Description: In this third issue of International News in 2022, we feature a contribution by SCOR, a leading reinsurer, highlighting the Actuarial Awards that SCOR presents annually, since 1996, to the best academic work in actuarial science, with annual prizes in several countries throughout the world. We also feature an article by Jessica Leong, FCAS, on barriers that Asian women must overcome to become leaders. Jessica recounts her own experience and how in overcoming some challenges she became the first Asian president of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

Description: Six pointers about career advancement for actuaries, based on real life experiences from my 47 year career.

Description: In today’s market of post-pandemic consolidation and org chart streamlining, we’ve observed significant changes to actuarial career development and advancement opportunities. But, those changes aren’t occurring in equal measures across the arc of the actuarial career. Our focus is on the impact felt by experienced reinsurance actuaries.

Description: Article describes accomplishments as Chair during the year. Four accomplishments are mentioned: i) Actuarial Research Conference ii) Early Career Award, iii) Establishment of Outstanding Educator Award, iv) Push to create surveys from the section containing a reservoir of ideas that can be used for webinars, podcasts, etc.

Description: In the spring of 2019, Dr. Cai started to serve as the Actuarial Science Program coordinator at Salisbury University, a medium-sized public teaching school in Maryland. At that time, the program was small, with only two faculty members who focused on both statistics and actuarial science, with approximately 10 students. During the next five years, the program did make some achievements in curriculum development, student exam preparation, job placement, and recognition, but Dr. Cai continued to have a dream to make the program unique. Dr. Cai believed that the skill sets students learned, even from a small program, could enable them to compete with anyone on a global basis. In spring 2024, Dr. Cai advised a group of exceptional actuarial students to participate in the 2024 Society of Actuaries (SOA) Student Research Case Study Challenge (SRCSC), and the team won third place – —behind two teams from the University of New South Wales, Australia. This article is the story of the journey.

Description: With more than 24 years of experience in the reinsurance market, Bruno Freire is the CEO and one of the co-founders of Austral Re, along with Vinci Partners, a private equity firm. Austral Re is a Brazilian- based multiline reinsurer which that writes business across Latin America. It has grown organically throughout the last 13 years, and had its credit rating upgraded to A- in 2023 by AM Best (it also has AAAbr from S&P). Before joining Austral, Bruno had been a reinsurance broker at Aon Re for more than 10 years, having witnessed the opening of the reinsurance market in Brazil. As we will be seen in his interview the following, he believes in a data driven analytic approach, client focused but with an underwriting mindset, as well as a strong support from actuaries and technology as key instruments to run a reinsurance company successfully.

Description: Bell is comparing his roles from that of an actuary in the USA to that of an actuary working in Cameroon, for a pan-African insurance company.

Description: Emerging technologies like GenAI will be more disruptive than past technological developments, such as spreadsheets, low-code data and dashboarding tools, and cloud computing. This article will explore how how we can lead ourselves, our teams, and our organizations to thrive within a defined modern value proposition, using one of two archetype roles: actuaries as business partners or actuaries as developers.

Description: The article highlights the importance of learning and development (L&D) for personal and professional growth. While many have access to resources like seminars and online courses, few fully utilize them. Genuine curiosity, behavior shifts, priority management, and discipline are key to effective L&D. Learning is an active, deliberate process, requiring consistent effort and time management. It’s important to set clear goals, create a timeline, and schedule regular progress checks. Rather than relying on motivation alone, building disciplined habits is crucial for sustained improvement. Ultimately, personal growth is a self-driven journey, not dependent on external validation.

Description: The numerous restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have certainly affected everyone and those measures may have consequences for our health. The article attempts to uncover possible links between COVID-19 and depression.