Cynthia Ziegler, CPCU, ARM, AAI, CAE, the longtime executive director of the Casualty Actuarial Society, will resign her post at the end of 2019 after 18 years on the job.
Jim Christie, CAS President, lauds Ziegler’s service to the CAS and the actuarial profession. “The CAS and the services it provides to its members and candidates have grown exponentially during Cynthia’s tenure,” says Christie. “As a dedicated partner to our board of directors, a persuasive voice on our executive council, and a strong leader to our staff, her contributions over the years have been critical to advancing the priorities of the organization.”
During Ziegler’s tenure, the CAS Office staff grew from 19 to 42 full-time employees, including the addition of three staff actuaries, and the CAS membership increased from around 3,500 to more than 8,600 members. Among the CAS’s many accomplishments under Ziegler’s leadership are the launch of The CAS Institute and record-setting numbers of candidates sitting for exams and attending CAS continuing education programs. Also, during Ziegler’s tenure, the CAS enhanced its international presence and expanded its educational offerings to include webinars (first introduced in 2007) and livestream events.
In 2006 CAS Fellows voted to make the executive director position a full member of the CAS Executive Council and an officer of the Society. In a segment of the CAS Centennial History Book, 100 Years of Expertise, Insight, and Solutions, Ziegler wrote of the change in the CAS Bylaws and Constitution: “This acknowledgement by the membership of the important partnership between staff and volunteers was a happy and proud moment for all of us.”
In order to ensure a smooth transition and continuity of the work of the Society, the process to identify Ziegler’s successor has begun, with the goal of finding a new executive director by late summer 2019. Christie is heading up a CAS special committee that is working with an executive recruiting firm to launch a national search.
