August was a busy month, with our colleagues Barry Rafe (President) and Elayne Grace (CEO) from the Actuaries Institute here for meetings with Council, the Reserve Bank and the leaders of Victoria University of Wellington's Actuarial Science programme. Their visit was timed to coordinate with our annual Winter Dinners in Auckland on 1 August and Wellington on 2 August, and these were fun and friendly events, as usual. Our relationship with the Actuaries Institute is a key one and it is great to see it continue to develop, especially with the two key role changes on their side this year.
During the month plenty went on, with plans for the Appointed Actuaries Workshop being finalised, the conference programme coming together, and the CPD Task Force coming close to finalising its report to Council. PS25 (Friendly Societies) was updated, and a draft of PS 92 (Human Rights) was exposed to members. The month ended with our first ever Women's career events, in Auckland on the 29th and Wellington on the 31st. I was glad we were able to put these events on to support our female members - while the number of female students has been approaching that of male members for some time, the percentage of female actuaries has been much more stagnant. It's important to ensure our female members have access to role models and hear a number of career stories to inspire them to stick with the exams and the profession. We are planning to have a separate event next year for all members who are interested in work/life balance and the struggle of the juggle.
September starts similarly to August - but this time John and I are off to Sydney to meet with the Actuaries Institute Council and various key members of the Institute's HQ staff, to discuss how we can all work better together.
It is great to see so much happening within the Society, and while meeting with members last month I noticed there's a real buzz around the upcoming conference in Queenstown. With a greatly increased number of flights, the cost of getting to Queenstown is a lot less than it used to be, so I hope as many of you as possible will come along and participate in the great programme Catherine Edgar and her team are putting together for us.
I'm really delighted too, that the President of the Actuarial Society of South Africa, Peter Withey, will be attending and will present on two very interesting topics where the South Africans are really leading the world - the changes to their CPD framework to be objectives based, and actuaries working in banking. In return, Peter is looking forward to hearing from some of New Zealand's world leading actuaries on the work being done here in the public sector.
Whilst I hate to add a negative note to the excitement around the conference, it's clear to anyone who hasn't been under a rock for the last six months that the behaviour of members of all professions is under scrutiny. While it is mostly the legal profession bearing the brunt of the criticism, eyes are out for misbehaviour by anyone. Many of you will have noticed changes in alcohol policies in your workplaces, for example. I believe actuaries in New Zealand are highly cognisant of the fact that we are members of a profession - that we have an obligation to uphold high standards of behaviour and respect towards others. At the same time, I think it behoves us all to look out for one another, as well.
With the conference comes the AGM, and once again the Society needs some talented and dedicated individuals to step up onto roles on Council. You can read more about the opportunities below, but please do stand if this is something that interests you - and any existing member of Council will be happy to speak to anyone considering standing.
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Hearty congratulations to Jenn Dobinson FNZSA, who won the Rising Star Award at the Financial Services Council Awards Ceremony last night.
This award recognises "an individual who has made a real difference to the industry while early in their career".
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