Young Professional Advisory Council: Teaching Tomorrow's Actuaries - Eddie Smith's Journey in Exam Education

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 conversations move from what it takes to be successful in business, the current healthcare landscape, and the state of AI in Actuarial work.  Mark shares the origin and mission behind Cost Plus Drugs, underscoring the critical role of price transparency and trust in improving healthcare access and affordability. Listeners will gain practical insights and forward-looking perspectives relevant to actuaries, business leaders, and anyone interested in the future of healthcare and innovation. Contributors: Mark Cuban; Dave Dillon, FSA, FCA, MAAA; Jon Forster, ASA, MAAA

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 actuaries and the critical role volunteers play in the SOA's success now and into the future.

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, they break down how middleware, tool calls, and general context transform raw models into useful business assistants.

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 enough" without sacrificing quality. The conversation covers tools like the RACI framework for clarifying roles and responsibilities, and offers advice for navigating ambiguity arising from organizational changes. The episode emphasizes the impact of ambiguity on career sustainability and personal well-being, encouraging proactive communication, expectation-setting, and self-awareness. Contributors:   Aree Bly; Jon Forster, ASA, MAAA Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe! Want to keep up with the latest SOA news? Follow us on our social channels: Instagram: @soactuaries Facebook: Society of Actuaries LinkedIn: Society of Actuaries Twitter: @SOActuaries About Us: With roots dating back to 1889, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) is the world's largest actuarial professional organization with more than 32,000 actuaries as members. Serving as the SOA's research arm, the SOA Research Institute provides objective, data-driven research bringing together tried and true practices and future-focused approaches to address societal challenges and your business needs. It provides trusted knowledge, extensive experience and new technologies to help effectively identify, predict and manage risks. ● Learn more about Influence and other engaging topics relevant for actuaries on the Professional Development Edge Subscription product.    https://www.soa.org/prof-dev/pd-edge/  

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. Topic calls are live virtual events that allow for engagement and interaction on topics of interest.  Note: This episode refers to the Entrepreneurial & Innovation Section. It was recorded in 2025 prior to the transition from SOA Sections to SOA Communities.

In this episode of the Get Plugged In Podcast, originally published in January 2026, Dale Hall, Managing Director of Research 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 Institute's inaugural AI Adoption Survey. Their conversation explores how actuaries are using AI tools, the most common use cases across career stages, and the key organizational barriers such as skill gaps and compliance risks. They also discuss surprising survey results on interest in further AI education and how attitudes differ between early- and late-career actuaries. This foundational research will be repeated regularly to track how the profession's use of AI evolves over time. Want to go more in-depth? Read the full report and explore other valuable resources at  the Artificial Intelligence Research landing page. Send us your feedback at [email protected]

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!