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28th Annual ConferenceCaribbean Actuarial Association
Kingston, Jamaica28-30 November, 2018 Jamaica Pegasus Hotel
Welcome to
TABLE OF CONTENTS
President’s Message1
2
3
5
9
14
16
28
Chairperson’s Message
General Information
Congratulations & Recognition
Programme
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce
Our Speakers
What’s In My Bag?
29 Brainteasers
31 In Memoriam: Samuel Ewart Phillips
32 Conference Sponsors
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
olleagues and Friends,
Welcome to the first Caribbean Actuarial Association conference held in Kingston, Jamaica! It is an exciting venue - truly non-traditional and different, focussed on inclusion, cognizant of the fact that we are all Running the Risk.
Like any organisation that desires growth the CAA aims to reach you, our constituents in constructive, relevant and tangible ways that bring value. Our members are uniquely placed to apply in-depth analysis and solution focused skills to every-day problems. We are the professionals to “go-to” in any space that requires critical thinking and reasoned results.
This year’s conference addresses the interests of practitioners in the public and private sectors from all areas trying to manage risk whether it be natural or man-made. In fact, the lines of risk are really quite blurred since natural and man-made risks are not completely independent! Think of the flood risk in a non-flood prone area due to garbage-blocked drains or the earthquake risk on the Korean peninsula due to an underground nuclear detonation, or social security longevity risk reduced by raising the retirement age beyond the average life expectancy. This conference programme will pique your interest in climate change, new technologies, health care systems, predictive analytics and more. It will lead you to seek an understanding of the networks and connections that create new risks.
And so, I thank the organizing committee for crafting a first-class conference programme complete with numerous networking opportunities and true Caribbean-flavoured entertainment.
I also take this opportunity to recognise two very special Caribbean actuaries. Daisy McFarlane-Coke, who in June 2018 was awarded the prestigious Max Lander Award by the International Association of Consulting Actuaries, and Cathy Lyn who was honoured in October 2018 by the Society of Actuaries and awarded for her contributions to the International Actuarial fraternity. We are so proud of their accomplishments and their service to their Caribbean and international communities.
Finally, on behalf of the Executive Council, I am especially appreciative of the support we have received from our sponsors and partners some of whom have been our close friends for many years. Thank you all for your tremendous support!
To all conference attendees, welcome to Kingston and enjoy the conference!!
Janet SharpPresidentNovember 28, 2018
C
1
ear Participants:
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 28th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Actuarial Association (CAA), held November 28-30, 2018 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica.
The primary vision that I had for this year’s Annual Conference was to attain exceptional levels of thought leadership, stakeholder engagement and diversity in perspectives. By hosting the event in Kingston, the business hub and capital of the country, my mission for this year’s Annual Conference was to engage the wider community in our discussions and fellowship, expanding our professional and even geographical reach. With a record-breaking number of participants at this year’s Annual Conference, comprising actuaries, academics, accountants, civil servants, doctors, investment managers, lawyers and more, hailing from the Caribbean, the Americas, Europe, Africa and even Asia; I can proudly admit that the Annual Conference has broadened its horizons to a fair extent.
I will say with certainty that the experience of organising this year’s Annual Conference was substantially rewarding, albeit challenging. Nonetheless, my team has worked assiduously to ensure that the event flows smoothly. My hat goes off to all the volunteers, inside and outside Jamaica, for their persistent dedication to the tasks at hand as well as the lessons that they have taught me along the way. To our reputable speakers, esteemed sponsors, impeccable suppliers and other well-wishers; I’d like to express my utmost gratitude for the significant contributions that you have made towards the success of this event. Further, a big “thank you” also goes out to the Jamaican actuaries of the CAA, for entrusting me with the planning and execution of this year’s Annual Conference. This event truly belongs to us all!
In closing, I’d like to wish you a productive, insightful and exciting time at this year’s Annual Conference. Regardless of whether or not you are a player within the actuarial field, I do hope that this experience has left an indelible mark on your professional journey, by providing you with new ideas and exciting memories to take home for a lifetime. Finally, I’d like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the CAA, for once again delivering its mandate to facilitate the development of actuarial science in the Caribbean through this Annual Conference.
Till next time!
Nikhil AsnaniChairman, CAA Conference 2018 Committee#RunningTheRisk #CAA2018JA
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CHAIRPERSON’S MESSAGE
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GENER AL INFORMATION
CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT
CONFERENCE APP
DRESS CODES
Participants are encouraged to register and collect their conference packages from the Conference Secretariat at their earliest convenience. The Conference Secretariat will be located in the Rio Grande Suite during the following hours:
There is a free, user-friendly conference app provided to us by RGA. The app will provide the schedule, speaker information, sponsor information, and more. To download the app:
1. Enter this URL in your mobile device browser:
2. Select your mobile device type and install the app
3. Once installed, launch the app and click on the “+” sign beside “CAA 28th
4. Enter your unique username and password listed below:
Username: The email address you used on your conference registration
Password: caa2018
Participants are encouraged to use the conference app to ask questions during the sessions, by using the “Comment” feature under the relevant session. Also, feel free to “Like” your favourite sessions by giving them a thumbs up!
DATE HOURSWednesday, November 28Thursday, November 29Friday, November 30
8:00 am - 5:00 pm7:30 am - 5:30 pm8:00 am - 4:30 pm
DATES EVENTS DRESS CODE
AllWednesday, November 28Thursday, November 29Friday, November 30
All Conference Sessions and WorkshopsCocktail ReceptionSunken Soirée: Gala DinnerSand-Sational: Beach Lyme
Business CasualCasually Elegant Casually Elegant Beach Casual
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http://rga.quickmobile.mobi/
Annual Conference” to download the event
form
CONFERENCE COMMITTEEWI-FI CONNECTION
PHOTOGR APHY CREDITS
TR ANSPORTATION
For those departing from Kingston between November 30 and December 2, transportation will be provided from the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel to the Norman Manley International Airport at no additional cost. It is worthwhile to confirm your departure time with the Conference Secretariat. In the event that there are any sudden changes made to your itinerary, please contact the Transport Cordinators Kord Campbell or Xuxa Gordon immediately by telephone at (876) 312-0636 or (876) 460-9776 respectively.
For the off-site evening events shuttles will be provided between the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel and the venues as follows:
Complimentary wireless internet service is available for use throughout the conference rooms.
The password is caa2018ja
Brandon Blake
Tai-Shan Tracey
Nikhil Asnani
Shubhash Gosine
Jodi-Ann Morgan
Alicia Ganess
Kord Campbell
Xuxa Gordon
Justine Powell
Shanique McPhail
Rochelle Muncey
Britta Hay
Brian Blake
Dana-Marie Dick
Betty Sullivan Black
Chairperson
Programme Co-ordinator
Hotel Co-ordinator I
Hotel Co-ordinator II
Transportation Co-ordinator I
Transportation Co-ordinator II
Entertainment Co-ordinator I
Entertainment Co-ordinator II
Sponsorship Co-ordinator
Conference Package Co-ordinator
Booklet Designer
Payables Co-ordinator
Administrator
DATES EVENTS DEPARTURE RETURN
Thursday, November 29
Friday, November 30 Sand-Sational: Beach Lyme
Sunken Soirée: Gala DinnerShuttle 1 - 6:45 pmShuttle 2 - 7:00 pm
Shuttle 1 - 7:00 pmShuttle 2 - 8:00 pm
Shuttle 1 - 10:00 pmShuttle 2 - 10:30 pm
Shuttle 1 - 10:30 pmShuttle 2 - 12:00 am Shuttle 3 - 1:00 am
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Nazir Valani has been attending the CAA conferences for 25+ years. His company (Valani Consulting which became part of KPMG) celebrated both its 10th and 15th year anniversaries in December 2007 and December 2012 respectively, with all their staff and spouses attending the CAA conferences.
