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From the Leadership Council

On behalf of the ACOPA Leadership Council, here's our monthly update for members on some of ACOPA's activities.

  • Joint Discipline Council Agreement – In early January 2016, there was a membership vote to approve proposed changes to ACOPA’s operating principles and the amended Joint Discipline Council Agreement. I would like to thank all of you who took the time to vote on these issues. When the voting period ended and the votes were tallied, there was overwhelming approval for the proposed change. As such, I signed the amended JDC agreement on Feb. 11, 2016. We are now reviewing the ARA discipline procedures and we plan to be ready to present information at the ARA Board meeting in April with the hope of getting the ARA discipline procedures updated quickly. Additional changes to ACOPA’s discipline procedures may also be required. 
  • Variable Annuity Plan Comment Letter – The American Academy of Actuaries Pension Practice Council has issued an exposure draft of a variable annuity plan practice note. ACOPA plans to submit our comments by Feb. 16.
  • ASOP 23 – The Actuarial Standards Board has issued an exposure draft of an updated ASOP 23 concerning data quality. ACOPA is currently reviewing the exposure draft. If comments are necessary, we plan to submit comments by the deadline of Feb. 29, 2016.
  • Proposed changes to 401(a)(4) regulations – ACOPA is working with ASPPA to comment on the IRS proposed 401(a)(4) regulations. Please see Judy Miller’s “From the Executive Director” column for more information on the proposed 401(a)(4) regulation and ACOPA’s response.
  • Professionalism Committee – At the January ACOPA Leadership Council, the LC voted to approve the establishment of a Professionalism Committee. ACOPA’s immediate past president Lynn Young has agreed to be the initial chairperson of the Professionalism Committee and I am sure that she will do a great job launching this important initiative.
  • EA Student Outreach – On the January ACOPA LC call, the LC also approved allocating resources to support individuals studying for the enrolled actuaries exams. This support may include the establishment of a special listserv for these individuals. For ACOPA to remain a vibrant organization, we need to both help people pass the enrolled actuaries exams and get new EAs to join ACOPA. Hopefully over a period of years, this outreach will lead to a greater number of younger EAs being ACOPA members. A big thank-you to David Lipkin, who has been an advocate of this initiative for an extended period of time.
  • Conferences – I had a chance to go ACOPA’s LA Advanced Pension Conference in January. It was a really great conference. The planning committee did a terrific job. Mark your calendar now for the Actuarial Symposium, August 5-6 in Chicago!
  • ACOPA Monthly – Lastly, don’t you love the ACOPA Monthly? ARA staff reviewed the click statistics for the newsletter and we were happy to see a lot of our members are reading it. Norm is doing a great job as editor.
As you can see, ACOPA has a lot going on. Were any of the above particularly interesting to you? Please let Judy, Kurt or me know if you are interested in volunteering!