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2008 Employee Benefits Spring Meeting
June 4 - 6, 2008 | Saddlebrook Resort
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Tampa, FL
Session Descriptions
Click here to view a graphic layout of the
program schedule
Overall Conference Format
This meeting is comprised of eight seminars including:
professionalism, retirement 20/20, investment/termination, health benefit
issues, defined contribution services, public plan happenings, consulting
issues and the Pension Protection Act. We've used the seminar format at this
meeting to permit in-depth exploration of these eight topics. We've also
included a few free standing, hot topics sessions. Advanced registration for
all seminars/sessions is required. Any on-site session changes from
preregistered seminars/sessions may be made only after preregistered
attendees are accommodated within each seminar/session. Any remaining seats
are filled on a first-come/first-served basis.
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Pension
Protection Act |
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The Pension
Protection Act has been described as the most significant pension
legislation since the enactment of ERISA. It has required actuaries
to change their thinking about measuring liabilities and funding
policy. A full year into the program we are beginning to get a
better grasp on the effects.
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PPA 1 - PPA In Practice -
What Have We Learned?
Wednesday, June 4 - 1:00 - 2:30 PM |
1.8 EA
Noncore |
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Now that the initial PPA effective date has
passed and we have begun dealing with its requirements in
real life client engagements, what have we learned? The
presenters share some of their first-hand experiences with
PPA’s new funding requirements and benefit restrictions.
What challenges have we encountered? How have clients
reacted to, and dealt with the implications of the Section
436 benefit restrictions? Have plan participants begun to
react to the new benefit restrictions and the potential
impact on their retirement income options?
Moderator: Ellen L. Kleinstuber
Speakers: Tonya B. Manning; Brian C. Donohue; Kenneth A.
Steiner |
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PPA 2 – PPA Recent Guidance
Wednesday, June 4 - 2:45 -
4:15 PM |
1.8 EA Core |
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When PPA became effective in January, there
were many unanswered questions and gray areas still
remaining. The presenters review the guidance that has been
issued in recent months and help you understand the impact
of that guidance on plan funding, administration, and
participant communications.
Moderator: Ellen L. Kleinstuber
Speakers: David R. Godofsky, Marty Pippins |
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PPA 3 – So Close... and Yet So Far
Wednesday, June 4 - 4:30 - 5:45 PM |
1.5 EA Core |
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With all that we have learned about PPA in
recent months, both in practice and through formal published
guidance, there are still many unresolved issues. Panelists
in this session review the top questions that remain
regarding PPA and how actuaries and plan sponsors are
addressing these issues in the interim.
Moderator/Speaker: Ellen L. Kleinstuber
Speakers: David R. Godofsky, Ethan E. Kra, Marty Pippins |
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Retirement 20/20: Seeing the Future of Retirement |
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The SOA’s Retirement 20/20 project kicked off in
2006. The goal of the project is to envision new retirement systems
for the 21st century that don’t necessarily fit today’s definitions
of DB or DC. The presentations made at this seminar provide you a
chance to hear where the program is and how it is proceeding.
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Future of Retirement Part 1: Report from the Conference:
Headlines
Wednesday, June 4 - 1:00 - 2:30 PM |
1.8 EA Noncore |
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Speakers at this session discuss the
headlines, and where the program is and where it is heading.
Moderator/Speaker: Emily K. Kessler
Speakers: Zvi Bodie, Anne M. Button |
Future of Retirement Part 2: Structured Input on Emerging
Themes
Wednesday, June 4 - 2:45 -
4:15 PM |
1.8 EA Noncore |
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This “new retirement’ system is going to led
actuaries in the future. The panel focuses on how this is
going to happen.
Moderator/Speaker: Emily K. Kessler
Speaker: Zvi Bodie |
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Consulting
Skills Seminar |
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There is more to
being a pension actuary than the technical knowledge exams and work
can teach you. Speakers at this seminar focus on the consulting
skills necessary to manage client expectations and projects to help
you become a better consulting actuary.