He is a member of the Employers Council of the Society of Actuaries and a frequent speaker at actuarial conferences on several topics including IFRS 17.
An author of many articles, Nazir was featured in a truly inspiring SOA video called “Society of Achievers”.
The Caribbean Actuarial Association (CAA) would like to congratulate Catherine Lyn and Nazir Valani on recieving the 2018 Society of Actuaries (SOA) Presidential Award.
SOCIET Y OF ACTUARIESPRESIDENTIAL AWARD
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Not many actuaries are active volunteer members of both the IFoA and the SOA, the two largest actuarial associations in the world. Cathy’s experience ranges from the powerful, large, long established associations to the small, newly formed ones. Over the years, Cathy's objective has been to strengthen international links between actuarial associations and help them forge links at the leadership level with related worldwide professionals. Now, Cathy focuses on diversity of thought as a driver to create more actuarial jobs and engaging younger actuaries.
She energetically promotes the actuarial profession at every opportunity through all forms of media. Her reach through the IAA and its consulting section IACA gives her influence in all corners of the globe. Her volunteer positions included serving as: President of the CAA, President of the Pacific Rim Actuaries Club of Toronto and Chair of IACA.
At the recent 2018 ICA in Berlin, Cathy hosted a four hour mini-conference on “Opportunity in Diversity”. Marjorie Ngwenya, the first president of the IFoA resident outside the UK, analysed the workshop’s discussions and gave her own stories of Diversity.
The number of delegates registered and their lively participation showed a strong appetite for “Diversity” with an audience diverse by culture, education, gender, race, geography, life experience, established vs new, large vs small full member associations, and so on. Following the reception of this pilot, the plan is to take Diversity on a world tour, incorporating customized modifications for different audiences, as appropriate. See https://bit.ly/2z4QPGO.
It was during her term as President that the CAA completed its application to become a full member association of the IAA. She now sits on the IAA Executive Committee and finds that the demands of the IAA force her to think deeply about the value proposition, the purpose and image the IAA brings to its communities.
For most of us, the Cathy we know is a very warm and easy-going person. But as a thought leader and future thinker, she is driving and shaping the profession for tomorrow’s world. She embraces the rapid changes of our various industries and understands the education required to stay ahead. She networks easily, aligns herself with actuaries of many associations worldwide and continues to be a dynamic contributor to our profession.
“By awarding me The Basil L. and Monica G. Virtue Caribbean Actuarial Scholarship,
you have lightened my financial burden and has given me peace of
mind. This allows me to be more focused on the most important
aspect of school, learning and building one’s character.
Your generousity has inspired me. It has warmed my heart to one day give back and help students achieve their goals just as you have helped me.
Thank you.”
Shiloh Waite,Caribbean Actuarial
Scholarship Winner 2017,UWI, MONA
A class valedictorian from St George’s College, Jamaica Scholar and University of the West Indies (UWI) graduate, Mike received his Fellowship designation within four years of enrolling as a student of the Institute of Actuaries. He was the next Jamaican actuary to qualify after Daisy McFarlane Coke. Would you have guessed Mike’s first pursuit was astrophysics? He started this degree at the University of Waterloo but cut it short. A natural academic, Mike still has a keen interest in astronomy chasing eclipses around the world.
His distinguished actuarial career spanned more than 30 years starting in the British American Insurance Company as a programmer, progressing to its head office in the Bahamas, moved to the USA holding several senior posts and rising to head Deloitte’s international practice until retirement. Mike won the elections for the prominent post of President (2009/10) of the Society of Actuaries governing over 30,000 actuaries in the world. Mike played an integral role in formulating the CERA designation.
Mike has also sought to nurture young actuaries. Since 2009 Mike has been the main donor for the Caribbean Actuarial Scholarship Fund established in honour of his wife’s parents. This Fund is operated by the Actuarial Foundation with a Committee to select the winners. After retirement he and his wife Mary founded the Trees That Feed Foundation to promote economic activity in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Mike is amongst the foremost members of the profession who has served the IAA and who still serves the Society of Actuaries. He is indeed an inspiration, a philanthropist and a role model.
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MORE THAN AN ACTUARY Mike McL aug hl in
Mike and his wife Mary are the driving force to mainstreaming breadfruit as an industry here in
Jamaica. We are converting excess breadfruit that usually spoiled into commercial nutritious
products.
On a personal note, TTFF has expanded our organization, Jeffrey Town Farmers'
Association, by donating to us in excess of 3000 trees. In addition, TTFF has provided
1500 porridge breakfasts monthly for the last 3 years to our local primary schools.
This is particularly special because the porridge is made with dried milled
breadfruit and the young develop the taste. These donations have created work
followed by income for local women as commercial cottage industry gets a boost.
Through Mike's fine financial management we have benefitted from equipment donated
over the years. Starting with a hand mill in 2012 to a top of the line electric mill to grind our breadfruit and other gluten free flours in
2018.
This support has been invaluable for the community.
RegardsIvy Gordon
Jet Town ProductsJeffrey Town Farmers' Association
JTFA Building, Top Road, Jeffrey Town. St. Mary
Daisy McFarlane-Coke
“In 2004 IACA inaugurated a “Consulting Actuary Lifetime Achievement Award”. This award is named in honour of the late Max Lander who was a founding member of IACA and the initial IACA Secretary/Treasurer. The Max Lander Award is given to a member of the actuarial profession who has contributed to the public awareness of the work of the actuarial profession and the promotion of the business of consulting actuaries.”
What is the Max Lander award?
The CAA is delighted to announce that the Hon. Daisy May Mc Farlane-Coke, O.J., C.D., B.A., M.A., Cert. in Stat., F.I.A., A.S.A., has won the 2018 Max Lander Award against strong competition from several candidates around the world. Daisy is the seventh winner of this award. She stands as a role model of what a young girl from rural Jamaica can achieve with the combination of a brilliant mind, supportive parents, kind teachers, spoiling brothers, humility and determination.
Her pioneering work as a Jamaican actuary, who qualified in 1970, led the way for several actuaries to follow. Some 48 years later, there are 15 qualified actuaries practising in Jamaica and another 12 overseas whom she has impacted in their career choice and development.
Daisy took an active part in international actuarial development. For example, at the 1988 International Congress of Actuaries in Helsinki, Daisy and three other Caribbean delegates agreed it was time to form the CAA. She then served as President of the CAA from 1991 to 1997 giving exemplary leadership. Daisy was also a charter member of the International Association of Black Actuaries in the USA and contributed towards its formation in 1992.
