The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) recently released Phase II of its CAS Research Series on Race & Insurance Pricing, six new reports that reveal ways actuaries can detect and address potential bias in property-casualty insurance pricing. The newest reports explore different aspects of unintentional potential bias in insurance pricing and progress from the series’ historical foundations to forward-looking solutions for quantifying and addressing potential bias. The papers empower professionals with tools and considerations to address potential bias with topics ranging from regulatory considerations in the U.S. and worldwide, to detecting and addressing potential bias in data and models, to understanding how bias mitigation approaches might impact a competitive market.

Attendees will gain insights into the critical findings, methodologies, and recommendations presented in these reports.

Moderator: David Scharf, FCA, EA, MAAA | Gallagher

Practice Area: P&C

Tier: All

Room: River Birch

What is behavioral insurance? How do companies encourage smart choices to reduce claim costs? What are the actuarial implications of an improved quality of life? Join John Hancock as they dive into longevity, behavioral insurance, and the new frontier of policyholder engagement.

Practice Area: Life

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom D

This session equips actuaries with both the basic strategic frameworks for negotiating specialty and/or vendor risk agreements and the practical know-how to build—and create and lean on—a Value-Based Care (VBC) playbook throughout the deal process. We’ll begin by unpacking negotiation strategies and target-setting approaches specific to specialty services and third-party vendor arrangements. Then you’ll review the key components of an effective VBC playbook, see a real-world example and learn how to reference your playbook to propose strategic options and maintain negotiating leverage.

Practice Area: Health

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom F

An introductory overview of AI, including its benefits to actuaries and their business partners. The session will also include an example-led workshop on effective prompting. Please bring your devices/laptops to participate, as well as your willingness to share helpful use cases with the group!

Practice Area: General

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom E

It is a window into the kitchen of master “chefs” as they work, except the chefs are whipping up something different: actuarial reserve indications!

Watch property and casualty actuaries showcase their data analysis and actuarial skills as they compete to solve a classic real-world actuarial problem: how much money do we need to set aside for the losses we expect?

Learn basic actuarial concepts including data “scrubbing”, the basic “recipes” for core actuarial indications, and how actuaries use various spices (i.e. information not in their data) to adjust their predictions. Along the way, you’ll have a chance to engage with the chefs and vote for which plates were best prepared and presented.

Moderator: Darian Garner, ACAS | Travelers

Practice Area: P&C

Tier: All

Room: River Birch

Longevity is the biggest demographic risk facing pension plans and annuity insurers. However, this important risk is often overlooked,  viewed as a mortality assumption to ‘get right’ then forget about. Join Shantel and Nikiya from Club Vita as they step through best practice in longevity risk management. What is longevity risk? How can institutions assess their risk appetite? And what options are available to measure, monitor and manage longevity risk?

Moderator: Alex Kigen

Practice Area: Life, Pension

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom F

Dive into what is driving medical cost trend in the Individual and Group markets now and explore hot topics in the healthcare industry such as inflationary impact on providers, biopharmaceutical trends (such as GLP-1, biosimilars), regulatory changes, and more.

Moderator: Michael Opare-Addo, FSA, EA

Practice Area: Health

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom D

Racial gaslighting is a subtle yet powerful form of manipulation that makes Black actuaries question their own experiences and expertise in the workplace. In a field driven by data, precision, and logic, this form of doubt-casting can be particularly insidious—dismissing valid concerns, minimizing contributions, and creating unseen barriers for career advancement.

Silenced & Sidelined: The Hidden Impact of Racial Gaslighting on Black Actuaries is a thought-provoking session designed to expose how this dynamic shows up in the actuarial profession. We’ll explore the specific ways gaslighting manifests in the workplace, its impact on career growth and mental well-being, and the challenges Black actuaries face when navigating predominantly white or male-dominated workplaces.

This session will equip you with the tools to recognize racial gaslighting, validate your own expertise, and develop strategies to push back effectively—without second-guessing yourself. Your skills, insights, and contributions matter. Join us as we break the silence, build resilience, and reclaim the space we deserve in the actuarial profession.

Moderator: Brandon Wright

Practice Area: General

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom E

This will be a cross-practice session that discusses how climate change and extreme events affect disparate communities. Drawing on a variety of recent Academy work products,* the session will also examine how extreme events affect access to and affordability of insurance in different markets and communities. It will draw on expertise and experience from practitioners in the casualty, life, health, and retirement practice areas.
 
*These include: The Climate Change Joint Committee’s 2024 issue paper, Climatic Events, Inequities, and Risk Mitigation, which focuses on the cause-and-effect relationship that different climatic events have on different U.S. populations and communities that disproportionately experience the effects of climate change.

Moderator: Seong-min Eom, FSA, MAAA | New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance

Practice Area: General

Tier: All

Room: River Birch

To grow and thrive, life insurers must offer innovative products that meet evolving customer needs. This session will discuss a growing trend in life insurance: integrating lifestyle, health, and wellness benefits. We will explore how these wellness benefits can be mutually beneficial for both consumers and insurers. Additionally, we will examine considerations for setting assumptions for these programs, such as policyholder behavior, mortality, and persistency improvements.

Moderator: Taryn Brown

Practice Area: Life

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom D

The actuarial industry is facing transformative change like it hasn’t seen in decades. As these external forces influence our work and company, we can look to agile, product-oriented frameworks, technology team structures, and automation tools to stay ahead of the curve. This session will explore how these changes are reshaping the industry, what skills actuaries can leverage to thrive in this new landscape, and how these advancements can influence actuarial decision-making and product development.

Attendees will learn:

• New career paths and skill sets: How actuarial and technology teams can come together in new ways
• Background on agile methodologies and how to leverage an agile mindset to focus on value over output
• The expanding role of automation: How process improvements – such as workflow automation, code efficiency enhancements, and streamlined data extraction – are transforming actuarial workflows

Practice Area: General

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom E

The Retirement landscape is changing and companies are looking at innovative ways to effectively deliver benefits. From re-opening DB pension plans, to offering more choice in DC plans, this session will cover trends in Retirement plans.

Moderator: Anu Ogunrombi

Practice Area: Pension

Tier: All

Room: Anacostia Ballroom F

Potomac Ballroom

Potomac Ballroom