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Consulting Skills Part 1: The Plain English Actuary:
Oxymoron?
Friday, June 6 - 8:00 -
9:15 AM |
1.5 EA Noncore |
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You’re hired, now what? The speakers address
communication skills necessary for survival in today’s
business world. The speakers bring out the client and
consultant perspectives as they discuss:
- Communicating with your clients;
- Communicating with your clients'
Board and other constituencies;
- Communicating with other actuaries
and professionals;
- Clients expectations of their
consultants and vice-versa;
- How to get your message across
effectively and avoiding lingo; and
- Balancing the pitfalls between the
client "need to knows" and the legal and standards of
practice requirements regarding information.
Moderator/Speaker: Susanne Simon;
Speakers: Jonathon E. Joss, Gary A. Pines |
Consulting Skills Part 2: How to Build Relationships
Friday, June 6 - 9:30 - 10:45 AM |
1.5 EA Noncore |
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New business development and project
management success is based on building relationships in an
organized, disciplined and proactive manner. Learn some of
the tools and techniques in this interactive session.
Speakers: Gary A. Pines, Erica M. Peters |
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Investment/Termination Seminar |
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It’s a new world in the plan freeze
and termination world. Speakers in this three-part track first
explain new investment strategies, in the second track speakers
review liability matching, and in the third track they look at
various aspects of risk transfer.
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Investment/Termination Part 1 – What are all the Investment
Strategies?
Friday, June 6 - 8:00 -
9:15 AM |
1.5 EA Noncore |
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Some of the various investment strategies
employed today are 130/30, LDI, and hedge funds. These
strategies use all the tools in today’s investment manager’s
toolkit and are discussed by the panel.
Moderator: Daniel P. Cassidy
Speakers:
John Haugh, Jeffrey Sung |
Investment/Termination Part 2 – Liabilities Matching
Friday, June 6 - 9:30 - 10:45 AM |
1.5 EA Noncore |
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Come hear investment advisors talk about how
they implement LDI strategies in the real world. What are
the roadblocks to implementation? How can consultants help
in the process? Moderator: Daniel P.
Cassidy
Speakers: Sean McShea, Clinton S. Cary |
Investment/Termination Part 3 – Risk Transfer
Friday, June 6 - 11:00 - 12:15
PM |
1.5 EA Core |
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The speakers review the emerging marketplace
regarding alternative retirement plan resolutions beyond
plan termination and annuity purchases. They also focus on
the marketplace factors affecting plan sponsors as they
weight their options ranging from risk limitation to risk
elimination. This includes a review of the regulatory issues
impacting these new alternatives.
Moderator: Daniel P. Cassidy
Speakers:
Ari N. Jacobs, Bradley D. Belt |
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Public
Pension Plans – Today and Tomorrow |
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Speakers at this seminar examines
the current state of public pension plans in the US, including a
discussion of some of the challenges and criticisms they are facing.
Presenters then focus down on how a disciplined review of funding
policies and financial disclosures might both reveal some causes and
provide some solutions to those challenges.
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Public Plans Part 1: Current State of the Public Retirement
Sector
Thursday, June 5 - 10:00 - 11:30 AM |
1.8 EA Noncore |
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Public plans are getting an increasing amount
of attention and have recently been the subject of several
large scale reports and discussions. This kick-off session
examines the state of the industry, including summary
discussions of reports from:
- The Governmental Accountability
Office (GAO)
- The Pew Charitable Trust
- California’s Pension and Employee
Benefits Commission
- The GASB Pension Accounting Regional
Forums
- The AAA/SOA Roundtable on Financial
Disclosures for Public Pension Plans
Moderator: Paul Angelo
Panelists: Keith Brainard, Paul Zorn, John Bartel |
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Public Plans Part 2: Challenges and Criticisms
Thursday, June 5 - 1:15 - 2:45 PM |
1.8 EA Noncore |
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From New Jersey to San Diego, public plans
have recently been under harsh criticism from the general
press, financial analysts and other public policy
researchers. In this session the panelists highlight three
such criticisms – Mary Williams Walsh’s New York Times
articles, Richard Ennis’ “What Ails Public Pensions?,” and
Robert Costrell and Michael Podgursky’s “Peaks, Cliffs, and
Valleys – The Peculiar Incentives of Teacher Pensions” --
along with responses from the panelists.
