Our just-completed membership survey on member engagement showed an increased interest in transparency in CAS governance, so I’m publishing this Board meeting summary to make our stakeholders aware of the many strategic issues the Board is addressing. As you review the summary, if you have a reaction or suggestion for the Board to consider, please leave a comment below.
The strategic direction of our credentialing system has been a focus of the Board throughout 2022, and we dedicated a lot of our meeting time to the CAS’s Admissions Transformation Plan (ATP). In particular, the Board discussed recommendations for where predictive analytics, soft skills and future skills should be addressed within the CAS credentialing pathway, and which should be addressed through continuing education. Finally, since it’s so important for the Board to remain engaged with ATP developments, we agreed to form a task force of the Board to work on ATP initiatives with admissions volunteers and staff between Board meetings.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategies also continue to be a focus of the Board. In particular, the Board unanimously adopted the following statement:
The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) remains strongly committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I).
We are aware that aspects of the CAS DE&I Strategy are being discussed in a variety of forums, such as targeted emails and social media posts. The CAS welcomes the free exchange of views on this, or any other topic. We remind our members that, in accordance with the Code of Professional Conduct, all members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional, respectful manner whether communicating in person or writing.
Other Board discussions addressed:
- Development of the CAS Capability Model, which articulates the traits, content areas and skills that enable an individual to practice successfully as a property/casualty actuary.
- Findings of a membership survey on member engagement, along with a set of recommended actions.
- Changes to the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) pathways to membership, which are significantly less reliant on CAS exams.
- Request for Proposals (RFP) for a governance consultant, whose scope of work will include recommendations for the CAS to align and comply with governance best practices for professional membership organizations.
- Development of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which are intended to measure progress towards achieving the goals of our Strategic Plan.
- CEO goals for FY 2022 and 2023 goals, which will address high-priority organizational initiatives, such as admissions enhancements, the CAS governance model, and membership growth.
This was my last meeting chairing the Board; Kathy Antonello, immediate Past President, will take over as Board chair in 2022-23. I want to thank the 2021-22 Board members for their service and dedication to the CAS.
Again, we welcome your feedback in the comment section below.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Casualty Actuarial Society.
What is an operational definition of “equity”, with respect to the CAS’s strong commitment to DE&I?
Since the adoption of the 2022 CAS Strategic Approach to DE&I, the CAS has received various questions from members about the strategy. An FAQ was developed by the Board to provide clarifying information in response to those questions, including questions addressing equity. See: https://www.casact.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/CAS_Diversity_Equity_Inclusion-FAQs.pdf