For this issue, we have assembled a wide variety of stories to get you thinking about the future and reminiscing about the past.
Our cover story, “The Others: Part 2,” is a continuation of last issue’s cover story featuring CAS members who practice their actuarial skills in areas beyond insurance. These CAS members are engineering software and tracking infectious diseases. They are lending their actuarial expertise to start-ups and firmly established companies, helping them innovate and stay on top. Something tells me that these kinds of stories will not be the last ones you hear about. We are going to learn more and more about the changing roles of actuaries in the marketplace.
Speaking of changes, remember when calculators were first permitted to be used in CAS examinations? For those who do, the article on the Technology-Based Examination initiative may conjure up some memories. If you are currently taking exams and don’t recall the advent of calculators in CAS history, the TBE article is a must-read.
If you have wondered whatever happened to our “Big Audacious Goal,” the recently announced CAS Strategic Plan should answer your question. The answer is, “It is alive and well.” (For more on the Big Audacious Goal, see AR August 2003.)
For those of us paying more and more attention to economic capital modeling, you will find AR’s Stephen Mildenhall’s “Explorations” column very thought-provoking. “In Praise of Value at Risk” tackles this compelling and complex subject.
It’s become a custom for Actuarial Review to honor our CAS volunteers in our year-end issue. The CAS enjoys the efforts of roughly a third of its members, who volunteer in a diverse variety of functions and capacities. Whether or not you are aware of the many volunteer efforts of CAS members — some highly visible and others not so much — they all contribute to making the Casualty Actuarial Society an unparalleled organization (pun intended).
I hope you enjoy this issue. On behalf of the CAS AR staff, I thank the men and women who write, review and edit AR articles. This publication is indebted to them.
