Mr. Mark J. Bethke has been a healthcare consultant for Deloitte Consulting LLP since June 1999. Mr. Bethke received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics, with an emphasis in Actuarial Science, from the University of Minnesota, Institute of Technology, and is heavily involved in Deloitte's local and national recruiting efforts. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). Bethke focuses on health information analytics by developing data models to help health plans and state governments assess risk and model potential scenarios for their business needs. He has worked with insurers, HMOs, provider groups, and employers on issues such as product development, financial analysis and management, data structure design, and health status-based risk adjustment. He has extensive experience in healthcare data analysis and modeling, benefits pricing, SQL programming, and healthcare provider payment systems.
Kyle P. Brua, FSA, MAAA, is Vice President and Actuary at UnitedHealth Group, and is currently responsible for UnitedHealth Care's (UHC's) pricing activities for its commercial group business. These activities include all funding types (fully insured, self-funded, and stop-loss), products, and group market segments. In addition, Mr. Brua has had previous roles in Underwriting, both at UHC and previously with CIGNA Corporation. Mr. Brua is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, with a degree in Mathematics.
Melanie Christensen is a Product Development Actuary at Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. In her 8 years of experience with the company, Melanie has been involved in the development and pricing of fixed indexed annuity products, development of a dynamic hedging platform, and has been involved in analysis of the general account investment strategy, capital requirements, and various other projects. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics from the University of Minnesota and is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.
Tim Graham brings almost 40 years of property and casualty insurance experience, including more than 15 years in senior leadership roles with several insurance companies. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Recently retired, he was the Chief Actuary at CUNA Mutual Group for 5 years where he oversaw all actuarial work, including pricing and reserving, for all commercial products offered to credit unions, as well as the personal life and annuity products sold to credit union members. He also led the actuarial team for the mortgage insurance subsidiary and the crop insurance program. While he was Chief Actuary, he also took on the Chief Risk Officer role for 18 months. Tim spent 26 years in various roles at The St. Paul (Travelers) including: Commercial Underwriting Operations, Actuarial support for Medical Malpractice.
Tim was a founding member of the University of Wisconsin Madison Actuarial Co-Curricular Learning Board. He served as the first chair of the board, and was a key participant in building a strong partnership between the actuarial program and the companies on the board.
Tim has testified at numerous rate hearings, before many state study commissions on medical malpractice, and before numerous professional associations. Throughout his career he has played a key role in getting actuaries actively engaged with managing the business, hiring and motivating a professional staff, and having teams in place that were viewed as key players in the financial success of the organization.
Denis is Vice President and Actuary in Travelers Enterprise Risk Management department. One of his major responsibilities is leading the modeling of reserve variability, loss cost inflation, and multi-year underwriting cycle for Travelers' Economic Capital Model. During his 30 years at Travelers, Denis has held numerous chief actuary positions, including roles in Commercial Lines, Personal Lines, and Medical Services. Denis has also managed various non-traditional actuarial roles, including Underwriting Operations for National Accounts. Denis obtained his bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics from the University of South Dakota and his master's degree in economics from Iowa State University.
Dr. Hatfield is currently Investment Actuary for Securian Financial Group in St. Paul (the parent company of Minnesota Life Insurance Company). The focus of his work is financial risk management. In addition to work on enterprise risk management, asset liability management, economic value of insurance liabilities and economic capital, he is responsible for oversight and implementation of Minnesota Life's derivatives based hedge programs.
He earned his PhD in mathematics from the University of Minnesota, is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and is also a CFA charter holder. Previous to entering the insurance field in 1998, he taught mathematics at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.
Ms. Hilson is an Associate Actuarial Analyst at OptumInsight, a branch of UnitedHealth Group. She currently works within the Trend Management team which involves forecasting medical expense trends and determining the impact of health-related current events for insurance companies to assist them with their pricing. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the College of Liberal Arts from the University of Minnesota. She is currently pursuing her Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA) with the Society of Actuaries (SOA).
As Senior Vice President and Emeritus Chief Actuary, Mr. Palmer works primarily with the RiverSource Life Insurance Company annuity and life & health insurance businesses of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. . He leads the Corporate Actuarial department, which includes valuation actuaries and a corporate model group. Palmer works closely with the Annuity Products and Insurance Products groups, where actuaries are heavily involved in developing and pricing new products and managing the profitability of existing business. He is a member of the Ameriprise Asset Liability Committee and the Ameriprise Enterprise Risk Management Committee, and sits on the Board of Directors for RiverSource Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Palmer joined the firm (then called IDS) in 1978. He completed his actuarial exams and became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in 1983. Palmer worked in product development in the early part of his career, spending time in both the Annuity and Insurance product groups. He then moved into the Corporate Actuarial division, taking responsibility for GAAP valuation initially. Over time Mr. Palmer has broadened his scope and assumed additional responsibilities at Ameriprise. He was named Chief Actuary in 2005.
Dave has over 14 years of experience assisting private sector, state and local governments, and unions with the design and administration of their retirement plans and retiree medical programs. His career includes working at Deloitte, a "Big Four" accounting firm, Milliman, a global actuarial and consulting firm, and most recently at Lurie Besikoff Lapidus, a major local accounting firm. He currently focuses on the design of Cash Balance and Cross Tested Retirement Plans for professional service firms and small businesses with expertise in pension accounting issues. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is an active volunteer at both Junior Achievement and Special Olympics.
Mr. Zeimet has 11 Years of actuarial experience at Ameriprise Financial. He is currently responsible for the valuation of Variable Annuity Living Benefits. Prior experience includes 6 years of financial reporting and valuation including VA's, VUL, UL, and SPL, as well as 3 years of Annuity and Mutual Fund product development. Mr. Zeimet has a BS in Math with an emphasis in Actuarial Science from the University of Minnesota - 2001 He received his FSA in August 2007 and served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.