Status of ACOPA’s Response to the Actions of the Academy

This column is to update ACOPA members on the view of progress from the President of ACOPA.

Much ACOPA leadership time in recent months has been spent on responding to September 2018 actions of the American Academy of Actuaries. To briefly review, the Academy voted to remove ACOPA and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries (CCA) from the Selection Committee for the Actuarial Standards Board (ASB) and the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD). In the past, the Selection Committee would include the President and President-Elect of ACOPA. This is only one action of the Academy over the past few years that attempted to minimize the impact of ACOPA on the actuarial profession. 

Immediate Past President Bill Karbon chaired the Standards Committee that was charged with determining how to respond to the Academy actions. The process of the Standards Committee included polling ACOPA membership, and the results of the poll have been very important in determining our direction. The Standards Committee completed their work early this year.

The next step is implementing the recommendations of the Standards Committee. For this purpose, the Disciplinary Committee has been formed. The actions of the Disciplinary Committee include developing advisories to assist members in meeting the Actuarial Standards of Practice. Lynn Young has agreed to chair the Committee and Rick Block has agreed to serve as Vice Chair. Lynn and Rick bring experience with ACOPA and knowledge of the Academy process. Lynn and Rick are in the process of forming the Committee and determining the next steps.

ACOPA has also contracted with Lauren Bloom, J.D., to assist in the process. Lauren is the former General Counsel at the Academy, where she worked on the development and enforcement of the U.S. actuarial profession’s code of conduct and standards of qualification and practice. ACOPA expects draft advisories to be available to ACOPA members by the end of 2019. 

I will use this column to keep ACOPA members up to date on the progress of the Disciplinary Committee in the future. 

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