Following years of academic excellence, Daisy was awarded a scholarship by Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance to qualify as an actuary in the U.K. She read Statistics at Oxford University and started her actuarial career on secondment to the UK Government Actuary’s Department in London. While there, she saw first-hand the contribution that actuaries can make to the public policy and vowed to put this into effect upon her return home to become Jamaica’s first Government Actuary.
Along with developing a thriving consulting practice, Daisy served on a number of boards of enquiry and expert committees/task forces dealing with Pension Reform, Financing Public Sector Pensions, Public Health Financing, Independence of the Bank of Jamaica, the National Insurance Fund, the Overseas Examination Council, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, and the Council of the University of the West Indies. Daisy’s technical actuarial skills combined with vision, instinctive business acumen and ability to add key information for better decision making made her an invaluable member of all the teams who embraced her.
Even now, at 81 and retired, she still serves the Jamaican Government when called and shares her vast knowledge and experience with any person who seeks it. The CAA is indeed honoured by this recognition from IACA as Daisy’s stellar achievements are proof of the true essence of the actuarial profession.
A NATION BUILDER
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Break
Joint IFoA/CAA Professionalism Workshop: Part 211:00 am - 12:45 pm
Joint IACA/CIA/CAA Panel:The Role Of Actuaries In Public Policy
Tim Vieyra, Comotion Business Solutions
Sharon Giffen, Canadian Institute of Actuaries
Angela Beckford, Financial Services Commission (Jamaica)
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Break
Advisory Council Meeting3:15 pm - 4:30 pm
10:45 am - 11:00 am
3:00 pm - 3:15 pm
12:45 pm - 2:00 pm
Cocktail Reception7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Port Antonio Suite
Port Antonio Suite
Port Antonio Suite
Port Antonio Suite
Gardens at the Pegasus
Wednesday - November 28th
Helen Gregson, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
Mike McLaughlin
Helen Gregson, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
Mike McLaughlin
9:00 am - 10:45 am Joint IFoA/CAA Professionalism Workshop: Part 1
Port Antonio Suite
Lunch
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Opening Session
Keynote Speech: Running the Risk
Ambassador Dr. Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, OD
Grand Jamaica Suite
Grand Jamaica Suite
Grand Jamaica Suite
Grand Jamaica Suite
Grand Jamaica Suite
Grand Jamaica Suite
Grand Jamaica Suite
Grand Jamaica Suite
The Sunken Garden at Hope Botanical Gardens
Alok Jain, PwC
Michael Taylor, University of the West Indies (Mona)
Caterina Lindman, Climate Index Working Group
Suzanne Stanley, Jamaica Environment Trust
Tim Vieyra, Comotion Business Solutions
Ken Mungan, Milliman
Donna Jermer, RGAx
8:00 am - 8:30 am
8:30 am - 9:00 am
9:00 am - 10:00 am
10:00 am - 10:15 am
Climate Change And Its (Large) Impact On Caribbean Resources
Digital Disruption: The World At Our Fingertips
10:15 am - 11:00 am
11:00 am - 12:30 am
Break
Break
Lunch12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Blink And You Miss! An Introduction To Global Megatrends
Caribbean Health Care Systems And Longevity 1:45 pm - 3:15 pm
3:15 pm - 3:30 pm
Marshall Tulloch-Reid, Caribbean Institute for Health Research
Karl Theodore, University of the West Indies (St.Augustine)
Denise Eldemire-Shearer, University of the West Indies (Mona)
Beyond The Euphoria: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies And Blockchain Technology
Jwala Rambarran
Sunken Soirée: Gala Dinner
Wrap-Up: Bringing It All Home
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
4:30 pm - 5:00 pm
7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Winston St.Elmo Whyte, Actman International Limited
Thursday - November 29th
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Global Capital Tests For Life Insurance: Past, Present And Future
The Future Of Motor Insurance
Suris Kalloe, Allianz Benelux
Lisa Peterson, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (Canada)Simone Brathwaite, Oliver Wyman
Risk Management: Benefit Or Burden?Servaas Houben, ENNIA
Dane Brodber, Scotiabank
Burning Issues Within The Pensions Industry: A Multi-Stakeholder View
Andre Brown, NCB Insurance Company
Trecia-Gay Clarke, PROVEN Investments
Rohan Hall, Eckler Limited
Rosalee White, PwC
Kerri-Ann Allen-Morgan, Livingston, Alexander and Levy
Andrew Williams, Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica LLC
The Impact Of Public Pensions And Health Care On Fiscal Sustainability
Ravi Rambarran, Sagicor Financial Corporation
Benefit Packages For A Universal Health PlanJames Cercone, Sanigest Internacional
Networking 101: It’s Not WHAT You Know, But WHO You Know
Nikhil Asnani, Guardian Life Limited
Helen Gregson, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
IFRS 17: Procrastinate At Your Peril!
Trevor Howes, Moody’s Analytics
Simone Brathwaite, Oliver Wyman
Cynthia Potts, Eckler Limited
Bertha Pilgrim, Eckler Limited
8:30 am - 9:15 am
10:00 am - 10:45 am
9:15 am -10:00 am
Break
Lunch
10:45 am - 11:00 am
11:00 am - 11:30 am
11:30 am - 12:45 pm
12:45 pm - 2:00 pm
2:00 pm - 2:45 pm
Court Cases On Pension Surplus Quarrels
Randy Bauslaugh, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Angela Fowler, Livingston, Alexander and Levy
Montego-Port Antonio Suite
Montego-Port Antonio Suite
Montego-Port Antonio Suite
Montego-Port Antonio Suite
Montego-Port Antonio Suite
Montego Suite
Negril Suite
Negril Suite
Port Antonio Suite
Friday - November 30th
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Non-Conventional (Re)insurance Models
Donna Jermer, RGAx
Fahad Ahmed Qureshi, Minhaj Unversity Lahore
Break
2:45 pm - 3:30 pm
3:30 pm - 4:15 pm
4:15 pm - 4:45 pm
4:45 pm - 6:00 pm
8:30 pm onwards Sand-Sational: Beach Lyme
CAA Annual General Meeting
Actuarial Aspects Of IPOs And M&As
Karthik Yadatore, Milliman
Zi Xiang Low, Milliman Joint CAS/ASTIN Workshop: Basic General Insurance Ratemaking
Axel Wolfstein, Verti
Ron Kozlowski, RTK Actuarial + Professional Services LLCPredictive Analytics: Case Studies In Life Insurance
Kevin Pledge, Acceptiv
Craig Reynolds, Milliman
Chasing Risk-Adjusted Returns Of Pension Plans
Ramon Small-Ferguson, Jamaica National Fund Managers Limited
Varsha Panday, Eckler Limited
Montego Suite
Montego Suite
Montego Suite
Negril Suite
Port Antonio Suite
Port Antonio Suite
Boardwalk Beach
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Triple World Sprint Champion - the first woman to achieve this in athletic history. She was named the IAAF World Athlete of the Year in 2013. This was a result of her wins in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at the World Championships in Athletics.
This young lady chose to stay in Jamaica and study at the University of Technology, which allowed her to train with the MVP Track and Field Club.
Her first global medal in athletics came in 2007 when she ran in 4x100m at the IAAF World Championships. Jamaica earned the silver medal in the final. In 2008, at the Beijing Olympic’s 100m final, she took the world by storm, running 10.78 seconds (the fastest time in the world) and winning the Olympic gold.
