Credit: Sirinporn/Adobe Stock
Members of the Society of Actuaries are voting on a proposal to overhaul the group's board.
The current board wants to cut the number of seats to 12, from 18; allocate at least two seats to members from outside the United States or Canada; and make up to two seats available to people who aren't actuaries.
The proposal also calls for shifting from a competitive campaign process to a system that would have SOA members simply vote for or against each candidate, with the list of candidates being created by a board recruiting and selection committee.
The nominating committee would use "an objective, transparent process for evaluating candidates based on skills and experience," according to a summary posted by the board.
Voting began Monday and is set to end Oct. 24.
Actuaries: Actuaries take exams to show that they understand the math needed to manage risk.
At life and annuity issuers, actuaries help determine whether the products sold make mathematical sense and whether the issuers will have the resources to pay the benefits promised.
What it means: How well the Society of Actuaries and its board work may help determine how well clients' life insurance policies and annuities work.
The Society of Actuaries: The group is based in Chicago and serves 34,000 actuaries.
The SOA designs and runs the exam programs that help would-be life, health and annuity actuaries show whether they have the skills to work in the field.
The group also creates education and networking opportunities for actuaries and helps them organize research projects, such as efforts to determine when annuity holders do and don't let contracts lapse.
Historically, the SOA was known as a group for life, health, annuity and pension actuaries. Today, it also has members who work with property and casualty insurance.
Other major U.S. actuarial groups include the American Academy of Actuaries, which helps public policymakers with actuarial issues, and the Casualty Actuarial Society, a group for P&C actuaries.
The board overhaul proposal drafting process: The SOA board formed the 10-member governance update task force in 2024.
The members included rank-and-file SOA members along with current and former SOA board members.
Task force members talked to other actuarial groups, worked with a governance consulting firm and held meetings with SOA members to get feedback.
Perspectives: Amanda Hug, the president and chair of the SOA, said in an email that strong board governance is vital to the association's future success.
The overhaul proposal will "ensure the board reflects global membership and outside perspectives," Hug said.
Having a smaller board should also make the board more nimble and give it the ability to handle emerging opportunities and challenges more quickly, Hug said.
Some critics of the proposal have said on LinkedIn that they are uncomfortable with moving away from competitive elections and dislike letting non-actuaries serve on the SOA board.
Kelly Rabin, a board member who works for a reinsurer based in Germany, said on LinkedIn that she supports the proposal.
Today, "the reality is that voting is concentrated in the U.S., and people vote for people they know or for people in their practice area," Rabin said. "I am so excited for the additional transparency we are going to introduce to the election process, to make it much clearer to members how the board fits together in terms of skills and experience. I think an election process that looks much more like how corporate boards are selected is much more in line with the complexity and needs of an organization like ours."
The graph shown is an example of the kinds of risk distribution graphs that actuaries create to analyze mortality and longevity risk. Credit: Sirinporn/Adobe Stock
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