Moderator: Paul Angelo
Panelists: Brad Armstrong, Robert T. McCrory |
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Public Plans Part 3: Funding and Disclosure
Thursday, June 5 - 3:15 - 4:45 PM |
1.8 EA Noncore |
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Public plans use a wide range of funding
methods, policies and assumptions to determine employer
contributions and financial disclosures, in contrast to the
market approaches now standard for private plans. Speakers
at this session challenge current public sector practices in
these areas. A California case study on how new benefit
levels may have been enabled by funding policies and how a
more disciplined application of traditional methods may be
used to manage them is discussed. The seminar concludes with
a discussion of disclosure proposals that may enhance
comparability and understanding of the costs and risks of
public pension plans.
Moderator: Paul Angelo
Panelists: John Bartel, Karen I. Steffen, Robert T. McCrory |
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Health
Benefit Issues for Pension Actuaries |
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Brought on by the
adoption of FAS 106, retiree medical valuation work has become a
regular part of the employee benefits “domain.” There are many other
facets of healthcare that a pension actuary should be aware of. The
speakers at this seminar cover a variety of technical actuarial
healthcare topics to help pension actuaries.
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Health Benefit Issues Part 1: Issues for Pension Actuaries
Wednesday, June 4 - 1:00 - 2:30 PM |
Up to 1.8
EA Noncore |
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Experience the wide world of the health
benefits arena. Learn about many of the facets of healthcare
such as: plan design, accounting, pricing and reserving, and
valuation. Moderator/Speaker: Dale
H. Yamamoto
Speaker: Bob Walt |
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Health Benefit Issues Part 2: GASB 43/45
Wednesday, June 4 - 2:45 -
4:15 PM |
1.8 EA Noncore |
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Large public plans have addressed GASB 43/45.
What are the lessons learned so far and what others are now
available. The new accounting standards represent a
significant amount of new work that has not been done in the
past. A team of experienced practitioners explore the
funding and accounting aspects of the new GASB rules.
Moderator: Dale H. Yamamoto
Speakers: Jason L. Franken, Stephen T. McElhaney |
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Defined
Contribution Seminar |
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It’s a new world in the plan freeze
and termination world. The increasing pressure to align total
rewards strategies, including 401(k) plans, with business strategies
raises many critical questions about total rewards, their effect on
employees, and how to design total rewards programs that keep
employees engaged, motivated, and contributing to business goals.
The push for alignment with corporate strategy, the retirement
industry's evolvement toward 401(k) plans, and plan sponsors
continued activity in fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities,
managing their vendors, and educating their employees, this seminar
is filled with meaningful insight for actuaries that are already
involved with defined contribution plans as well as those who are
not. In this three-part track first review defined contribution plan
basics, second cover employer risk and retirement adequacy, and
third, they examine distributions from defined contribution plans.
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Defined Contribution Part 1 – Let’s Run Through the Rules?
Thursday, June 5 - 10:00 - 11:30 AM |
1.8 EA Noncore |
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Have you been working on defined benefit
plans for what seems forever? Do you know the basic rules of
defined contribution plans? The panel provides an overview
of defined contribution plans and the rules that govern
them, including the changes made by the PPA. Also discussed
will be safe harbors, automatic enrollment and other
pertinent components of defined contribution plans.
