Charting Our Course: Discover the Insights from CAS 2023 Quinquennial Membership Survey

Membership insights into the CAS’s strategic direction, desired levels of engagement, and organizational opportunities and threats were among the key findings delivered through the 2023 Quinquennial Membership Survey.

The comprehensive survey, which is conducted every five years, also provided insights across the full range of CAS activities, including publications, research, professional education, admissions, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and global outreach. The report of the survey results is now available to the membership.

“As we navigate the complex and evolving landscape of our profession, the insights from the survey are invaluable in shaping the future of the CAS,” said CAS President Frank Chang. “This survey, a reflection of our collective voice, not only underscores the importance of continued innovation and outreach but also reaffirms our commitment to helping our members build skills for future. Together, with the insights gained and the actions we are undertaking, we are poised to ensure that the CAS remains at the forefront of the P/C actuarial profession.”

The 2023 Quinquennial Membership Survey was conducted online from October 2023 through November 2023. The response rate was 33%, with 3,381 members completing the survey.

Among the key findings:

• Overall, most members indicate that CAS should focus strategically on serving as an advocate for the actuarial profession, promoting the profession to high school and college students, providing a community for actuarial professionals to connect, and raising public awareness and support for the profession.
• Members would most like for CAS’s efforts and strategies to be highly significant in the areas of predictive analytics/data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
• Most members (80%) are satisfied with their own personal level of engagement with CAS, with more than two-thirds satisfied with their role in the CAS’s strategic decision-making process.
• Members are most in need of continuing education in predictive analytics and pricing, however there is also substantial demand for professionalism and modeling.
• More than half report that CAS’s efforts at building diversity in the actuarial profession are appropriate, and at least six in 10 agree or strongly agree with most of the tactics that CAS adopted in its strategic approach to DE&I. The majority of members also agree with most of the DE&I activities currently being pursued by CAS, with support highest for hosting “Be An Actuary” events to expose high school students to the actuarial profession
• There's an overall drop in satisfaction among members from the 2018 survey, and a call for greater organizational transparency.

The CAS Board of Directors reviewed and discussed the survey results during its March meeting and noted that action is already being taken by Task Force’s formed by the Board on a number of fronts to address the results. For example:

• The Strategic Planning Task Force is reviewing feedback on the current CAS Strategic Plan and the CAS’s future strategic directions as it drafts the next version of the plan, which is expected to launch in late 2024.
• The DEI Task Force is considering membership views on the CAS’s Strategic Approach to DE&I, as it revisits the organization’s strategy and activities that support the strategy.
• The Membership Linkage Task Force is examining details on member engagement to propose new ways for members to connect to CAS leadership and the organization in the ways that they most prefer.

In addition, the Executive Council and other volunteer leaders are engaging with the volunteers and staff to review the member input within each functional area and develop actions plans for executing on the survey findings.

“I want to recognize and thank the Membership Advisory Panel (MAP) Task Force for its work in developing the survey and summarizing the thousands of write-in comments provided by the members,” add Chang. “And most importantly, I want to thank all of the CAS members who took the time to respond to the survey.”

Members of the MAP Task Force included Janet Lindstrom, Chairperson, and members Glenn Balling, Shane Barnes, Louis-Philippe Caron, Andrew S. Dahl, Dawne Davenport, Ginda Fisher, Dustin Henever, Michael Henk, Shira Jacobson, Dan Johnson, Rebecca Knackstedt, Stephen Prevatt, Bob Schutte, Gerard Sims, and Brian Stoll.

In addition to the survey report, the original survey instruments (Survey Version A and Version B), are available for member review.

Please contact Tamar Gertner, CAS Director of Engagement, with any questions or comments on the survey report.