:30-11:30)
A: Raising the Bar: An Assessment Framework for Big Data Analytics Program
John Wilson
Session Description:
The need to engage in "big data" and its concomitant assortment of analytics has become a rallying cry for most life insurance and financial services companies. However, the organization and implementation of an effective big data strategy has proven elusive for many
firms. According to a recent LIMRA report, 40 percent of companies feel that they are behind their competitors in data analytics. Primary reasons include lack of or limited management support and poor data integration as a result of multiple legacy systems. These reasons align with the challenges companies have in general in building/implementing an analytics program.
John Wilson, FLMI, AIRC, ACS is a Data Scientist for LIMRA. Prior to joining LIMRA, he enjoyed a 20+ year career in retail. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Central Connecticut State University and a Master's Degree in Business Analytics and Project Management from the University of Connecticut, where he is a member of the School of Business Hall of Fame. In addition to his consulting duties at LIMRA, John is an in-Residence faculty member at UCONN where he teaches both graduate and undergrad courses in Visual Analytics, Engineering Management, Cost & Risk Management and Operations Management, and Information Systems Management.
B: Claims Tracking & Monitoring - a GLM and Retrospective Reserving Approach
Jay Vadiveloo & Gao Niu
presentation
Session Description:
The session will describe two unique and practical approaches to tracking and monitoring claims experience for a life insurance company. The first approach describes a statistically rigorous and consistent approach to adjust industry expected assumptions based on actual experience when expected assumptions are derived from a GLM model. The approach also incorporates a credibility factor which could be based on either the significance of the individual GLM parameters or the size of the company relative to the entire industry database used to develop the expected assumptions.
The second approach uses a reserving technique to determine how prospective reserves should be adjusted in a statistically rigorous and consistent manner using retrospective reserves. In order to develop this technique, the Goldenson Center has introduced a new random variable in the actuarial literature, namely the retrospective loss random variable. The adjustment to the prospective reserves of a company will be based on the deviation between the realized and expected retrospective loss random variable. Similar to the GLM approach, the retrospective reserving approach incorporates a credibility factor which recognizes that longer duration policies provide more credibility in determining how prospective reserves should be adjusted.
Both approaches represent current research work at the Goldenson Center which we plan to publish in an academic journal.
Jay Vadiveloo, as Professor & Director of the Janet & Mark L. Goldenson Center for Actuarial Research at the University of Connecticut, works on applied actuarial research projects using teams of academicians, students and industry professionals. Jay has a doctorate in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He has over 25 years of experience working in senior level management positions in the life insurance industry and more than 20 years of experience with UConn's actuarial science program.
Gao Niu is a Ph.D Candidate in Actuarial Science with Jay Vadiveloo as his major advisor. Gao has participated in and helped manage several of the Goldenson Center research projects over the past 4 years, including today's session. Gao is expected to earn his PhD sometime this year.
C: Pension Risk Transfer Pricing
presentation
Steve Rancourt
Session Description:
TBD
Steven Rancourt is a Director & Actuary for Prudential, and currently leads a funded buy-out pricing research & development team in the Pension Risk Transfer business. The team's primary focus is developing pricing methodologies, managing the model enhancement process, supporting select transactions, and assisting in product development. In his previous longevity underwriting role, he supported the largest longevity reinsurance transaction to date and several US pension risk transfer transactions. Before his current role, Steven led the valuation and hedging execution team for Institutional Income, along with being a member of Prudential's Actuarial Leadership Development Program (ALDP).
D: Reinsurance: Managing Group Life and Disability Risk
Amy Whinett
presentation
Session Description:
This session will provide an overview of the use of reinsurance and managing Group Life and disability risk from a reinsurer and a direct carrier's perspective. Some topics discussed will include:
- Types of reinsurance, including excess, quota share and financial reinsurance
- Ways that reinsurance is used to manage risks including
- Claim volatility
- Catastrophic/Shock claims
- Pandemics
- Capital Strain
- Operational risk
- Considerations in pricing reinsured blocks of business and facultative groups
- Measuring, monitoring and mitigating concentration/catastrophic and pandemic risks
Amy has worked in the insurance industry for 20 years and brings extensive pricing experience from both a direct carrier and reinsurer perspective. In her current role of AVP and Group Actuary at Munich Re in Atlanta, GA, Amy oversees the pricing of Munich Re's Group Life block of business, provides consultation to clients on group life and disability topics and is responsible for driving the group department's automated underwriting initiatives. Prior to joining Munich Re in 2013, she worked in a number of Group Pricing roles at Unum in Portland, Maine for over a decade. Amy is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and holds a Bachelor's of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Amy is the Vice Chair of the SOA Group Life Experience Committee and member of the Group Underwriters' Association of America Group Life Committee.