Moderator: Mark A. Dzierzak
Speakers: Terri
Lynn W. Vaughan, Robert E. Hord, Jr. |
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Defined Contribution Part 2 – DC Investments and
Distributions
Thursday, June 5 - 1:15 - 2:45 PM |
.9 EA Core
.9 EA Noncore |
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Recent litigation has had significant impacts
on defined contribution plan sponsors. The panelists
discusses this litigation, where you may learn more than you
ever wanted to know about provider fee arrangements, and
trends in employee investment education. Defined benefit
plans have traditionally been structured to provide an
“adequate” retirement income for a career employee. The
panelists also discuss retirement adequacy from a defined
contribution plan perspective.
Moderator/Speaker: Mark A. Dzierzak
Speakers: Daniel P.
Cassidy, David M. Abbey |
Defined Contribution Part 3 – A Unique Perspective on
Retirement
Thursday, June 5 - 3:15 - 4:45 PM |
.9 EA Core
.9 EA Noncore |
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A look at "How to Engineer a Successful
Retirement in a DC World” a review of the recent Society of
Actuaries risk survey, the impact of behavior economics on
retirement and an investment strategy point of view are all
addressed. The panel addresses one approach to unraveling
employee bewilderment - where to invest/which funds to
use/how much to save for retirement. The presenters focus on
alternative investment strategies that differ from the
mainstream and actually resurrect certain DB fundamentals.
The presenters allow you to determine whether there are
better strategies and products to help cut through the
bewilderment and to allow individuals to customize their
risk management in DC plans.
Moderator: Mark A. Dzierzak
Speaker: Zvi Bodie |
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Professionalism Seminar |
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Professionalism is always a hot topic
as our requirements tighten and more emphasis is placed on ethics
and professional judgments. This seminar consists of three parts
with speakers focusing on the new ASOPs and the Qualification
Standards and other issues affecting pension actuaries, post PPA
effects, setting assumptions, our current code, and new and proposed
professional standards that affect us all. The speakers review these
standards including the revised guide to professional conduct and
standards on asset valuation methods, data quality, modeling, and
qualification.
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Professionalism - Part 1: New Pension Actuarial Standards of
Practice
Friday, June 6 - 8:00 -
9:15 AM |
1.5 EA Core |
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During this session, the panelists discuss
the requirements of two recently issued ASOPs:
- Revised ASOP 4, Measuring Pension
Obligations, and
- ASOP 44, Selection and Use of Asset
Valuation Methods for Pension Valuations.
These standards are effective March 15,
2008. The implications of these standards are also
discussed.
Speakers: Lawrence J. Sher, Kenneth A.
Kent , Ellen L. Kleinstuber |
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Professionalism - Part 2: New Qualification Standards and
SoA/CCA CPE Requirements
Friday, June 6 - 9:30 - 10:45 AM |
1.5 EA Core |
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In this session, the panel discusses the new
qualification standards and focuses on the implications for
pension actuaries. The new CPE requirements for maintaining
active SoA and CCA membership are also discussed.
Speakers: Sheila Kalkunte, Emily K. Kessler,
Thomas S. Terry |
Professionalism - Part 3: Actuarial Communications
Friday, June 6 - 11:00 - 12:15
PM |
1.5 EA Core |
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The panelists discuss ASOP 41, Actuarial
Communications and ASOP 21, Responding to or Assisting
Auditors or Examiners in Connection with Financial
Statements for All Practice Areas. The panelists focus on
applying ASOP 41 to the new required funded status
certifications under Section 436 of the Internal Revenue
Code and general communications with plan sponsors regarding
PPA. In addition, an open discussion of communications with
auditors and actuaries who support auditors takes place.
Speakers: Tonya B. Manning, Lawrence J.
Sher, Kenneth A. Kent |
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General Session - Why Do Firms
Offer
Risky Defined Benefit Pension Plans? |
1.8 EA Noncore |
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Thursday, June 5 - 8:00 -
9:30 AM We have all heard about one of
the drawbacks to sponsoring a defined benefit pension
program: namely, the volatility of required cash
contributions and accounting expense. Plan sponsors can
choose to offer essentially riskless DB promises by backing
pension payouts with appropriately matched fixed-income
investments. But, virtually no plan sponsor in the U.S. has
chosen to do so, and most take on a significant amount of
risk with the investments in the pension plan. Shouldn’t
participants in a “risky” pension plan receive higher
compensation for this risk? And if so, wouldn’t that force
sponsors to minimize risk? Our distinguished panelists take
on these issues and offer explanations as to why plan
sponsors do not (yet) minimize risk in their DB plans.