Shelly Ann was appointed by the Government of Jamaica, an Officer of the Order of Distinction (OD). Further, she received the 2008 Prime Minister's Youth Award for excellence in Sport. Shelly Ann was conferred with the title Ambassador in 2014.
Ambassador Dr. Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, OD
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
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Randy Bauslaugh
Randy Bauslaugh leads McCarthy Tétrault's Pensions & Benefits practice in Canada. He has more than 35 years’ experience advising on plan governance, design, mergers, restructurings and conversions, as well as surplus repatriation and deficit management issues.
Mr. Bauslaugh’s international practice includes legal opinions to the United Nations on Principles of Responsible Investment, development of national and international pension schemes and regulatory structures, and he is currently engaged on certain individual and class actions relating to pensions in the Caribbean. He is counsel to the Canadian Nortel pension plans, lead creditors in the world-wide bankruptcy proceedings. He is an independent professional Trustee and a director.
Mr. Bauslaugh frequently participates in international industry associations, including as former Chair of the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association (IPEBLA), and as a speaker at events hosted by the Caribbean Actuarial Association (CAA) and the International Association of Consulting Actuaries (IACA).
Nikhil Asnani
Nikhil Asnani is the Assistant Vice President - Actuarial at Guardian Life Limited, which he joined in 2014 upon graduating with a BSc. (First Class Honours) in Actuarial Science from the University of the West Indies, Mona.
His work experience so far has spanned a variety of roles, including pricing and product development, valuation and financial reporting, in-force management and administration of life insurance and annuity products.
In 2017, Nikhil qualified firstly as a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and then as a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM). He has also completed Levels I and II of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.
Nikhil is currently the Chairperson of the Caribbean Actuarial Association (CAA) Conference 2018 Planning Committee and also the Director for the Caribbean Chapter of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP).
Kerri-Ann Allen-Morgan
Kerri-Ann practises in the areas of pensions, taxation and civil litigation. Her pension practice involves advising pension clients, whether the trustees, sponsors or members of pension funds and retirements schemes as well as drafting and amending the constitutive documents for respective pension arrangements.
Kerri-Ann was admitted to practise in Jamaica in November 2014. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies where she obtained her Bachelor of Laws Degree with first class honours. She later obtained her Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School and graduated as the most outstanding student over two years and a member of the Principal’s Honour Roll (2014). Throughout her studies Kerri-Ann sat on the executive of various student bodies and was an avid participant in student and charity activities.
Fahad Ahmed Qureshi
Mr Fahad Ahmed Qureshi is Head of the Department of School of Islamic Economics, Banking & Finance, Minhaj University Lahore. He is pursuing a P.hD. in Finance (Spec. Islamic Banking & Finance) From University of Nottingham. He is also working as Faculty Member for Center for Islamic Economics (CIE) Pakistan, Senior Research Manager for IIFR Aus, Researcher for MAM, Aus, Head of Shariah Compliance for AH-SCS USA. He is also providing services as CSSB for GHFC USA and KFFI Australia.
Previously he has served Al Ithmaar Bank, Bahrain, IFANCA USA, Muslim Chamber of Commerce USA. His major areas of research, scholarship and teaching are in Quantitative Research Methods for Islamic Finance, Shariah Law Statistics and International Islamic Finance. He was the Shariah Advisor of Team who constructed the first ever Canadian Government SUKUK (CDN-SUKUK). He developed Shariah Compliant Framework for Hospitality Industry for South American States in collaboration with Muslim Chamber of Commerce, USA. His published research work has already been translated into Russian, Chinese, German and Italian languages.
(Alphabetical Order)
OUR SPEAKERS
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Simone Brathwaite
Simone Brathwaite is a Principal with Oliver Wyman Actuarial Consulting (OWAC). She has over 16 years of consulting experience where her focus has been on solvency, pricing and financial risk management in both the European and North American insurance industry.
Simone has worked in depth with major insurance companies and regulatory bodies in Europe and
Canada (OSFI). Simone has been heading up the Oliver Wyman Barbados office since 2010.She has conducted several embedded value peer reviews, risk management, solvency assessments and assisted on buy-side M&A due diligences for various insurers in Europe, Canada and the Caribbean.
Andre Brown
Andre Brown is currently Investment Manager at NCB Insurance Company, where he is responsible for the strategic and operational plans of the Investment Department, inclusive of the formulation and execution of strategies to monitor, manage and grow pension and insurance portfolios aggregating over J$150 billion. He has been employed to the NCB Group for over 12 years, and has held several investment related positions. Andre
holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Actuarial Science from the University of the West Indies, a MBA in Finance from the University of Leicester and is also an Associate of the Society of Actuaries. With several years of experience in the financial services industry, Andre has garnered a wide range of skills spanning trading, liquidity and cost management, risk management, research, portfolio management amongst other areas of expertise.
Dane has over 14 years of experience in the financial services industry with extensive experience in Market Risk Management, as well as experience with Strategy, Business Intelligence, and Financial Analysis. In his current role of Director, Market Risk Management, English Caribbean, Dane is responsible for the measurement, monitoring and governance of market risk exposures throughout the English-Speaking Caribbean Region.
Dane is the founding Vice President of the CFA Society of Jamaica; the newly formed local arm of CFA International which promotes the highest standards of ethics and professional standards in the Investment Management industry.
He earned the CFA charter in 2006 after having earned undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Economics & Business from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and in 2005 an MBA from the University of New Orleans. He also earned the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation in 2007.
Dane Brodber
Angela holds the position of Chief Actuary at the Financial Services Commission. She has over 25 years’ experience in the pensions and life insurance industry working with the Jamaican regulator, a major Caribbean insurance company and actuarial consulting firms. She has in-depth knowledge of pension and insurance including the pricing and design of products, valuation, capital adequacy and stress testing and regulation.
At the Financial Services Commission in Jamaica (FSC), as head of the pensions division, Angela assisted in the drafting of the pension legislation, namely the Pensions (Superannuation Funds and Retirement Schemes) Act and concomitant Regulations.
As Chief Actuary at the FSC, a position she has held for over 9 years, she developed the capital adequacy test for the general insurance industry in Jamaica and prepared regulatory guidance on such topics as asset/liability management, stress testing, and funding and solvency pension valuations.
Angela Beckford
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Angela Fowler
Angela is an Attorney-at-Law. She graduated from the University of the West Indies having obtained a Bachelor of Laws Degree and was admitted to practice in Jamaica in October 1975.
Angela joined the Firm, Livingston, Alexander & Levy in October 1975 and has been a Partner from July 1, 1977 and is currently the Senior Partner. Her practice areas are commercial law and pensions. She has specialized in the area of pensions from 1977 and is advisor to the sponsors and trustees of several superannuation funds and retirement schemes in Jamaica.
Angela is a member of the Jamaican Bar Association, International Pension and Employee Benefit Lawyers Association and is the Firm’s representative to the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica. She is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Jessie Ripoll Primary School (formerly Chairman) and sits on the Board of Directors of: Partnership Consultants Limited, Scotia Group Jamaica Limited, The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited and Scotia Investments Jamaica Limited.
