SOA Podcasts - Society of Actuaries

The Young Professional Advisory Council's Ben Tolzmann sits down with Doug Norris of the SOA's fellowship education department to discuss the recent changes to the FSA pathway and how the transition has been going through 2 exam cycles.

Young Professional Advisory Council's Jake Davis discusses exam education and career development with Eddie Smith, Director of SOA Exams at The Infinite Actuary and FSA exam instructor. Learn about Eddie's transition from practicing actuary to exam educator, effective study strategies for FSA exams, and how exam preparation has and will continue to evolve.

This episode of the Society of Actuaries' Professional Development Edge podcast features Dave Dillon, Senior Vice President and Principal at Lewis & Ellis; entrepreneur and founder of Cost Plus Drugs, Mark Cuban; and Jon Forster, the SOA's Director of PD Learning and Content Design. Together, they explore entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, and the evolving healthcare landscape. The convers...

Join us for a discussion about the SOA and why you should care about the SOA, its purpose, and its strategic plan! In this episode of the Young Professional Advisory Council podcast, YPAC member Carolyn Ellis and guest Gabi Dieguez, SOA board member, discuss the SOA as a professional organization, the roles of employees, members, and volunteers, and dive deep into why the SOA is important to us as...

Anders Larson, FSA,MAAA and Shea Parkes, FSA, MAAA provide a clear, approachable look at how modern AI systems really think, act, and respond. They dive into the hidden machinery behind today's GenAI applications – exploring how agent frameworks guide LLMs through structured, choose‑your‑own‑adventure–style decision loops. Using practical examples from Microsoft Copilot and actuarial workflows, th...

The podcast features Jon Forster interviewing Aree Bly, founder of Alignment Ally and author of "The Sustainable Brain," focusing on the importance of developing comfort with ambiguity for actuaries and other professionals. Aree shares practical examples from her career, such as handling ambiguous data formats in healthcare analytics, and discusses strategies for determining when work is "good eno...

Exploring Fraud, Waste & Abuse (FWA) in U.S. healthcare—key trends, AI's impact, and how actuaries and data professionals can drive smarter detection and prevention.

Join Jason Hiquet, FSA, CERA and host Chris Smith, ASA, for an insightful discussion of innovation in insurance. Jason's expertise in the field and advice for those seeking to have an impact is can't-miss for anyone with hopes of driving change in the industry!  Want more? Register for the  Innovating Inside of Traditional Insurance Work Topic Call on Monday, April 20, 2026 at 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET. T...

In this episode of the  Get Plugged In Podcast, originally published in January 2026, Dale Hall, Managing Dire ctor of Researc h at the Society of Actuaries Research Institute, is joined by Joe Alaimo, CEO at ProComp Consulting Inc. in Ontario, Canada and Community Advisory Team Member of the Emerging Topics Community. Together, they unpack the results of the Society of Actuaries Research Institut...

Join Tasso Bountouvas, FSA and Carly Mauro, FSA as they give an overview of the main goals and motivations of YPAC. They celebrate 2025 accomplishments and look forward to another exciting year of impact!

Join Ganiu Shefiu as he interviews Jola Fakoya, FSA, CERA, to discuss making an impact in actuarial leadership.

The podcast features Jon Forster interviewing Hasham Piperdy about the similarities and differences between Takaful and mutual insurance. Both models emphasize collective risk sharing and returning surplus to participants, but differ in ownership structure, capital provision, and investment restrictions. Takaful adds a layer of Shari'ah compliance, requiring investments to be Islamic and oversight...

I n this captivating podcast, Joe Alaimo, CEO of ProComp, sits down once again, two years later, with ChatGPT. Together they talk about what has actually changed in two years, what did not change, and where the profession might be heading next.   What does ChatGPT now see ahead for the actuarial profession? The original Actuaries in the Age of AI: A conversation with ChatGPT was published on Oct 1...

The podcast features a conversation with Willis Towers Watson CEO Carl Hess, who discusses his progression from actuary to CEO, emphasizing the importance of analytical skills, communication, and people management in leadership. Carl highlights how technology and AI are transforming the actuarial profession, noting that automation and AI projects at WTW are helping staff focus on more productive w...

What is it really like to work as an actuary in a fast-moving startup versus a large, established company? In this episode, YPAC member Zack Moore sits down with Matt Briggs to unpack the realities of both worlds, from culture and pace to impact, growth, and career satisfaction. They explore how actuaries fit into each environment, the trade-offs between stability and innovation, and what young pr...

In this episode of the  Get Plugged In  podcast originally published in September 2025, host Dale Hall, Managing Director of Research at the Society of Actuaries, is joined by Joe Alaimo, CEO of ProComp Consulting Inc. and Community Advisory Team Member of the Emerging Topics Community. Together, they delve into the findings of a recent roundtable discussion focused on the role of generative AI in...

This podcast episode features Dave Friesen and Tom Callahan discussing the collaboration between actuaries and data scientists. Tom is an Actuary who works extensively with data scientists, and Dave is a data scientist who works with Actuaries, making them a great combo for the topic.    Dave highlighted the operational focus of data science in improving workflows and customer experience, while To...

Research isn't just for academics! This episode reveals how broad the impact of SOA research is – balancing the retrospective with the prospective – and why it's essential for actuaries and the broader public. YPAC Vice-Chair Tasso Bountouvas and guest R. Dale Hall discuss misconceptions, real-world applications, and how you can contribute – no PhD required. Tune in for practical advice, inspirati...

Listen in as Greg Fann interviews Moshe Nelkin about Medicare Supplement insurance. We will take you from Medicare basics through product details covering pricing assumptions, factors driving claims trend, regulatory considerations, challenges, opportunities, and more.

Roger Loomis sits down with Stephanie Moench and Michael Rustemeyer to discuss their paper that was just published by the SOA Research Institute: "Long-Term Care Wellness Primer", which can be downloaded here: https://www.soa.org/resources/research-reports/2025/long-term-care-wellness/

Listen to Juan Herrara and Danny Moore discuss pending claims, large claims, and using predictive analytics and other modeling techniques to develop these estimates.

Join host Tiana Zhao as she explores the cutting-edge trends reshaping the insurance landscape. From AI-driven underwriting to climate-focused products, this episode of the SOA Marketing and Distribution podcast dives deep into the technological and societal shifts transforming how we think about risk and protection. Discover how insurtech startups, IoT devices, and changing consumer expectations...

Anders Larson and Shea Parkes discuss using GenAI applications with coding agents to simulate healthcare costs.  They revisit the distinction between large language models (LLMs) and the applications that wrap them.  They then use some newer GenAI application functionality to generate some simulated healthcare cost distributions.  During their discussion they explore what domain knowledge the mode...

Description: Listen as co-hosts Jackie Lee and Josh Hammerquist speak to data scientist Supriya Ramachandra as they discuss how she attacks messy data with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. From this discussion, actuaries will learn about how these cutting-edge tools can be used in their work. PleaseNote:  At timestamp 11:00: The training data was created through manual annotation — it...

In this month's YPAC podcast host Shawn Stender, FSA, MAAA will be joined by Simon Gervais, FSA, MAAA to discuss an often-overlooked topic for young actuaries. With so much focus given to career advancement and "managing up," actuaries looking might overlook the benefits of managing down to promote younger professionals within their organization. This podcast will discuss how managing down can not...