General Session #2 (12:45-2:15)
Update from the Chief Actuary of Social Security
Stephen Goss, Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration
Session Description:
Social Security Actuarial Status: Why there is a projected shortfall, what it means, and how it will be fixed
Steve Goss has been Chief Actuary at the Social Security Administration since 2001. Mr. Goss joined the Office of the Chief Actuary in 1973 after graduating from the University of Virginia with a Master's Degree in Mathematics. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree majoring in mathematics and economics. He has worked in areas related to health insurance and long-term-care insurance as well as pension, disability, and survivor protection.
Mr. Goss is a member of the Society of Actuaries, the American Academy of Actuaries, the National Academy of Social Insurance, the Social Insurance Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries, and the Social Security Retirement and Disability Income Committee of the Society of Actuaries.
Breakout Sessions PM (2:30-3:30)
A: Algorithmic Underwriting - A Game Changer
Mark Sayre and Sears Merritt
Session Description:
The explosion of new data sources and products is rapidly disrupting the Life Underwriting landscape and catalyzing product innovation. Come learn how credit data, electronic health records and predictive analytics will drive the future of Algorithmic and Manual Underwriting techniques.
Mark Sayre is the Underwriting Product Manager for Haven Life. In this role, he oversees development of algorithmic and manual underwriting solutions to support all of MassMutual's Direct-to-Consumer efforts. He received a B.A. in Economics from New York University and a M.Sc in Economics and Management from Universita Commercial Luigi Bocconi. He is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries, a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Sears Merritt, as Chief Data Scientist, leads the Data Science Program at MassMutual. In various roles, including engineer, researcher, and technology advisor, he has spent the past 12 years working with data and big data systems in industry and academia. Sears holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science, an M.S. in Telecommunications and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, all from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
B: Late Breaking Developments in Pensions
presentation
Tonya Manning
Session Description:
Attend this perennial favorite for a review of guidance and other developments from the past year, with a special focus on events that occur shortly before the meeting. The speaker may address rulings, regulations, litigation, accounting changes and other news. Note that the allocation between core and noncore credit depends on the actual content of the session.
Tonya Manning is the Chief Actuary and US Retirement Leader for Xerox HR Services' Wealth Practice. In this capacity, she provides strategic direction, guidance and support to staff on emerging trends, consulting topics, technical issues, professional standards, and policies and procedures. Prior to joining Buck, Tonya worked as a policy actuary at the U.S. Department of Treasury, where she was involved in a number of activities related to employee plans, including participating in regulation projects, reviewing ruling requests, and providing technical support and public outreach. Prior to joining Treasury, Tonya worked for 22 years at Aon Consulting as a senior consultant and chief actuary for the U.S. retirement practice. Tonya has expertise in pension risk management and retirement plan design, governance, and compliance. She is also experienced in assisting other actuaries with quality assurance and compliance with actuarial professional standards.
Tonya has been fortunate to serve the actuarial profession in multiple roles. She has previously served as President of the Society of Actuaries and as a member of the Society's Board of Directors. She is vice-chair of the International Actuarial Association's Scientific Committee and a member of the Association's Strategic Planning Subcommittee. She serves as a member of the American Academy of Actuaries' Pension Practice Council and Pension Committee, and is co-chair of the Academy's Lifetime Income Task Force. She also represents the Society of Actuaries on the Corporate Advisory Council for the International Association of Black Actuaries and is a member of the SOA's Diversity and Inclusion Committee. In January 2016, Tonya joined The Actuarial Foundation's Board of Trustees. She has previously served as chair of the Society of Actuaries' Pension Section Council, as a member of the Society's International Committee, Leadership Development Committee, , and as a member the Pension Committee for the Actuarial Standards Board. Tonya frequently serves as a speaker and has made many presentations regarding pension funding, risk management and compliance at conferences and seminars to both peers and plan sponsors.