Denise Eldermire-Shearer
Professor Eldemire-Shearer is presently Director for Graduate Studies and Research at the University of the West Indies. She has contributed to the development of Public Health as coordinator of the Master of Public Health from its inception in 1985 until 2005, and now Master of Public Health Gerontology, Diploma in Gerontology and the PhD in Ageing Studies. Her academic interests cover both ageing and public health lecturing in both areas.
Throughout her academic career she has remained a strong and Passionate advocate for older persons both locally and internationally with PAHO/WHO and the United Nations attending expert group meetings and technical meetings. She is also the Director of the Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre. Patron of the National Council for Seniors and Chairperson of Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) and most recently Professor Denise Eldemire-Shearer has been awarded Fellow status from the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the world's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of ageing.
Trecia-Gay Clarke
Trecia-Gay Clarke joined the Proven Fund Managers Limited Team as Head – Pensions Administration. She is responsible for coordinating with regulatory bodies, industry practi-tioners and trustees to ensure that Pension Plans are effectively and efficiently administered.
Prior to this, Trecia-Gay served six and a half years with Victoria Mutual Pensions Management Limited (VMPM) as Senior Pensions Administrator initially and subsequently promoted to Assistant Manager – Pensions Administration effective October 2016. In her most recent position with VMPM as Assistant Manager, she was responsible for the formulation and implementation of on-going pensions administration strategies towards improving service, quality and efficiency. She was instrumental in assisting the Adminis-tration Team in the management of client relationships by ensuring that regulatory compliance was maintained.
Trecia-Gay brings to the Proven Fund Managers Team, twelve years of experience in the field of Pensions. Four of these years were spent at the Financial Services Commission as a Pensions Analyst, where she learned the intricacies of the Pensions Legislation and the expectations of regulatory compliance.
James Cercone
President and founder of Sanigest Internacional, Mr. Cercone is a mathematical economist from the University of Michigan with 20 years of experience in public policy and public sector reform with particular emphasis in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, CIS and Eastern Europe. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Cercone has worked extensively with the World Bank, IDB and other international organizations on a wide range of social and public sector projects. He has founded and managed more than 10 healthcare and technology companies and is an advocate for healthcare price transparency. His experience in health insurance and health policy includes projects in more than 60 countries.
Many of these projects have been focused on the development of health systems, establishing health insurance and financing reforms, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, the economic analysis of projects and impact evaluations. Starting in 2003, Mr. Cercone began to work on education financing issues culminating in the secondary financing reforms approved by the Cabinet of Belize in 2010. Mr. Cercone has been identified by UNAIDS as one of the top ten global experts for M&E of HIV projects and he continues to work with the Global Fund and other organizations on the development of M&E systems and impact evaluations.
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Helen Gregson
Helen has been involved in the education of actuaries for the last 15 years, working in the lifelong learning and assessment directorate of the UK Actuarial Profession.
Her main responsibilities are:� helping the examiners assess the investment, economics and accounting subjects� facilitating professionalism events for actuaries at all stages of their careers.
Prior to this education role, Helen had 15 years’ experience of advising clients on pensions and other employee benefits with Watson Wyatt (now Willis Towers Watson) and Bacon & Woodrow (now AonHewitt).
Servaas Houben
Servaas Houben is President of the Dutch Caribbean Economists and is managing the actuarial department of insurance company ENNIA in Willemstad, Curacao. He studied econometrics in the Netherlands and worked there for the first 4 years of his career. Thereafter, Servaas worked in Dublin and London. Besides actuarial, Servaas completed the CFA and FRM qualifications. Servaas regularly writes for newspapers, his blog, CFA digest,
and and (actuarial) magazines.
Rohan Hall is an Associate Actuary of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. He is currently a team leader at Eckler (Consultants + Actuaries), Kingston, Jamaica. He graduated from the University of the West Indies, Mona with first class honours, Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science. Thereafter, he was awarded The Gleaner Youth Honour Award for Excellence and The Prime Minister’s National Youth Award for Excellence,
both for both for academics.
After working at Eckler for one year, Rohan was granted a Commonwealth Scholarship, resulting in him pursuing a Master of Science in Actuarial Science at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. After completing the programme with first class honours, Rohan returned to Eckler, Kingston.
Rohan Hall
Sharon serves on the Boards of three insurance enterprises: Genworth MI Canada, Brookfield Annuity Company and Group Medical Services (GMS). She is the Immediate Past President of the (CIA), where she Chairs the Governance Committee and serves on the Committee on Professional Conduct.
Sharon’s working career was in life insurance, the last 15 years was with a multi-national fraternal benefit society,
where she progressed from VP, Actuarial to Chief Actuary, then Chief Financial Officer, then President of the Canadian business and finally Chief Risk Officer and Chief Compliance Officer.
Sharon was active in the Examination Committee for the SOA for many years, is Past President of the Actuaries Club of Toronto, and of the Actuaries Section of the American Fraternal Alliance. She served as Chair of the Smaller Insurance Companies Section of the SOA.
Sharon Giffen
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Suris Kalloe
Suris Kalloe is the Manager of the P&C Pricing department and is responsible for the technical pricing of all P&C products for all distribution channels of Allianz Benelux.
In previous roles Suris was responsible for the actuarial reserving of all P&C products and calculation of the actuarial risks as part of the total risk capital within Solvency regulations.
Suris has obtained different academic degrees as Mathematics and MSc. Actuarial Sciences. Suris is also a qualified member of the Dutch Actuarial Association.
Suris has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry and has a lot of complementary experience in various fields of Non-Life pricing, reserving and risk management.
Donna Jermer
Donna Jermer is Vice President, Distribution Lead for RGAx, the wholly-owned innovation incubator subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA). She is setting and building the strategic foundation for development and execution of RGAx’s innovative distribution initiatives, including the building of life distribution capabilities, agency services, and ongoing distribution operations. She joined RGAx in 2016, and is based in St. Louis.
She has more than 20 years of strategic marketing experience in multiple industries, from financial services and consumer goods to retail, As both an in-house executive and an external consultant she has directed, managed and implemented numerous successful business-to-business and business-to-consumer strategies and campaigns for multiple distribution channels. Past employers and clients include: Western and Southern Life Insurance Company; Protective Life Insurance Company; Forethought Financial Services; Fifth Third Bank; Luxottica Retail (LensCrafters, Sears and Target Brands); P&G; Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company; and AmTrust Financial.
Alok Jain
Alok has more than 25 years’ experience in the profession serving both assurance and advisory clients. Alok currently serves as the Regional Advisory Leader for PwC in the Caribbean comprising Jamaica, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Barbados and East Caribbean, Turks & Caicos and British Virgin Islands. He has extensive corporate finance experience in privatization and public private partnerships (PPP), valuations of companies, due diligence investigations, advising companies in “going public” and listing shares on the stock exchange, capital restructuring, and acquisitions and mergers. He was seconded to PwC’s Global Capital Markets Group in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1998 and assisted Latin American clients on IPOs and debt private placement transactions in US and European markets. He recently led the PwC team advising the Government of Jamaica/Port Authority of Jamaica on the successful negotiation of a long-term concession agreement for the Kingston Container Terminal.
Previously, Alok led PwC Jamaica’s Assurance practice. He has led audits and internal control reviews of companies in a variety of industries – banking, insurance, telecommunications, entertainment and media, manufacturing, distribution, etc. Until December 2016, he served as Chairman of the Accounting Standards Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica (ICAJ).
