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President’s Corner, Ken Hohman
Conference President Ken Hohman offers commentary about what's going on at the Conference and in the profession at large.

Welcome to a new year of The Consulting Actuary, and my first opportunity to address you in this forum. The CCA had a great year in 2007. Under the inspired leadership of Tom Terry, we had record-setting attendance at our three larger conferences: the Enrolled Actuaries Meeting (co-sponsored with the American Academy of Actuaries), the Spring Employee Benefits Meeting (co-sponsored with the Society of Actuaries) and the CCA Annual Meeting. In addition, we sponsored or co-sponsored six seminars and fifteen web- or audio-casts during the year.

The Conference strives to offer quality, cutting edge continuing education for consulting actuaries, and our standing in this arena is even more important with the new profession-wide Qualification Standards. I strongly recommend that you keep our website in your “favorites” list to stay updated on all the continuing education opportunities we offer in 2008 and beyond. Many people have already blocked out their calendars at lunchtime (11:30 a.m. ET) on the 2nd Wednesday of almost every month for our audiocasts.

This issue of The Consulting Actuary focuses on the 2007 CCA Annual Meeting, held October 21-24 at the Westin La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, Texas. For the first time in our collective memory, we actually had to close registration prior to the meeting; we had well over 600 attendees! While the weather did not fully cooperate for our outdoor events, attendees surveyed were overwhelmingly positive about the meeting and the hotel and the CCA staff ensured all back-up weather arrangements were appropriately set in time to accommodate the required changes. Of course, sessions on PPA and GASB were dominant but broader, cross-discipline sessions were well-attended and well-received.

Among the highest rated offerings were presentations by members of the Association of Consulting Actuaries (the UK sister organization of the CCA). There is much to be learned from consulting actuaries in other countries and we will continue to strengthen our international offerings at our Annual Meetings. We are also committed to keeping our members informed of new practice areas and new actuarial techniques.

If you attended the San Antonio meeting, I hope you enjoy reliving some pleasant memories while reading through this edition of The Consulting Actuary. If you were not able to attend, start making plans to join us October 26-29 in Bonita Springs, Florida. In the meantime, please let us know if there is a way the Conference can better serve you; you are the reason we are here!