Skip to main content

You are here

Advertisement

From the Executive Editor

ASEA Monthly

Hello ASEA!

I recently had the pleasure of attending the “Oscars of pension plans,” also known as ASPPA Annual. The big winners included Tom Finnegan, who was awarded the prestigious Harry T. Eidson Founders Award and Lynn Young who took home both the Educator’s Award and the Edward E. Burrows Distinguished Achievement Award. Big Congrats to Tom and Lynn! 

Besides catching up with my fellow actuaries, it is always interesting to meet new faces from the DC plan world, many of whom seem to at least dip their toes in the cash balance world. 

The other perk of the conference was that I secured four articles for the ASEA Monthly by fellow attendees. Fortunately, I did not have to pathetically beg for articles. Just regular, non-pathetic begging.

The first article, from Karen Smith, President of Nova 401(k) Associates, concerns New CE Requirement for Actuaries. As that is about as relevant it gets for us, I will let Karen’s article speak for itself, which you can find here (And thank you, Karen, for your Bias Webcast): https://www.asppa.org/asea/new-ce-requirement-actuaries

As you may know, there is a new bias credit requirement. I first encountered this topic in 1978, when episode four of Different Strokes focused on Arnold and Willis’s difficulties with a prep school test that did not relate to their experiences. Luckily, before you can say “Whatchu talkin’ ’bout Willis?,” Valerie Lopez explains more about bias (and ethics) in the context of a different television show. Valerie is the Vice President and Chief Actuary at ASC, and it was fun to see a different side of an actuary in this fun, and informative, article which you can find here: https://www.asppa.org/news/ethics-and-bias-house-continuing-education-credits

Sam Venouziou, EA, MSEA at DATAIR wrote the next article about being both an exhibitor at the conference and an attendee. You can read Sam’s article here (And I always appreciate your help, Sam): https://www.asppa.org/asea/tale-man-many-hats 

Finally, my fellow Binghamton University Alumnus, Eric Brandon, EA, MAAA, MSEA, FCA, Pension Actuary at Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, wrote the final article, about his experience volunteering for ASEA. Eric was also on the planning committee of the recent ASPPA Annual. You can find his article here: https://www.asppa.org/asea/joys-volunteering 

Finally, I also wanted to mention that Tom Finnegan was another of those folks who sat down next to me and spoke with me at one of my first then-ACOPA conferences a dozen years ago. As Eric mentioned in his article, you find out these speakers and leaders in our organization are just regular people. I can say no one at any Enrolled Actuaries meetings never reached out to me like they do at ASEA. And it is something I recall fondly and appreciate a dozen years later.

Happy Thanksgiving ASEA. I am thankful for you all.