Trevor Howes
Trevor is VP & Actuary for Moody’s Analytics working out of the Toronto Office. Trevor was part of the AXIS team with GGY for 22 years prior to its acquisition by Moody’s Analytics in 2016. Trevor’s current roles are primarily in marketing and client communications related to AXIS, and he is also serving as an SME for IFRS 17 in general. Prior to joining GGY, Trevor has had varied roles with life insurance companies, reinsurers and a consulting firm, including serving as Appointed Actuary for a number of companies.
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Caterina Lindman
Caterina Lindman retired after a 35-year career with Manulife Financial in Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada. She worked mainly in the area of Life Insurance pricing. Caterina has a keen interest in climate change and sustainability. She is the former chair of the Climate Index Working Group, which created the Actuaries Climate Index (ACI) and is a current member of the Climate Index Working Group, which is working on updating the ACI
and launching the Actuaries Climate Risk Index. She was also a member of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries Climate Change and Sustainability Committee, the Society of Actuaries’ Climate and Environmental Sustainability Research Committee, and the International Actuarial Association’s Resource and Environment Working Group. Caterina is a founder of Actuaries for Sustainable Healthcare. This new group works to educate and empower actuaries to make healthcare sustainable by showing how chronic diseases can be reversed through lifestyle changes.
Ken Mungan
Ken is the chairman of Milliman. He joined the firm in 1998 as the founder of Milliman Financial Risk Management practice.
Milliman’s financial risk management business is the leading provider of hedging services tothe retirement savings industry. Its work helps the clients of life insurance companies, banks, financial advisory platforms and mutual fund firms create strategies for
success in retirement. In particular, the Milliman ManagedRisk Strategy provides retail investors with institutional quality market risk management for $60 billion in variable annuity, 401(k), and retail mutual funds. In addition, Milliman Financial Risk Management, LLC serves as an investment advisor to provide hedging services on $90 billion of assets on the balance sheets of financial institutions.
Mike qualified in 1977 as one of the first actuaries in Jamaica. He is a retired partner from Ernst & Young and Deloitte Consulting, and served as Executive VP & Chief Actuary of AXA Financial, in New York. Mike was president of the Society of Actuaries 2009-10 and served on the Executive Committee of the International Actuarial Association. He won the SOA Prize for papers published in 1987. He was Jamaica Scholar, valedictorian, and
co-author of the textbook US GAAP for Life Insurers. He serves on the board of OneAmerica Financial, DePaul University Business School and Trees That Feed Foundation. Mike serves Trees That Feed Foundation as a full-time volunteer, as well as a financial supporter.
S. Michael McLaughlin
Ron Kozlowski currently runs his own consulting firm, RTK Actuarial + Professional Services LLC. He started his career at Aetna Life & Casualty in Hartford CT in 1986 after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Illinois.
In 1992, Ron joined Tillinghast, an actuarial consulting firm today known as Willis Towers Watson. Ron worked for the same firm for 23 years in the
firm’s Hartford, Atlanta, San Francisco and Hong Kong offices.
Ron has been an active volunteer for the profession and the CAS, serving on the CAS’s Board of Directors, exam committee, CLRS planning committee, strategic planning committee, Asia Regional Committee and as a member of numerous task forces dealing with important issues for the CAS.
Ron Kozlowski
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Kevin Pledge
Kevin is CEO and Founder of Acceptiv, a company that provides an online sales and underwriting solution to insurance companies. Prior to forming Acceptiv, he created Insight Decision Solutions, a company that provided data warehousing and analytics to insurance companies. It was in this role that he saw the need for insurance companies to accelerate the new business and underwriting processes. Kevin has also held senior positions at consulting firms and insurance companies in the UK and Canada, including CEO of Claim Analytics and Vice President, Actuarial of Foresters.
Kevin has served on several SOA section councils and Microsoft’s Partner Advisory Council, he is currently on the SOA's Professional Development Committee and chairs the SOA Annual Meeting.
Kevin qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (UK) in 1992 and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (US) in 2004.
Bertha Pilgrim
Bertha is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science and Oxford University, England. She is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a member of the Caribbean Actuarial Association.
Bertha began her actuarial career in London with a consulting firm and has worked with companies in Lloyd's and the London Market, Bermuda, the US, Australia and China. More recently, Bertha worked for a prominent Bermudian reinsurance company as a pricing actuary and later as their chief actuary.
Bertha joined Eckler's property and casualty practice in 2012 and she works closely with property and casualty practitioners in Eckler's Canadian offices.
Bertha's experience includes reserving, pricing and loss modeling including proprietary catastrophe models such as RMS and AIR. She currently serves as appointed actuary for a number of Caribbean P&C insurers.Bertha is active in the General Insurance and Investment Committees of the Caribbean Actuarial Association.
Lisa Peterson
Lisa Peterson is the Managing Director, Life Insurance Capital at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) in Canada. Lisa leads the team that is responsible for developing and interpreting capital policies and guidance for life insurers in Canada. She has recently led the development of the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test – a new capital framework that became effective on January 1, 2018. She joined OSFI in 2005 and has held various positions involved in the regulation and supervision of pension plans and life insurers. Before joining OSFI, she worked for a pension consulting firm. Lisa graduated from the University of Manitoba with a BSc. (Hons.) in Actuarial Mathematics and Management Sciences. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.
Varsha Panday
Originally from Georgetown, Guyana. Varsha attended the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada where she completed her Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science and Economics. She then moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a Master’s Degree in Economics and International Financial Economics.
After a brief post at the Central Bank of Guyana, Varsha found her way to Jamaica where she now lives and work as an Actuarial Analyst at Eckler Consultants & Actuaries right here in Kingston. Aside from academic pursuits, her interests include music and table tennis, which she plays competitively.
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Jwala Rambarran
Jwala Rambarran has been at the front line of economic policymaking for the past 25 years. He is the former Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago and Advisor to the IMF Executive Director (Brazil Constituency). He firmly believes since policy impacts people’s lives, people should know about it in easy, simple language.
Through his blog, “The Disruptive Economist,” Jwala is on a mission to share his knowledge of contemporary global economic and financial issues with the wider public and to offer alternative views to policymakers.
His current areas of interest include monetary policy, cryptocurrency economics, diaspora finance, sovereign debt advocacy, and blockchain business strategy. Jwala holds a certificate in Digital Government from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a certificate in Blockchain Strategy from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Craig Reynolds
Craig is a principal and consulting actuary with the life insurance consulting practice of Milliman. He joined the firm in 1989.
Craig works primarily on assisting clients with development, analysis, and validation of long-term financial forecasts on a statutory and U.S. GAAP basis. He is active in merger and acquisition work and has worked in more than a dozen countries around
the world. He is a co-author of the pending update to the US GAAP for Life Insurers textbook. In recent years, Craig has managed a team of actuaries and other data scientists that use predictive analytics to model policyholder behavior on products like variable annuities with embedded financial options and guarantees.
Craig is also a past President of the Society of Actuaries and was part of the team that negotiated the pending possible combination of the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society.
Ravi is the Group Chief Operating Officer for Sagicor Financial Corporation.
