Members of the Conference

Over the last three years, the leadership of the US-based actuarial organizations have been working diligently to improve the coordination of the disciplinary process.
 
I fully endorse this effort which is a positive step toward working and acting as a single profession. The goal is to use a joint disciplinary process that meets each organization’s bylaws, while reducing the number of duplicate disciplinary panel (and appeal panel) hearings for actuaries who are members of two or more organizations.   This is of considerable importance to CCA members, many of whom are members of three actuarial organizations.
 
Please see the letter below from the presidents of the five US-based actuarial organizations and the links to two documents that have been prepared by the leadership to communicate the matter.
 
We will be seeking membership approval of bylaws changes later this summer.

Adam J. Reese, President, Conference of Consulting Actuaries
Wednesday, May 11, 2011

To the members of the:
American Academy of Actuaries,
ASPPA College of Pension Actuaries,
Casualty Actuarial Society,
Conference of Consulting Actuaries; and
Society of Actuaries:
 
Our discipline process is an essential component of each of our organization’s proactive approach to ensuring the quality of our professional services. As stewards of our trade, we all share the responsibility to ensure that the actuarial profession’s integrity is maintained, and as such, it is our responsibility to ensure our discipline processes are functioning well.
 
After a review of the profession’s current discipline procedures, the leaders of our five organizations concluded last year that our current structure is fundamentally sound.  But after being in place for many years, several potential improvements have been identified. These changes aim to improve efficiency and provide greater consistency, and we believe that they will benefit the members of all our organizations.
 
The proposed enhancements build off of the central features of the current framework, but strive to streamline the discipline and appeals processes. In brief, for members of multiple organizations, the current process has an abundance of burdensome and costly hearings, which can lead to different outcomes. Under the proposal, future disciplinary recommendations will be submitted for determination to a single, representative joint disciplinary panel; all appeals will be considered by a joint appeal panel. This streamlining will reduce the number of hearings and help create greater consistency regarding outcomes.
 
The Boards of Directors of our organizations have agreed in principle to move forward to propose these improvements for member consideration. To implement these revisions, each organization will need to make changes to its bylaws and will submit the new discipline process to a vote of its members.
 
As the Presidents of the participating actuarial organizations, we stand together in introducing these enhancements to you. We believe that it is important to our members for our organizations to work together to enhance our commitment to professionalism.

Linked below this letter are two additional resources to help you understand the proposal—a set of questions and answers and a side-by-side comparison of the current process versus the revised process for a sample case study. Additional information will be provided before any organization’s members vote.
 
We realize that no one among us expects to be the subject of a disciplinary proceeding. However, we urge you to be informed voters. After all, each of us has the responsibility to protect our profession’s reputation.
 
We welcome your questions regarding this proposal and have established a centralized mailbox to coordinate responses. Please send your questions to: DisciplineProposal@actuary.org.
 
Sincerely,
 
Mary Frances Miller, American Academy of Actuaries
Annie Voldman, ASPPA College of Pension Actuaries
Ralph Blanchard, Casualty Actuarial Society
Adam J. Reese, Conference of Consulting Actuaries
Donald J. Segal, Society of Actuaries
 
PS: In our effort to be as comprehensive in our reach as possible, we understand that many members will receive multiple copies of this e-mail. For this, we apologize.

Links:
Questions & Answers
Side-by-Side Comparison of the Discipline Process