Welcome!

[Traci]

During this last week of voting - we thought it might be worthwhile to set up a forum where you could post questions to the candidates for SoA offices.

I am e-mailing each of the candidates and inviting them to discuss the issues here.

[urysohn]

Good thought for next time, but I voted some time back.

[Traci]

Yes -- we're a little late in the game.

But still an opportunity to sway the undecided :D

[Steve White]

I too have already voted. Based on a very limited sample size, it appears that RF readers are more likely to vote than the general SOA membership.

I agree it is a good idea, Traci. If meaningful dialogue develops, I'll post a link to it on the SOA Discussion Forums.

This round of the election is narrowing the field, though a President would be elected if any one candidate got a majority of the votes cast. That may be one reason for the lack of interest.

(Edited to remove stupid misconception about forum structure. Why did Traci have to quote it? Question moved to new thread.)

[Sam Cox]

I am running for Vice President. Of course I am willing to respond to questions here or elsewhere. I look in here once or twice a week normally, but I will login every day until the voting window closes.

[Steve White]

Good point; for some reason I thought it was a thread in "Announcements".

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Sam has my vote, simply for showing up!

A little bit of The Desert is good for the soul.

[42]

Good thought for next time, but I voted some time back.Ditto here. I look forward to getting additional information before I vote next time.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

You voted without enough information? I'm ashamed of all you "actuaries."

[CDesRochers]

Traci Thank you, I appreciate the endorsement.

However, people should only vote for me if they believe that I am doing a good job representing them. If not, vote for the candidates that you prefer. But please take the time to vote.

Here a few issues that I care about. First, the Board has spent a great deal of time, as have many volunteers, on revising the syllabus. The revised syllabus is becoming more practitioner-driven, which I believe is the right approach. More importantly, however, the syllabus needs to be stabilized for the benefit of both students and employers. A second key issue is the organization of the SOA to better utilize volunteer resources. Many actuaries give a great deal of time to the profession, but we have far to complex an organizational structure to use our resources effectively.

If anyone has issues they would like to discuss, please let me know.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Well, you two, Mr White has asked a question.

And would either of you care to comment on Dr Brown's possible tainting of the elections process?

[CDesRochers]

I don't believe that there is any harmful intent in Rob's email. I was on the Committee on Elections until I became a candidate. In moving to electronic voting, the hope was to increase participation. It didn't work as planned. I personally interpret Rob's comments as encouraging a segment of the members to vote.

One of the challenges that the SOA faces is to encourage member participation. We have about 17,000 members. We have about 1,200 members at an annual meeting and another 800 or so at the spring meetings. About 1/3 of the FSAs vote in elections. Should we as an organization be doing more to encourage participation? Are there services that we can provide that we are not currently? In my view, that is the context of Rob's comments.

On the other hand, with my last name, maybe I could have gotten some of the Canadian vote.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

I agree that he is absolutely clueless as to the possible harm of his e-mail. I think reminding people via e-mail was sufficient, without the implied endorsement.

I don't know how to get more people to participate, either. The meetings, by their very reason to exist, are not going to entice people to go. I mean, there will be a bunch of actuaries! You have a few types of no-go's:
1. Know-it-alls, who couldn't be bothered with other people's ideas, nor with sharing their own know-it-all-ness;
2. Too-busy's;
3. Company-won't-pay's.

Besides, we see what happens when too many actuaries show up to one place (San Francisco 1999).
Having more meetings is one solution, though the current economies of scale do serve a purpose.

Good luck. You'll have my vote, should some Elections Committee member remind me to vote for the Americans.

[urysohn]

...You'll have my vote...
Ummm, aren't you currently working on Course 6 or 8?