Ravi is a director of Sagicor Costa Rica, Sagicor USA, Sagicor General and is a member of the group executive committee that runs Sagicor Financial Corporation. Ravi is a member of the Working Party of Accountants and Actuaries and is the Chairman of the Jamaican Chapter’s Public Sector
Pension Pension Reform Committee.
Ravi, a Trinidadian Open Mathematics Scholar, has a BSc Actuarial Science (First Class Honours) from The City University, London and MSc Finance from the University of London and is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
Ravi’s experience spans over twenty years in the insurance, pensions and asset management industries. Ravi’s experiences include rehabilitating distressed insurance companies, raising capital in the international capital markets, mergers and acquisitions in the insurance space, and developing insurance business extra regionally. Ravi is a frequent speaker at regional conferences on insurance and pensions.
Ravi Rambarran
Cynthia graduated from Queen’s University in 1977, and in 1986 became a Fellow of both the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA).
Cynthia joined Eckler Ltd. in 1993 and became a Principal of the firm in 1995. Prior to joining Eckler, she worked for Royal Insurance Company of Canada (as it was then) for 10 years, followed by five years as consultant.
Cynthia is an experienced actuary, with particular expertise in financial reporting matters in Canada’s Property and Casualty (P&C) industry, and extensive knowledge of financial projections and stress testing. She has served as appointed actuary to a variety of large and small Canadian insurers, reinsurers and “quasi insurers”. She is actively involved in the implementation of IFRS 17.
Cynthia Potts
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Karl Theodore
Karl Theodore is the Director of the HEU, Centre for Health Economics at The University of the West Indies. As a professor of economics at the Department of Economics on the St. Augustine Campus, he taught Public Sector Economics and Fiscal Policy and Development as well as Health Economics. He has also supervised research in these areas for many years. His early work focused on fiscal policy, including tax reform issues, the social sectors including health and social security, and public policy in general. As such, he has functioned in an advisory capacity to many of the regional and international agencies that operate in the Caribbean and where interest is the social sectors.
Over the years he has worked closely with the Trade Union Movement, the Credit Union Movement and the Social Security Organizations. His professional work has been mainly directed at protecting the economic position of the ordinary people of our society. He has in the past found it necessary to speak out publicly when economic policies, which he thought were harmful, were being proposed or adapted.
Michael Taylor
Professor Michael Taylor joined The UWI in 1999 as a Lecturer in the Department of Physics. In 2008 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer, appointed Head of the Department of Physics in 2009 and elevated to the rank of Professor in 2013. In 2018, he was appointed Dean for the Faculty of Science and Technology.
Professor Taylor is the Director of the Climate Studies Group, Mona (CSGM) a position he has held since 2007. He has since then successfully positioned the CSGM as a centre of regional thought and expertise with respect to climate change science and as the lead centre for coordinating regional climate modelling efforts.
In 2017 Professor Taylor was appointed by the Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a Coordinating Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5 Degrees. Outside The UWI, Professor Taylor serves on a number of national and regional boards and committees. He is a member of the Climate Change Advisory Board in Jamaica's Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and served as a member of the Advisory Panel on Climate Change for the Ministry of Land. Water, Environment and Climate Change from 2012-2016.
Suzanne Stanley
A British-Jamaican by nationality, Suzanne Stanley was educated in both Jamaica and the United Kingdom. In 2006 she was awarded a BSc in Geography with a minor in Geology with first class honors from the University of the West Indies, Mona, and in 2008 an MSc in Environmental Change and Management with distinction from the University of Oxford in England. Suzanne is an Alumni of the Georgetown Leadership Seminar, Georgetown University; her academic writing has been published in Environmental Policy and Practice in the Caribbean (2013; UWI Press).
Suzanne joined the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) as Programme Director in March 2010, and was promoted to Deputy CEO in 2015. She assumed the role of CEO in January 2018. Suzanne has been responsible for all JET’s environmental education projects during her tenure at JET. In her new role as JET’s CEO Suzanne assumes responsibility for leadership of JET, including strategic planning, organizational oversight and development, and environmental advocacy.
Ramon Small-Ferguson
Ramon Small-Ferguson is currently the Chief Investment Strategist & Head of Research at JN Fund Managers Ltd.
Before joining JN Fund Managers in August 2016, he spent almost four years at the former Jamaica National Building Society, now JN Bank, where he started as an Investment Analyst within the Company’s Treasury Management Unit in 2012. At JN, he also held the roles of Assistant Portfolio Manager and Portfolio Manager, Treasury & Investments, successfully managing its long-term investment portfolio, comprised of local and international assets.
Mr. Small-Ferguson holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation awarded by the CFA Institute and is certified as a Financial Risk Manager (FRM), by the Global Association of Risk Professionals. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Finance & Marketing (Hons) from the University of Technology, Jamaica.
He is a Director on the Investment Advisory Board of the Salvation Army Caribbean Territory; Chairman, University of Technology, Jamaica’s Finance Scholarship Fund and is currently the Staff Director on the Board of Directors of The Jamaica National Group.
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Tim Vieyra
Tim is an actuary with varied experience in the life, short term, investments, social security and medical scheme spaces. In 2013 he left the corporate world to start Comotion (www.comotion.us), a technology, software development and innovation company that has successfully helped financial services and other companies succeed in revolutionising their business models.
Winston St.Elmo Whyte
W. St. Elmo Whyte was born in the deep rural rustic village of Porter's Mtn,Westmoreland,Jamaica.
From Porter's Mtn Primary School he went on to Calabar High School and then the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. He graduated therefrom (UWI) with a B.Sc. in Mathematics Special.He went on to qualify as an actuary becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.
W. St. Elmo has worked in many different areas such as Life Office,Pensions , Sales, to name a few.
He is the founder and chief actuary of ACTMAN International Ltd, a firm of actuaries, consultants and trainers. Here he sees many problems which are not traditional actuarial problems. He relishes dealing with such problems.
W. St.Elmo has been senior lecturer and deputy head of the UWI Mathematics Department for the past many years. There he teaches actuarial science and mathematics. This he sees as the ideal avenue to give back the great gift that he received from teachers past and present.
W. St. Elmo is an avid reader and motivational speaker.
Rosalee is a Director in PwC Jamaica’s Assurance practice, with over 20 years of experience in providing audit services to a wide spectrum of clients in the pension fund, manufacturing and distribution, general insurance and public sector industries, including clients reporting to the Jamaica Stock Exchange and other regulatory bodies.
Rosalee is a member of PwC Jamaica’s Technical Committee, a group
responsible for tracking new IFRS related developments and ensuring consistent high quality application of IFRS by the Firm’s clients.
A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica (ICAJ), Rosalee also serves as a member of the Audit Practice Committee of the ICAJ, which is responsible for keeping abreast of policies, procedures and regulations relating to professional ethics and rules of conduct in respect of practising members.
She is also a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) - Certified in the State of New Hampshire.
Rosalee White
Marshall Tulloch-Reid is Professor of Epidemiology and Endocrinology and Director of the Epidemiology Research Unit of the Caribbean Institute for Health Research (CAIHR) at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus in Jamaica.
