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: Mr. Brua leads pricing and underwriting at Prime Therapeutics, a full service pharmacy benefit management company serving over 20 million members through Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, employer and union groups and third party administrators. Previously he was Vice President and Actuary at UnitedHealth Group, working on pricing activities for its commercial group business including 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 leads the fixed annuity product development team at Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. In her 10 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, is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. She is also an adjunct lecturer in the University of Minnesota's Actuarial Program.
Brad Diaz is a Senior Associate and Actuary at Mercer Government Human Services Consulting. His practice at Mercer includes pricing and forecasting of medical costs as well as assisting government entities with regulatory filings and compliance. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Prior to working at Mercer, Brad worked in trend analytics and forecasting at United Health Group's Optum Insight for 6 years. Brad also teaches a 5-week module in the University of Minnesota's course called "Actuarial Mathematics in Practice". He has a degree in Statistics at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
Brandi Dries-Virgin is a Senior Associate at Mercer in the Government and Human Services Consulting practice. Brandi has worked at Mercer for over 4 years and focuses on managing and coordinating comprehensive rate-setting projects for state Medicaid programs, as well as other actuarial consulting projects for state and federal government clients. Brandi is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Prior to working at Mercer, she was an Actuarial Analyst at Allianz Life and CIGNA. Brandi also teaches Actuarial Exam workshops and other coursework for the University of Minnesota's Actuarial Mathematics program. She has her B.A. in Statistics from Iowa State University.
Tim Finnegan is Director-Analysis and Reporting in the Asset Liability Management area at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. He leads a team whose work includes asset modeling, duration analysis, and surplus risk management. Tim’s other actuarial experience includes life valuation and financial reporting, reinsurance, and VUL and VA pricing.
Tim is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Minnesota and Bachelor degrees in Mathematics and Physics from the University of St. Thomas. Before entering the actuarial world, he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at St. Catherine University.
Since June of 2011 Mr. Gathje has been SVP and Chief Actuary for Ameriprise Financial, Inc working primarily with the RiverSource Life Insurance Company annuity and life & health insurance businesses of Ameriprise. He leads the Corporate Actuarial department, which includes valuation actuaries and a corporate model group. Gathje also 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 Financial Risk Management Committee and sits on the Board of Directors for RiverSource Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Gathje began his actuarial career in 1979. He completed his actuarial exams and became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in 1985. Over the course of his nearly 33 year career he has worked in both product development and valuation roles with 6 different firms. He has experience with both individual and group insurance products. For the past 13 years he has been in a Chief Actuary role with 4 different companies.
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.
Dr. Larry Gray is a professor in the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include: Probability Theory, Markov Processes, and Interacting Particle Systems. He has been Department Head of the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota and has been very active in Math Education. He was one of three people who wrote the current K-12 Minnesota State Math Standards. As well as his involvement in Math Education at the state level, Dr. Gray has participated at the national level, where he was the Chair of the Education Committee of the American Mathematical Society for three years.
Currently Professor Gray is the Chair of the Master of Financial Mathematics (MFM) Admissions Committee as well as a key advisor to the program. Dr. Gray teaches two courses in the MFM program. He is an avid marathon runner, chess player and musician.
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.
Jason Harland is a 2VP & Actuary in the Middle Market Loss Analytics division of Travelers. Jason joined Travelers in 1999 and has held a variety of roles over the years in Middle Market, Bond & Financial Products and Corporate Actuarial. Jason is an active member of the recruiting team for the Actuarial Leadership Development Program where he leads Travelers’ efforts at the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining Travelers, Jason worked for 3 years at Legion Insurance Company in a pricing role. Jason graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science and a minor in mathematics. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society. Jason also teaches a 5-week module, sponsored by Travelers, in a University of Minnesota course called "Actuarial Mathematics in Practice."
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.
Dave has over 15 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. In addition to Deloitte, his career includes work at, Milliman a global actuarial and consulting firm. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is an active volunteer at both Junior Achievement and Special Olympics.
Breanne Richins is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. She has worked at Securian Financial Group as an Associate Actuary for the past seven years. Ms. Richins has broad actuarial experience including individual life pricing and product development, economic valuation of liabilities and actuarial modeling of new and existing products. She received her Bachelor degree in Statistics with an emphasis in Actuarial Science from Brigham Young University. She teaches Theory of Interest in the University of Minnesota’s Actuarial Mathematics program.
Paul Stordahl is Vice President, Actuarial Pricing for UnitedHealthcare, where he leads the national actuarial pricing team for UHC’s commercial group business. Paul also plays an active role in the development of UHC's participation strategy for the insurance exchanges which are being created in response to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Paul is a health care actuary with over 20 years of industry experience. For most of his career, Paul was a consulting actuary with various firms, including Towers Perrin, Deloitte and Ingenix Consulting. Paul has extensive experience with group and individual health pricing, financial reporting, trend analysis and forecasting, and risk adjustment mechanisms.
Paul is a frequent speaker at actuarial and health industry conferences, and plays a leading role in UHC’s advocacy efforts related to health reform and insurance exchanges.
Mr. Zeimet has over 12 years of actuarial experience at Ameriprise Financial. He is currently leading a group responsible for the pricing and development of all variable annuity guarantees. Prior experience includes 8 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. He is also a board member of the Twin Cities Actuarial Club, serving 2010 – 2015.