Development & Engagement
We aim for professional development and continuing education designed to meet the industry’s changing needs, evolving with new skills development throughout actuaries’ careers and increases online offerings.
- Create new learning opportunities like online courses, employer work-site training, and curated “menus” of learning opportunities
- Develop mentor programs for actuaries for specific skills development
- Improve online and mobile offerings for meetings, webinars, and communities
- Increase the value of webinars and meetings including offering credits
- Create more events for young professionals
- Increase educational programming focused on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion
- Improve engagement by building a community structure that brings the SOA closer to members, closer to candidates, and closer to students who want to learn about the profession.
What's Happening Now
- Doors start opening October 2021 for the first Affiliate membership intended for students and those who support them - teachers, professors, career counselors, and non-actuaries who work with them in their candidate journey. Another door opens in January 2022 for an additional Affiliate membership “professional tier” designed for and offered to candidates who have earned one of our eligible new micro-credentials on their pathway to ASA. As a “Professional Affiliate” member, you will be able to join most volunteer committees and have access to long-term career and leadership development, peer-based community building, and tailored opportunities based on your unique background. More will be provided on these programs as we approach these launch dates. Sign up for updates to stay informed of these new ways to affiliate with the SOA.
- Employers are focused on skills development in data science. With this focus in mind, the SOA and a large insurance company and actuarial employer embarked on a two-year data and analytics talent upskilling program. The SOA facilitates training for employees through a customized, multi-phase education program focusing on big data and predictive analytics. Based on this model, the SOA now offers a comprehensive program called Edvance to other employers to deliver high-quality, peer-based professional development around the specific needs of an organization that is also cost effective and efficient.
- The SOA converted all of its professional development meetings, including the 2020 Annual Virtual Meeting & Exhibit, to virtual meetings in 2020. While preparations were underway to convert portions of our meetings to virtual, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SOA accelerated those preparations to ensure zero gaps in professional development offerings.
- In addition to converting SOA professional development meetings and events to virtual, the SOA created new learning opportunities to address emerging issues. The Life & Retirement Virtual Conference, the COVID-19 Virtual Symposium and the Virtual Elder-Tech Summit.
- The SOA Predictive Analytics Certificate Program provides hands-on practical instruction and is open to any credentialed actuary. Designed to provide actuaries with in-depth knowledge on predictive modeling and data analytics, this program offers a combination of e-learning and in-person coursework.
- To provide more flexible learning opportunities with demonstrable achievements in the form of a certificate, the SOA launched the International Financial Reporting for Insurers Certificate Pilot Program. This new program will cover international financial reporting for insurers in a comprehensive, country-neutral way with a focus on IFRS 17 implementation and financial analysis.
We will keep you updated with what’s happening now and what is coming in the future. Check back here or sign-up for our Exponential Opportunities monthly newsletter for the latest.