A graduate of the University of the West Indies, Professor Tulloch-Reid obtained his Master of Philosophy Degree in Epidemiology from Cambridge
University, England and the Doctor of Science Degree in Epidemiology from the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences, Rotterdam. He pursued training in Internal Medicine at the Howard University Hospital in Washington DC and subsequently joined the National Institutes of Health Inter-Institute Endocrinology Training Programme. He was first stationed at the Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and completed his training in Phoenix, Arizona where he participated in the longitudinal study of diabetes in the Pima Indians.
Since joining the TMRI (now rebranded as CAIHR) in 2003 Professor Tulloch-Reid has served as coordinator of the MSc Epidemiology Training Programme and Co-Director of the Caribbean Branch of the US Cochrane Centre (CBUSCC). He is a Past President of the Caribbean Endocrine Society (CARES).
Marshall Tulloch-Reid
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Karthik Yadatore Andrew Williams
Karthik has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from University of Mysore, India and a Master’s degree in Operation Research from University of Texas at Austin. Karthik worked at SCOR Life Re and ING US Financial services before joining Milliman in 2010. Karthik is a Principal and Consulting Actuary in Milliman’s Seattle office. Karthik has broad experience in a variety of life insurance and annuity products.
His primary focus is in areas of financial reporting, modeling and M&A. Karthik has made several presentations at SOA and other actuarial forums. Karthik has published research papers and articles in the area of financial reporting. He recently published an update on FASB’s targeted improvements.
Zi Xiang Low
Zi Xiang Low is a member of the life insurance consulting practice of the Seattle office of Milliman. Since joining Milliman he has worked on numerous M&A transactions across South-East Asia and India where he reviewed and set up life insurance models in the prophet for TEV/MCEV reporting. He is also experienced in pricing and valuation for direct insurers in Singapore.
In addition, Zi Xiang has conducted detailed market research and analysis on life insurance industries in South-East Asia. In his current role, Zi Xiang assists clients with MG-ALFA modelling for financial reporting, model validation and model conversion purposes. Zi Xiang is also a strong Prophet user and has extensive experience in model development and model validation involving Prophet. He is fluent in both English and Mandarin.
Axel Wolfstein
Since 2005 Axel Wolfstein is the Actuarial Director of Verti in Germany which is since 2015 a daughter company of Mapfre (before as Direct Line Germany owned by Direct Line UK).He started working in 1989 for different companies predominantly in non-life pricing.
Axel Wolfstein is an actuary for more than 20 years. He is a member of different actuarial working groups and teaching in the actuarial training for the German actuarial association (DAV) in non-life pricing and CERA.He has a degree in mathematics.
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Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica LLC
WHAT’S IN MY BAG?
Sea Urchins from Touch by VLS
Wooden Coasters from Alpha Inst i tute
We want everyone who comes to our conference to leave Jamaica with souveinrs that are meaningful and unique. This year our conference bags include:
The Alpha Institute, (formerly Alpha Boy’s School) was founded in 1880 from the vision of Jamaican philanthropist Jessie Ripoll. Her dream was to minister to the hopes and aspirations of young Jamaicans at the bottom of the social ladder. As such, Alpha has long been a beacon of light and hope for Jamaican society. Alpha Institute is operated by the Religious Sisters of Mercy, who are committed to helping young men in need of employment and life skills training.
Less well known is the influence of Alpha Boy’s School on Jamaican music, in particular the music program that was led by Sister Mary Ignatius Davies. Ska, rocksteady, and reggae all owe a debt to Alpha and Sister Mary
Ignatius, and past students are viewed worldwide as pioneers in their genres. Fans of Jamaican music should give Alpha Boys School Radio a listen – 24/7 streaming radio where every song includes at least one past or current student.
An alumnus of the Branson Centre of Entrepreneur-ship, Touch by VLS is a contemporary ceramics studio that produces art and artisanal pieces for exhibition and retail in local and global markets. The current series, The Urchin Collection, is a unified mix of handmade ceram-ic sculpture, lighting and crockery featuring experimental decorative processes such as 3D slip trailing, hand carving, silk-screened decals and multimedia additions, including driftwood and pendant lighting.
“I am a mixed media artist and ceramicist. I grew up like the storybook character Eloise, except that I lived at Stony Hill Hotel instead of the Plaza. It was a lovely hotel filled with giant tiled mosaics, Picasso reproductions, kitsche, and figurative lamps nestled against cut stone, antique white, gray and red walls. Always drawn to art I started a contemporary ceramics studio. My current series, The Urchin Collection, is an unabashed ode to the sea, the urchin, the starfish and the sacred geometry of the cosmos. Every piece is wrought of a slow and meditative process, much like the work of nature herself. Spikes, needle piercing and perforations are the vocabulary used to unify a mix of handmade ceramic sculpture, lighting and crockery. Experimental decorative processes are also coupled with silk-screened decals, driftwood and pendant lighting. The Urchin Collection is expressive and innovative, extending from ground to table to ceiling, creating interactive happy worlds that tell a Caribbean story with a modern twist.”
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You have two cards in a hat; one card is red on both sides, and the other card is red on one side and black on the other. You reach into the hat and pull out one card, viewing only one side. You see that this side is red. What is the probability that the other side is red?
Look at the letters and figure out what replaces the ‘?’ mark.
ACDBEGBKMCORDDHLN?
If you reverse the digits of my age, you get the age of my son. A year ago, I was twice his age. How old am I?
Red and Black Card
W hat ’s next?
Me and My Son
BR AINTEASERS
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IN MEMORIAMSamuel Ewart Phi l l ips 1947-2018
Sam personifies the statement, "The essence of life lies in the quality of interaction that one has with his fellowman." Sam, a deep, intense thinker related well with all who crossed his path as he made his journey from Port Antonio in Jamaica via Cambridge university to the Institute of Actuaries in London.
Sam Ewart Phillips was born in June 1947 and brought delight, pride and fame to Titchfield High School, family, friends, his church and community when he won the Jamaica scholarship. As a young child, he showed great academic aptitude, especially in mathematics. His brilliance was recognized by a teacher who singled him out to be coached for the high school entrance exams, to win a place at the renowned Titchfield High School. Later, another teacher realized his exceptional mathematical ability, and tutored him privately so he sat 4-point mathematics and chemistry for the Cambridge Higher Schools exam. On the basis of those results he was awarded the Jamaica Scholarship for boys. His rise to academic prominence continued as he moved to Cambridge University where he successfully read for the Mathematics Tripos.
Sam started his actuarial training in London at the Prudential Life which recruited him from Cambridge. He worked at the Pru for several years rising to the position of Junior Executive before returning to Jamaica. At home, he worked firstly at Coke and Associates then Life of Jamaica. He subsequently joined FIRM Insurance Brokers Ltd. as a major shareholder and worked there until he became ill a few years before his death in July 2018.
Mr. Phillips also lectured in the Mathematics Department at the University of the West Indies. He was an exceptional lecturer; one student recounts that Sam’s notes proved more useful than the Actuarial Manual in studying for exam M (Actuarial
Models). Models).
Sam was described by all those who knew him as having a sharp mind and as a very witty person. He was knowledgeable not only in mathematics and actuarial science but in many different disciplines such as history, geography, philosophy and religion. He became an Elder of Andrews Memorial Church where he made significant contribution to the youth programme. Samuel Phillips was a friend to all those who had the pleasure to have met and worked with him. We have lost a worthy colleague.
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PLATINUM
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
CONFERENCE SPONSORS
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NOTES
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