CAS Board Requests Feedback on Revised Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategy
Dear CAS members and community,
In response to valuable feedback provided by our membership, as well as lessons learned over the last year of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) activities, the Board recently took the opportunity to review and consider revisions to the CAS Strategic Approach to DE&I. The Board has committed to reviewing this strategy on an annual basis to ensure that our efforts evolve over time in response to community input, strategic successes and challenges, and changing environments.
What do you like and what would you change about the revised strategy below? Members and candidates are welcome to fill out a 2-question survey to share their feedback. All survey submissions will be shared publicly at the end of the survey period, so we ask that anyone who provides feedback share their name. The Board will take all feedback into consideration as it finalizes the strategy for 2022.
Feedback will be accepted through the survey until November 24th, 2021. After that date, anyone can provide feedback by emailing diversity@casact.org for consideration in the next annual review.
CAS Strategic Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Under consideration by the Board as of October 5, 2021
The Casualty Actuarial Society is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive actuarial community in which all members are encouraged to contribute to the advancement of the profession. While our standards of credentialling support merit-based entry into the profession, our focus on equity recognizes that awareness of the profession and external resources to develop and succeed are not equal, and CAS can provide additional tools to improve access to resources for historically marginalized groups. These groups include, but are not limited to, people identifying as racial/ethnic minorities, women, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, veterans, and people with limited financial resources.
To achieve this, the CAS pledges to:
- Center and amplify the viewpoints of candidates and members from historically marginalized groups - those who best understand the challenges impacting their own communities.
- Break down unnecessary barriers to entry and advancement in the actuarial profession, while maintaining our current high standard of education and credentialling.
- Educate members and candidates on fundamental concepts, best practices and benefits of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
- Examine existing systems to identify and address unintended bias impacting historically marginalized groups.
- Invest in the community at large and build external partnerships with organizations supporting higher education and pursuit of STEM careers to increase our chances of success.
- Set goals and maintain transparency and accountability around progress and challenges.
- Employ learnings to address issues facing members and candidates in historically marginalized groups outside of the United States.
What Changed?
The revised strategic approach follows the best practices originally laid out in the 2020 Strategic Approach to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, with the following changes:
- The updated language reflects a clearer vision of what Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mean to the CAS and the evolution of our tactical efforts in this space.
- In recognition of the many dimensions of diversity, and ongoing efforts to improve inclusive and unbiased work cultures along with improving representation in the profession, we have widened the focus of the approach from “underrepresented” to “historically marginalized” groups.
- In the introduction to the strategic approach, we have attempted to clarify how taking an approach centered on equity helps advance our organizational purpose to “increase awareness of actuarial science” among historically marginalized groups.
- Many of our efforts over the past several years have focused on providing educational opportunities to members wishing to advance DE&I within their own workplaces. To reflect that, we have added a component focused on education that provides foundational knowledge and builds a shared DE&I language among our members.
- We have also acknowledged that in addition to barriers to entry in the profession, many of our members experience challenges in advancing to leadership roles. Addressing those barriers to advancement is equally as important and has been included in our strategy.
Why DE&I?
The CAS DE&I strategy directly supports the Statement of Purpose described in Article II of the CAS Constitution and does not express any opinions with respect to questions of public interest.
- DE&I education helps us promote and maintain high standards of conduct and competence for members.
- Research and education on Race and Insurance Pricing supports our goal to advance the body of knowledge of actuarial science.
- Efforts to break down barriers to entry, promote diverse representation in the profession, and maintain accountability directly align with our purpose to increase the awareness of actuarial science.
- All of these efforts support the continued growth of our profession and enhance the value of CAS membership.
Want to know more about how CAS has enacted our DE&I strategy over the past year? Read this Roundtable Blog post - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Strategy in Action in the CAS.
We encourage all of you to visit our DE&I webpage to stay informed about our activities, join the Diversity Impact Group at community.casact.org to get involved, or email diversity@casact.org with your questions.
Sincerely,
Jessica Leong, CAS President
Victor Carter-Bey, D.M., CAS CEO
