Dear Academy colleague,

The American Academy of Actuaries 2010 Annual Meeting and Luncheon will take place on November 8 in Washington in conjunction with the Casualty Actuarial Society's Annual Meeting. The luncheon will feature:

• A keynote speech by political journalist and commentator Howard Fineman
• The announcement and presentation of the prestigious Robert J. Myers Public Service Award and Jarvis Farley Service Award to well-respected and deserving actuaries
• The outgoing president's farewell address and ceremonial transition of the president-elect to president, as Mary Frances Miller accepts the presidential gavel from Ken Hohman

At the conclusion of the luncheon program, the Annual Meeting will be convened for the election of the regular directors of the Academy board of directors. As the chairperson of the Nominating Committee, I am very pleased to present the candidates for five regular director positions:

• Catherine Murphy-Barron (a one-year term)
• Shari Westerfield (a two-year term)
• Marc Oberholtzer (a three-year term)
• Jeffrey Petertil (a three-year term)
• Stephen Preston (a three-year term)

These candidates, from diverse backgrounds and practice specialties, received the recommendation of the Nominating Committee after much deliberation. Throughout the years, they have demonstrated their enthusiasm for advancing the mission of the Academy and are exceptionally well qualified to lead the Academy in the years ahead. They also represent a balance of practice areas and business affiliations in accordance with the guidelines that the Nominating Committee follows.

I enthusiastically commend these candidates. You will find more information about them below this letter. I encourage you to read about the nominees and get to know them. I believe that you will discover, as did the Nominating Committee, that they truly represent the best of the Academy.

Sincerely,

Bill Bluhm
Chairperson of the Academy's Nominating Committee

Nominating Committee Members: Cecil Bykerk, Stephen Dobrow, Ken Hohman, John Kollar, Mary Frances Miller, Cande Olsen, John Parks, and Lance Weiss

Nominees

Catherine Murphy-Barron, MAAA, FSA
Consulting Actuary, Milliman, Inc.

Catherine Murphy-Barron has been nominated to complete the remaining year of Stephen Rosen's regular director term. The term will be completed in 2011.

Catherine Murphy-Barron is a consulting actuary in the New York office of Milliman, Inc., where she focuses primarily on health insurance and managed care consulting. Since joining the firm in 1991, Murphy-Barron has assisted clients with pricing, benefit plan design, cost projections, risk analysis, and claim liability estimates. She continues to help clients with reimbursement and incentive system development, including capitation, pay for performance and other incentive arrangements. She also assists clients with their regulatory filings and experience analysis.

Murphy-Barron is a dedicated member of the Academy's Health Practice Council. She currently is the vice chairperson of the Committee on Federal Health Issues. Murphy-Barron is a member and former chairperson of the Uninsured Work Group. She is also a member of the Premium Review Subcommittee and the Disease Management Work Group.

Shari Westerfield, MAAA, FSA
Actuary, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Shari Westerfield has been nominated to complete the remaining two years of Tom Wildsmith's regular director term. The term will be completed in 2012.

Shari Westerfield is an actuary at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in Chicago. She has more than 20 years of experience in the health actuarial field, including various pricing and valuation roles in both insurance and consulting environments. Among her current responsibilities, Westerfield is responsible for monitoring and reporting all relevant actuarial and solvency issues at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to Blue Plan professionals as well as supporting Blue Plan actuarial staff as requested.

Westerfield is an active Academy volunteer. She currently is a member of the Health Practice Council and is the chairperson of the Committee on State Health Issues and the State Health Principle-Based Work Group. She is also a member of the Health Practice Financial Reporting Committee, the Health Practice Council Extreme Events Work Group, and the Medical Loss Ratio Regulations Work Group.

Marc Oberholtzer, MAAA, FCAS
Principal, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Marc Oberholtzer has been nominated to a three-year regular director term. The term will be completed in 2013.

Marc Oberholtzer has more than 20 years of actuarial experience and currently leads PricewaterhouseCoopers' actuarial practice in Philadelphia. Oberholtzer provides actuarial auditing and consulting services to a broad range of property and casualty insurance companies, reinsurance companies, self-insured corporations (including captive insurance companies), and regulatory authorities. In his career, he has developed expertise in a wide array of financial reporting issues for property/casualty insurance products, including reinsurance risk transfer and statements of actuarial opinion.

Oberholtzer is the vice chairperson of the Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar Planning Committee and participates as a member of the Casualty Communications Task Force and the Risk Transfer Subgroup. He also is a member of several committees of the Risk Management and Financial Reporting Council, including the Financial Reporting Committee and the International Financial Reporting Standards Task Force. In addition, Oberholtzer recently completed a three-year term as chairperson of the Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting. He also is the official representative of the Casualty Actuarial Society on the International Actuarial Association's Insurance Accounting Committee.

Jeffrey Petertil, MAAA, ASA, FCA
Independent Consulting Actuary

Jeffrey Petertil has been nominated to a three-year regular director term. The term will be completed in 2013.

Jeffrey Petertil is an independent consulting actuary based in Oak Park, Ill. He has more than 30 years of experience working with health and life insurance plans and in conducting actuarial and financial analyses of health benefit plans.

Petertil has been a volunteer for the Academy since 1984 and served on the Academy's board of directors as a regular director from 1990 to 1993. He currently is a member of both the Health Practice Council and the Pension Practice Council. He also has served as a member of the Council on Professionalism. He has been the chairperson of several professional committees during the last 20 years. Petertil currently volunteers on the Joint Committee on Retiree Health, the Health Practice Financial Reporting Committee, the Public Plan Practices Task Force, and the Joint Academy/Society of Actuaries Pension Finance Task Force.

Before establishing his own practice in 1990, Petertil was a principal with Mercer and a member of the firm's health care consulting national leadership team. Before becoming a consulting actuary in 1981, he was a manager in the financial reporting department of CNA Financial.

Stephen Preston, MAAA, FSA, CERA
Life Insurance Actuary

Stephen Preston has been nominated to a three-year regular director term. The term will be completed in 2013.

Stephen Preston has served in a broad array of actuarial and executive roles during the last 30 years at various U.S. and global insurance companies. Preston worked for many years at ING Group, most recently as ING's U.S. chief insurance risk officer from 2004 to 2010. In this role, Preston provided leadership for enterprise risk management, company solvency and capital management, asset liability management, pricing and other risk functions. Preston also has served in a broad array of executive and risk management positions for several companies, including stints as a business leader, chief financial officer, and chief actuary. He currently is on work sabbatical.

Throughout the years, Preston has held several leadership positions with the actuarial professional associations. He was a member of the Academy's board of directors from 2002 to 2004 during his tenure as vice president of the Life Practice Council. Preston has also led and been a member of many Academy committees as well as other industry working groups. Through his work, Preston has been a strong advocate for strengthening the role of the practicing actuary and principle-based solvency.