Moderator: Thomas M. Sablak
Speakers: David C. Love, Paul Smith |
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Lunch:
Work Issues in Today’s Military |
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Thursday, June 5 - 11:30 -
1:00 PM Have you always wondered
about military benefits and how they fit into the whole
actuarial spectrum?
Come listen to Colonel Charles T. Barham,
Chief of Manpower and Augmentation Division, Personnel and
Administration Directorate US Central Command located at
MacDill Air Force Base, in Florida as he provides an
up-to-date review of Central Command’s area of
responsibility, the number of forces in active service, use
of reserves, trends, and current status of the US military.
He describes types of pay, general benefits (including
medical, life and health insurance, and thrift savings
accounts), and retirement benefits that our military
personnel receive. A question and answer period follows.
This is sure to be an interesting look at a unique side of
the public benefits arena.
Speaker: Colonel Charles T. Barham |
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Breakouts: |
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Dialogue with the IRS
Thursday, June 5 - 1:15 - 2:45 PM
(1.8 EA Core)
& Friday, June 6 - 11:00 - 12:15 PM (1.5 EA Core) |
* See Times
for Credits |
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A high ranking IRS official fields your
questions on a number of challenging issues. Don’t miss your
chance to get an answer to the question that’s been puzzling
you. Moderator: Donald J. Segal
Speaker: Marty Pippins |
Late Breaking Developments
Thursday, June 5 - 10:00 - 11:30 AM |
1.8 EA Core |
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In this popular session, the panelists
highlight hot new issues, regulations, and rulings from the
IRS, DOL, and PBGC. They also emphasize the practical
applications of these new developments and their effects on
client consulting assignments.
Moderator/Speakers: Ethan E. Kra, John H. Lowell |
Accounting - An Accounting of the Accounting Rules
Wednesday, June 4 - 4:30 - 5:45 PM |
1.5 EA Noncore |
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In 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards
Board (FASB) implemented its first phase of accounting
reform that resulted in the recognition of a retirement
plan’s funded status on the company’s balance sheet. In
addition, this statement requires companies to change their
measurement dates to fiscal year-end. The presenters at this
session discuss the pitfalls encountered in the initial
implementation of FAS 158, the mechanics of moving
measurement dates, and the additional information required
by our client’s auditors. The FASB
recently started discussing Phase II of retirement
accounting reform and many changes are anticipated in the
direction of mark-to-market accounting. An update on the
progress of Phase II is also discussed.
Moderator: Howard A. Freidin
Speakers:
Jerrold Dubner; Marcus H. Rafiee |
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Non-qualified Potpourri
Thursday, June 5 - 3:15 - 4:45 PM |
.9 EA Core
.9 EA Noncore |
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During this breakout the panelists cover a
range of issues involving non-qualified retirement plans,
NQDC and other executive compensation. The presenters
highlight the compliance and plan design challenges posed by
Section 409A and certain regulations related to the Pension
Protection Act.
Moderator/Speaker: John H. Lowell
Speaker: Warner Anthony |
Multiemployer Workshop
Wednesday, June 4 - 4:30 - 5:45 PM |
1.5 EA Core |
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Multiemployer plans present unique issues for
actuaries. Panelists give a brief overview of recent
developments in multiemployer plans, followed by an open
forum providing multiemployer plan actuaries an opportunity
for a “hands on” discussion of problems, issues, and
experiences encountered in their practices.
Moderator/Speaker: Rocky Joyner, Jr.
Speaker:
Joseph F. Hicks, Jr. |
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