Tonya is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Fellow in the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, an Enrolled Actuary, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Tonya graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) in 1988 and resides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with her husband Kent.
C: May19-2016-Impact of DOL Fiduciary Standard Proposal
presentation 1
presentation 2
Guillaume Briere-Giroux and Tina Campbell
Session Description:
In this session, a legal expert will introduce the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary standard proposal and explain potential implications for the life insurance industry. An actuarial consultant operating in the annuity space will cover potential downstream impacts of the rule on product offerings, pricing and policyholder behavior.
Guillaume Briere-Giroux is Principal and Hartford Office Leader at Oliver Wyman. Guillaume joined Oliver Wyman in 2013. He has worked with most top annuity writers on issues related to product development, financial reporting, ALM, financial modeling and risk management. His areas of practice also include mergers and acquisitions, model validation, experience studies and stable value products. He is a frequent speaker at SOA meetings and his work and research have been featured in the press and many actuarial publications. Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, Guillaume was Senior Consultant with Towers Watson's Risk Consulting practice. Prior to joining Towers Watson, Guillaume was corporate risk director at Allianz Life. Guillaume has a degree in actuarial science from the Ecole d'Actuariat de l'Universite Laval, located in Quebec City. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a CFA Charterholder.
Tina Campbell is an expert in the areas of employee benefit program, financial products, and services, with particular focus on the development of benefit programs, products and solutions that are focused on successful retirement planning while ensuring compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, including emerging fiduciary liability concerns for employers, financial institutions and broker dealers. Tina is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, having earned a BS in Psychology, and she was awarded her JD from New England School of Law. Ms. Campbell engaged in private practice in the Greater Boston area for a decade prior to securing in-house positions with mutual fund and insurance product financial institutions focusing on the development and delivery of programs, products and services for retirement benefits made available by employers for their employees as well as retail products and services. She is currently engaged in providing consulting services regarding the legal and tax implications of the development and delivery of employee benefits and financial advice, with particular focus on fiduciary liability associated there with.
D: Value Based Reimbursement - How CMS is Changing the Game
Marla Pantano
presentation
Session Description:
CMS recently announced that they achieved their goal of 30% of Medicare payments tied to alternative payment models by 1/1/16, one year ahead of the schedule laid out by HHS Secretary, Sylvia Burwell. The expectation is by end of 2018 for that to grow to 50% of payments. In addition, many states under Medicaid are pursuing their own alternative payment strategies. The public sector in collaboration with private sector colleagues has formed the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (HCP LAN) which is outlining common principles on alternative payment methods to ensure more consistency in the marketplace. This session will cover the most critical new models and principles being addressed to drive to changes in how health care is reimbursed.
Marla Pantano is a consulting actuary with the Hartford, Connecticut office of Milliman where her primary focus is on assisting providers, health plans and other clients to be successful in the new world of value based reimbursement and practice transformation. Prior to joining Milliman, Marla was Vice President of Analytics at ConnectiCare where she worked collaboratively with a dozen provider organizations to develop contracting, analytics and practice transformation for both Commercial and Medicare Advantage members. Prior to ConnectiCare, Marla spent 25 years at Aetna where she held a wide variety of roles including leading Aetna's Medical Analytic Organization and co-leading Aetna's health care reform project management office.
General Session #3 (4:00-5:00)
What's New with Access Health CT and the ACA?
Steven Sigal
presentation
Session Description:
An overview of all the latest happenings with the ACA and Access Health CT, Connecticut's State-based Marketplace (SBM), will be presented. Access Health CT is not Healthcare.gov and has been one of the most successful SBM's in the nation. The session will cover 2016 open enrollment and what's in store for 2017, the impact Access Health CT has on the health plans offering private insurance plans on the exchange, as well as a view of the impact of the wave of health plan mergers might be. You will come away with a better understanding of what some say is the disruption caused by the ACA and Access Health CT.
Steven J. Sigal is Chief Financial Officer of Access Health CT, Connecticut's state based marketplace contemplated in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Steve is a CPA with over 35 years of diversified financial experience. His background includes senior finance positions for insurance entities Aetna and Travelers, including several involving turnaround and start up efforts. Steve began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was an Audit Manager. Mr. Sigal has a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Accounting from Georgetown University, and a certificate from the Advanced Management Program at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He is also a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and a Fellow of the Life Management Institute.