I have been thinking about an experience I had when I was young that had a formative impact on the direction of my professional life. 

When I was in grade school, I volunteered as a crossing guard, helping younger students safely cross the streets before and after school. After serving as a crossing guard for one year, I applied to be a “lieutenant.” However, I was shocked to be told that girls couldn’t be considered for this role. Subconsciously, this experience influenced my career; instead of making me accept the role I was supposed to fulfill, it gave me the push I needed to take up space in the world. 
When I was in grade school, I volunteered as a crossing guard, helping younger students safely cross the streets before and after school. When I was in grade school, I volunteered as a crossing guard, helping younger students safely cross the streets before and after school. 

There’s little that speaks to the success of a program more than when it makes a full and complete circle. The Pinnacle University (Pinnacle U) program is a special, professional skills development program. It provides students with a unique opportunity to conduct research with actuarial professionals and present in front of a panel of experts, providing mentorship to future actuaries and supporting industry growth. Nicole McArdle, associate actuary, has come full circle in the Pinnacle U program. Nicole once participated in Pinnacle U as a student. Later, Nicole joined Pinnacle and became involved with Pinnacle U as an analyst working alongside new students. This year, Nicole graduated into the role of mentor, providing an even higher level of guidance for the Pinnacle U students on her team. We asked Nicole about her experiences on both sides of the Pinnacle U program.  

What are the most important considerations for a company when starting a captive? On April 28, I participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by Captive Review, conferring with other experts in captive formation about planning a successful captive. From an actuarial point of view, communication is key. Not only should all projections be documented, but all details, analyses, methods and other important communications must be clear and understandable. Insurance and actuarial reports are not always intuitive for new captive owners, so comprehensible communication of financial considerations to captive owners is paramount.

In July 2020, the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) announced that all actuarial exams for their fall exam “sitting” would be administered through computer-based testing (CBT) rather than their traditional pencil-and-paper format. CAS exams are required to become certified practitioners in the actuarial profession. Although multiple-choice CAS exams, MAS-I and MAS-II, were set to be delivered via CBT as part of a long-term goal to transition all exams to the format by the end of 2022, this announcement expanded the program to include exams 5-9. The CAS cited concerns for the safety of all those involved in the testing process amidst the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic as the primary driver for the decision. The organization had canceled all exams in the spring 2020 sitting.

COVID-19 has been of those rare events that has gotten the entire nation and the entire world to stop and pay attention to it. There have been a few of these events that have occurred in my lifetime, including the September 11 terrorist attacks, the hurricane season of 2004, Hurricane Katrina and the stock market crash of 2008. For me, however, the COVID-19 pandemic is the first crisis I have experienced as a part of the workforce. I sat down with Principal and Consulting Actuary Rob Walling to better understand the impact those earlier, notable and older disasters had on insurance, as well as the potential parallels with COVID-19. Rob has experience working with a wide variety of insurance coverages through all of these periods of time and provides a keen perspective to the effects any of these catastrophes have on the insurance industry.